The week at a glance...International

Berezniki, Russia

Pussy Riot member hospitalized: One of the jailed members of punk protest group Pussy Riot was transferred to a prison hospital this week on her seventh day of a hunger strike. Maria Alyokhina started the strike after she was prevented from attending her parole hearing. She says she is being persecuted by her jailers, who house her with hardened criminals and punish all inmates for her supposed transgressions. Alyokhina and two bandmates were convicted of hooliganism after interrupting a Mass at Moscow’s largest cathedral to sing a vulgar song railing against Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Their two-year prison sentences drew international condemnation.

Jinhua, China

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Baby found in toilet: The discovery of a live baby in a sewer pipe has triggered an angry debate among the Chinese about their government’s family planning policies. The unmarried mother, who said that the father had abandoned her and that she could not afford an abortion, gave birth secretly in a public restroom in her apartment building. She later told police that as she squatted to deliver, the baby slipped down into the toilet and the sewer pipe below. The rescue prompted a deluge of donations to the hospital and offers to adopt the boy, and Chinese social-media sites criticized the lack of resources available to single mothers. Unplanned pregnancies are on the rise in China, where sex education isn’t taught in most schools.

Canberra, Australia

Chinese hacked spy agency: Chinese hackers stole the blueprints of Australia’s new spy agency headquarters, giving them knowledge of the building’s security and communications systems, Australian media reported this week. Prime Minister Julia Gillard denied the report, but after being briefed by the spy agency’s director, opposition lawmaker George Brandis confirmed that the breach had occurred. He said it happened years ago and that the agency had already changed the plans for the $600 million building in Canberra, which is almost complete. The Australian Security Intelligence Organization has tripled in size since the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.

Miranshah, Pakistan

Taliban leader killed: A suspected U.S. drone strike on a compound in Pakistan’s tribal area has killed the No. 2 leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Waliur Rehman was responsible for organizing dozens of suicide bombings in Pakistan, and he had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head in connection with attacks on NATO troops in Afghanistan. The strike, which also killed at least five other militants, was the first since President Obama laid out new guidelines for the drone program, and the first since Pakistan elected a new government last month. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif opposes the use of U.S. drones on Pakistani soil, and Pakistani authorities did not comment on the strike.

Istanbul

Curb on booze: Turkey’s Islamist government has passed the most restrictive alcohol laws in the country’s history, banning nearly all alcohol ads and prohibiting sales between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The new law, which the president is expected to sign, effectively kills the nightclub industry. And since the government has built 17,000 mosques in the past decade and the new law bans liquor sales within 100 yards of a mosque, many restaurants will have to stop offering alcohol with meals, too. “The regulation does not interfere with anyone’s lifestyle,” said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “If you are going to drink, then get your drink and drink at home. We are not against it.”

Luxor, Egypt

Ding was here: A Chinese teen who vandalized the ancient Temple of Luxor is being excoriated back home in China as an example of a disrespectful young generation. Ding Jinhao, 15, unwisely scribbled “Ding Jinhao visited here” on a temple wall during an Egyptian vacation with his parents, and a photo of the graffiti made the national news. “This instance shows our families and schools have failed to deliver to the children something that should be expected of any education: moral principles and civic virtues,” said the Shanghai Daily in an editorial. Still, Ding isn’t the first to tag Egyptian antiquities: Napoleon’s troops left their names all over Cairo in 1800.