The week at a glance ... International

Dakar, Senegal

End to child begging: In a challenge to Muslim clerics, Senegal has forbidden them from using child beggars to generate income. Muslim clerics in the country mostly live off the alms collected by their young students. Thousands of children as young as 4 tramp the streets barefoot with begging bowls and are whipped if they return with insufficient funds. Since the Senegalese government outlawed the practice last month, clerics’ groups have sought to overturn the ban and are calling for the impeachment of President Abdoulaye Wade. “This is a custom from our ancestors,” said cleric Chérif Aïdara. “This is how we teach the Koran.”

Ankara, Turkey

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Constitution reformed: In a landmark referendum this week, Turkish voters approved a slew of changes to their country’s constitution to bring the military under the control of the civilian government. The reforms—which also secure women’s and workers’ rights—will help Turkey meet requirements for eventually joining the European Union. The referendum’s passage, with 60 percent of the vote, is a victory for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “We have crossed a historic threshold toward advanced democracy and the supremacy of law,” Erdogan said. Critics said some of the changes, such as provisions for judicial appointments, give the legislative branch—now dominated by Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning party—too much power.

Baghdad

Looted treasure returned: More than 500 ancient artifacts looted from Baghdad museums following the 2003 U.S. invasion were returned to Iraq this week. The objects—recovered from the U.S., Germany, Turkey, Syria, and other countries through joint efforts by those governments—included a 4,000-year-old statue and the gold earrings of an Assyrian queen. Not all recovered objects made it back to the museum, though. An earlier shipment of 632 artifacts sent last year to the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki mysteriously went missing, Iraqi diplomat Samir Sumaidaie said this week. Al-Maliki’s office declined comment.

Tehran

One U.S. hiker freed: Iran this week released one of three Americans who were arrested as suspected spies more than a year ago as they hiked near the Iran-Iraq border. Authorities demanded $500,000 in bail for Sarah Shroud, 32, whose health problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells, have gone untreated in an Iranian prison. Iran this week charged the other hikers—Shroud’s fiancé, Shane Bauer, 28; and Joshua Fattal, 28—with being CIA agents. Both men, who remain imprisoned, are outspoken left-wing critics of U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. called for their immediate release. “Iran has had more than enough time to investigate and understand that there are no hidden facts in this case,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

Astana, Kazakhstan

Take that, Borat: Kazakhs offended by the success of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 movie Borat—which featured him as an anti-Semitic, sexist, English-mangling Kazakh journalist bumbling his way across America—are striking back. Kazakh filmmaker Erkin Rakishev says he’s almost finished shooting what he calls an unauthorized “sequel” to Borat. The film, My Brother, Borat, set for release next year, follows “John,” a stupid American who visits Kazakhstan and is shocked to find a developed, cosmopolitan country. In keeping with the original, unsuspecting ordinary Kazakhs are shown reacting to the visitor’s antics. “It’s really funny,” says Roman Khikalov, who plays John.

Srinagar, India

Violent protests of Koran burning: Indian-administered Kashmir erupted in protest this week over reports that Korans had been desecrated in the U.S. At least 20 people in the Muslim-majority province were killed as demonstrators burning American flags and effigies of President Obama clashed with Indian troops. The violence began after an Iranian satellite channel showed what it said was an American protester ripping pages out of a Koran and other Iranian media reported that Korans had been burned in the U.S. In one Kashmiri village, more than 20,000 protesters destroyed a Christian school. “They were chanting ‘America, down, down,’” said local police official Nissar Hurra.

Manila

Baby in airplane trash: A baby born on a flight from Bahrain to the Philippines and abandoned in an airplane trash bag has focused attention on the plight of Filipino maids who work in the Middle East. The infant boy was found alive in the plane’s tail-section bathroom and taken to a hospital, where he is doing well. Doctors said he looked Filipino, fueling press speculation that the mother is one of the thousands of Filipino women who work as maids in the Middle East, often under poor, even brutal, conditions. Human-rights groups say many are underpaid, underfed, and forced to work extreme hours; many are also raped by employers. The Social Welfare Department said it was inundated with requests to adopt the baby, which it named George Francis for Gulf Air’s carrier initials, but that it was still searching for his mother.