Dispatches

European leaders grappled with the worst refugee crisis since World War II as the death toll topped 2,300 so far this year. In the wake of American and British withdrawals in the Middle East and rising Islamic militancy, the carnage of conflicts left behind sparked waves of migrant tragedies: 71 migrants found dead of suffocation on a highway between Vienna and Budapest; at least 112 dead after two boats capsized off the coast of Libya; 54 persons died trying to cross the Mediterranean; and in one day more than 3,200 Syrian migrants shimmied under barbed wire to get from Serbia into Hungary. In August alone, some 33,000 migrants washed ashore on the island of Lesbos, Greece. European Union interior ministers called an emergency meeting in Brussels to discuss the crisis, which has seen more than 340,000 migrants flee into Europe this year.

Disaster averted

French President François Hollande awarded three Americans and one Brit France’s highest honor after they thwarted an apparent terrorist attack aboard a high-speed train en route to Paris. Hollande heaped praise on Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Chris Norman but also recognized others who acted quickly to stop an AK-47-wielding Moroccan who allegedly opened fire as the train sped through Belgium. The suspect, Ayoub El-Khazzani, 26, had lived in France for several years and was on a terrorist watch list. His attorney said he was a homeless man trying to rob wealthy people on the train. “It doesn’t take eight magazines to rob a train,” Sadler said. French authorities said El-Khazzani watched a radical Islamic video on board the train only minutes before he opened fire, wounding three.

Crashing stocks

Chinese authorities arrested nearly 200 persons for alleged rumor-mongering after a massive Shanghai Composite sell-off sparked instability in markets around the world. According to state media, the arrests included government officials, bankers, and at least one journalist on charges ranging from bribery and insider trading to spreading false information. After reaching record highs earlier this year, China’s stock market dropped 12.5 percent in August, barely better than the 14 percent it lost in July. China’s troubles have pushed global markets and commodities downward, including in the United States, which saw the Dow Jones industrial average plunge more than 1,000 points on Aug. 24. The Dow finished August off 6.4 percent—its worst August decline in 17 years.

Call to act

Organizers reported almost 80,000 protesters gathered at 354 Planned Parenthood locations around the United States to call on Congress to strip the abortion giant of taxpayer funding. The Saturday protests came after The Center for Medical Progress began releasing a string of undercover videos—the ninth on Sept. 1—showing Planned Parenthood officials engaging in gruesome and allegedly illegal activity, including profiting from aborted baby parts. Days before lawmakers returned from their August recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the votes aren’t there to defund Planned Parenthood as long as President Barack Obama is in the White House. Hard-line conservatives said McConnell should be willing to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding.