Globe Trot 08.31

For the end of the week, a few reads-plus one video-to carry you through a long "holiday" weekend (no "Globe Trot "on Labor Day).

Watch Condoleezza Rice's address to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday (see video below). And here's a transcript of what may go down as the most presidential speech of the convention.

While Republicans focused on Tampa, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton departed for Asia. "Clinton has focused more on East Asia than perhaps any secretary of state since Henry Kissinger," Stratfor reports, "and her visits highlight the expanding attention Washington is placing on the Asia-Pacific amid changing regional dynamics."

In Iran the Non-Aligned Movement summit is underway, with some uncharacteristically harsh words for Tehran-and its satellite, Syria-from the UN secretary-general and others.

A 7.6-magnitude quake struck off the eastern coast of the Philippines late Friday, killing at least one person.

View this slideshow of Karachi in another time. Now one of the world's most dangerous cities, a hotbed for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, and where we receive regular reports of violence against Christians, Pakistan's largest city once thrived … and jived.

Do the 'Nam: The Civil War is the most popular conflict to reenact, but Patrick Hubble, a Lynchburg, Va., mortician, is part of a group that reenacts the Vietnam War.