Some try to have a second child abroad, so that the child can get a foreign passport and not be counted by Chinese family-planning officials.

ECONOMIST: China

When one of France's most famous and loved movie stars hands back his passport and flounces out of the national family, it can be interpreted as an act of betrayal.

CNN: Depardieu's puzzling love for Russia

Activists and diplomats said the Chen case could flare up again if Mr. Chen has problems getting a passport or completing any other of the formalities needed for him and his family to travel to the U.S. He has been offered a position as a visiting scholar at New York University.

WSJ: U.S. Discusses With China Departure of Blind Activist

Sir ALEC: Well, the problem was that this family originally from Ghana--they were UK citizens--the youngest boy in the family went back to Ghana and then returned after a while to the UK on a passport that had been tampered with.

NPR: Pioneering DNA Forensics

After Sierra's family raised the alarm that she was missing, some of her belongings -- including her passport and medical cards -- were found in her room in Istanbul, though her iPhone and iPad were not there, according to her husband.

CNN: Body of missing NY mother found in Turkey

But Italy had already issued national residence permits to the migrants, perhaps hoping they would exploit the passport-free Schengen area to slip across to countries like France, where many Tunisians have family.

ECONOMIST: Italy and immigration