Historic rains caused devastating floods in western Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in mid-July. At least 188 people were killed, with more than 170 people still missing at press time. Many millions of people living in the region, including the entire city of Liége, Belgium, were ordered to evacuate.

The floods caused billions of dollars in damage, destroying homes and washing away roads and bridges. Cities and towns damaged by floods are expected to take months to...

Heavy rains caused flooding in central China in mid July, killing at least 302 people and forcing hundreds of thousands in Henan province to evacuate. In the city of Zhengzhou, in flooded subway trains where water had reached over head level, 12 people were killed and more than 500 were rescued. A dam outside of the city of Luoyang, which had been partially breached by flood waters, was purposefully destroyed on July 21 to relieve flooding upstream.

A market in Baghdad, Iraq, in the neighborhood of Sadr City, was bombed on July 19, killing at least 25 people. The market was busy with people shopping for the evening meal of the Eid al-Adha festival.

The bombing was blamed on Islamist militant group Daesh (Islamic State). At one point, Daesh controlled large areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria, but it has since lost all of its territory. The group still operates in the shadows throughout the area, however, and has been blamed...