Europe

"While local governments continue counterterrorism operations, the Department nevertheless remains concerned about the potential for future terrorist attacks," the alert said. "U.S. citizens should always be alert to the possibility that terrorist sympathizers or self-radicalized extremists may conduct attacks with little or no warning."

Instead, Obama found himself warning of an impending shift in the global order, one he advised could lead to a "meaner, harsher, more troubled world" if not stopped.

"Whoever is president and whoever is the chancellor of Germany and whoever is the leader of other European nations and other democracies around the world, they need to recognize that," Obama said. "There are going to be forces that argue for cynicism. For looking the other way with somebody else's problems. That are not going to champion people who are vulnerable because sometimes that's politically convenient."

The Espad report for 2015 includes most EU countries, but not Germany or the UK, and data for Spain is incomplete.

In 2015 "current smokers" accounted for 21% of those surveyed, and the highest total was in Italy (37%).

In 1995-2015 those using alcohol in the past 30 days fell from 56% to 47%. Top in cannabis use were the Czechs (37%).

That figure for Czech teenagers reporting a lifetime experience of cannabis was higher than the level in the US - 31% in comparable surveys.

The decision upended global markets, led to UK Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to resign and blew a cloud of uncertainty over Europe.

And the UK isn't alone. Anti-establishment leaders in France and other countries are already pushing similar referendums.

Italy

This month, Rome got its first female mayor in its almost 2,800-year history.

The Europeans invoke the success of the Iran nuclear talks in arguing for a similar format — with key additions.

Iran negotiated with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to reach their July 14 agreement. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Wednesday called for a similar arrangement "enlarged with regional partners."

The Americans, in contrast, want a tighter group, without the Europeans.

Several stocks were moving on corporate news in early trading Wednesday.

Ralph Lauren jumped 13 percent after the company named a new CEO to replace the company's founder. The stock is still down sharply for the year.

Chesapeake Energy rose 3 percent after announcing that it would cut 15 percent of its workforce.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 227 points, or 1.4 percent, to 16,275 as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.

The minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said in a rare comment from Damascus, that the migrants are mostly fleeing from areas held by rivals of President Bashar Assad's government, including the Islamic State group.

His remarks, carried by state media, say European countries, "which sent terrorists" to Syria and imposed economic sanctions on the Syrian people, must take responsibility for their anti-Syria policies.

An update to Facebook's Moments app today (August 25) includes a Flipagram-like option to turn six or more of your photos into a musical collage.

However, the app still won't be coming to the UK or Europe any time soon because of privacy concerns.

With Moments using facial recognition technology to share photos with those pictured, the slightly invasive nature of the app has thrown up a few barriers here in Blighty.

The Swedish ship Poseidon was already rescuing 130 migrants from a raft north of Libya's coast when it got a call to assist a nearby wooden ship, authorities said. The Swedes rescued 439 survivors from the wooden boat then looked for the bodies.

"We had to cut up the deck of the wooden boat to get to (the bodies) in a safe way," Swedish coast guard spokesman Mattias Lindholm told The Associated Press.