Europe heat wave — Two months of record scorching heat ended for Eastern Europe in mid-August. 

In the Moscow area alone, over 4,000 deaths were attributed to the heat wave, with 50% more deaths in July 2010 than July 2009. Temperatures hit 104ºF, the highest there in over 130 years.

At the same time in Russia, months of drought contributed to wildfires over 2,900 square miles, blanketing Moscow in smoke for days. 

China floods — At press time, continuing storms in China...

The US Department of State warns of the risk of traveling to Mali and against all travel in the north. The extremist group AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb) has an “ongoing interest” in kidnapping Westerners in the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso border area and as far south as Bamako.

On July 24, AQIM executed a French hostage in retaliation for the killing of six AQIM members during a Mauritania-launched hostage-rescue operation with French assistance in northern Mali....

The US Embassy issued a warning in Gaborone, Botswana, following six incidents of serious crime in July. Among these were a stabbing during an attempted robbery of a laptop computer; the theft of a handbag from a vehicle, and the attempted theft of a cell phone from a tourist at Riverwalk Mall (local shoppers caught the thief). 

The Kgale Hill and Gaborone Dam areas are high crime areas where gangs of criminals target individuals or groups. The embassy suggests traveling there in very...