The week at a glance...International

Moscow

Restricting abortion: Russia, the country with the world’s highest abortion rate, has approved a bill restricting the procedure, citing its role in a significant decline in national population. The bill, which passed a crucial parliamentary test last month and is now all but certain to become law, limits abortion to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, except for women who say they can’t afford a child, who may have an abortion until the 22nd week. The law also stipulates that a woman receive an ultrasound so she can see the fetus, and a mandatory waiting period of two to seven days. Abortion was the main form of birth control in the Soviet era and is still extremely common in Russia, where there are 73 abortions for every 100 births.

Gujarat, India

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Justice at last: After nearly 10 years, an Indian court has convicted 31 Hindus of murder in the Gujarat riots that killed more than 1,000 Muslims in 2002 and sparked enduring bitterness between Hindus and Muslims. The riots began when a train carrying Hindu pilgrims through a Muslim-dominated area was set afire, killing 59. Mobs of Hindus ransacked the area, torching houses belonging to Muslims and burning entire families alive. Riots continued for weeks. But no one was prosecuted in the ensuing months and years until the National Human Rights Commission appealed to the Supreme Court for a special investigation. The 31 who were sentenced to life in prison this week were part of the riots in the village of Sardarpura, the first of nine Gujarat riot cases to reach a verdict. Victims’ advocates called the verdicts a “historic success.”

Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Nukes on the road? Pakistan this week denied that its military had been moving armed nuclear bombs around the country in insecure vans and helicopters. A report in The Atlantic, citing Pakistani and U.S. intelligence sources, said that Pakistan kept its nukes in motion to ensure that the U.S. would not be able to seize them. Pakistan, it said, is “willing to make its nuclear weapons more vulnerable to theft by jihadists simply to hide them from the United States, the country that funds much of its military budget.” Pakistani officials called the article “pure fiction.” Just days after it was published, the military announced that it was training an additional 8,000 security personnel to protect the nuclear arsenal.

Homs, Syria

Empty promise: Syrian troops are still killing peaceful protesters, violating an Arab League peace plan signed last week, the U.N. said this week. Under the plan, Syria agreed to pull troops from the cities, set political prisoners free, and start talks with the opposition, which wants an end to the regime of authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad. But the U.N. said that since the pact was signed, dozens of people have been killed, particularly in the opposition stronghold of Homs, bringing the death toll to more than 3,500 since the uprising began in the spring. Witnesses said soldiers were looting homes and rounding up young men, and that some activists were fighting back. “They were fighting tanks with mostly rifles,” said activist Omar Idlibi. “The Syrian army siege has basically turned Homs into a disaster zone.”

Off the coast of Somalia

Pirates vanquished: For the first time, the captive crew of a hijacked ship managed to free themselves from Somali pirates. The Taiwanese fishing vessel Chin Yi Wen was attacked while sailing off the East African coast, and its crew was initially overwhelmed. But eventually the 28 fishermen—from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam—fought back against six armed Somalis and forced them overboard. Three sailors were injured; it’s not known whether the pirates survived. At least 47 other boats and more than 500 sailors are currently being held by Somali pirates.

Damaturu, Nigeria

‘Nigerian Taliban’: The radical Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed more than 100 people in northeast Nigeria over the past week. The group, which wants to implement strict sharia law across the country, has previously claimed responsibility for church bombings, drive-by shootings, and the August suicide bombing of Nigeria’s U.N. headquarters, which killed 26 people. Last week it mounted a flurry of suicide bombings and shootings at churches and police stations in Damaturu, killing scores. Nearly all the Christians in the predominantly Muslim town fled their homes. The group’s official name translates as People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad, but most Nigerians call it Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sacrilege,” and some refer to it as the Nigerian Taliban.