World datelines

France: Heat wave

PARIS — French citizens and tourists are diving into fountains and taking cold showers to try to cope with a heat wave hitting France during its traditional vacation season.

Weather officials said that temperatures could reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of the country Wednesday.

August is a vacation month for many French, as well as high season for tourists to the capital and the country's famous southern beaches.

In Paris, where temperatures reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, crowds kept cool by splashing and relaxing in the Trocadero fountains near the Eiffel Tower.

Bermuda: Clintons

HAMILTON — As Hurricane Bill approaches Bermuda, another well-known Bill is reportedly paying a visit to the Atlantic island.

The Bermuda Sun reports on its Web site that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, were arriving in the British territory Wednesday for a 3- or 4-day getaway — depending on the weather.

State Department officials and a spokesman for the ex-president declined to comment.

Scotland: Lockerbie

EDINBURGH — A decision has been reached in the case of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and will be announced today, the Scottish government said. British news networks reported that he would be released on compassionate grounds.

Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill said he had informed the families of the victims that he had come to a decision about what to do with the terminally ill al-Megrahi and would make a formal announcement this afternoon in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital.

Japan: Soprano dies

TOKYO — Soprano Hildegard Behrens, one of the finest Wagnerian performers of her generation, has died while traveling in Japan. She was 72.

Jonathan Friend, artistic administrator of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, said Tuesday in an e-mail to opera officials that Behrens felt unwell while traveling to a festival near Tokyo. She went to a Tokyo hospital, where she died of an apparent aneurysm.

Pakistan: Taliban

PESHAWAR — The deputy head of the Pakistani Taliban announced that he is temporarily assuming leadership of the militant group because its chief is ill, although Washington and Islamabad have said he almost certainly was killed by a recent missile strike.

The announcement Wednesday by Maulvi Faqir Mohammad was another sign that Taliban commanders are jockeying for power after the reported death of Baitullah Mehsud in an Aug. 5 CIA missile strike in northwestern Pakistan's tribal belt. A captured Taliban spokesman reportedly acknowledged to authorities that Mehsud was dead, but other commanders have insisted he is alive.