News Watch
Wildfires Sweep Southern Europe
Successive heat waves fueled wildfires across Croatia, Greece, France, Germany, Spain, Albania, and the United Kingdom in mid-August, scorching roughly 1.2 million acres across the European Union.
Volcano Disrupts Indonesian Air Travel
Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano, in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, erupted violently beginning Sept. 4, with its most intense phase lasting about 25 hours through Sept. 6 and ash plumes reaching as high as 50,000 feet.
Monsoon Floods in Pakistan
Monsoon rains and flash floods that began in June 2026 have killed more than 107 people across Pakistan and injured at least 344 others, according to figures reported in late July, with the heaviest tolls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.
State Department Travel Warnings
As ITN went to press, the State Department listed 24 destinations under its highest-level “Do Not Travel” advisory:
Indonesia Earthquake
A magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off the northern coast of Flores Island, Indonesia, on Aug. 15, killing at least 111 people and injuring more than 1,678 others, 336 of them seriously.
Philippines Monsoon Floods
An unusually active southwest monsoon, intensified by 10 tropical systems including typhoons Dolphin and Saudel, brought weeks of flooding and landslides across the Philippines from Aug. 3 through mid-September.
Guatemala earthquake
An earthquake measuring 6.2 in magnitude occurred in the mostly rural southwestern Guatemala region on Feb. 16, killing two people and triggering landslides that blocked roads. Two aftershocks measuring more than magnitude 4 followed, with no further reports of damage.
Current advisories
The US Department of State posts up-to-date travel advisories on every country and many territories, ranking each 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions), 2 (Exercise Increased Caution), 3 (Reconsider Travel) or 4 (Do Not Travel).
Deadly Brazil landslide
A landslide and flash floods killed at least 176 people in the eastern Brazilian city of Petrópolis on Feb 16, with more than 110 people still missing at press time. The city received as much rain the day before as it typically receives in the entire month of February.
Storms batter Europe
Northern Europe, particularly the United Kingdom and Ireland, experienced multiple major, named storms in February. It was the first time since the current storm-naming system went into effect, in 2015, that three such storms occurred within a week in that region.
Ottawa trucker protest
Truck drivers protesting a mandate in Canada requiring that freight transporters who cross the border into the US must be vaccinated for COVID-19 caused traffic to come to a standstill by parking their trucks in the street in parts of Ottawa, Ontario, and at a border crossing in Alberta, beginning Jan. 30.
Tropical storm in Africa
Tropical Storm Anna hit the eastern coasts of Southern Africa in late January, killing dozens of people in Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi.
Syria POW prison attacked
A prison in Hasaka, northeastern Syria, holding former members of the Islamist militant group Daesh (ISIL), including 850 children, some as young as 12, was attacked by at least 300 Daesh militants on Jan. 20 in an attempt to release prisoners.
Quito landslide
A landslide in Quito, Ecuador, killed at least 22 people and injured 47 others on Jan. 31, with 20 people still missing at press time.
Protesters killed in Kazakhstan
Protests in Kazakhstan, which began over a rise in fuel prices, escalated into anti-government protests in early January.
Russia threat to Ukraine
With Russia having amassed more than 100,000 troops along the border with Ukraine, NATO intelligence was suggesting, at press time, that an invasion was imminent.
Current advisories
The US Department of State posts up-to-date travel advisories on every country and many territories, ranking each 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions), 2 (Exercise Increased Caution), 3 (Reconsider Travel) or 4 (Do Not Travel).