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A plainclothes policeman catches a woman during a police crackdown on prostitution in Quanzhou, Fujian province, October 29, 2011. China should remove criminal and administrative penalties against sex workers which often lead to serious police abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 14, 2013. The abuses include torture, beatings, physical assaults, fines and arbitrary detentions of up to two years, as well as a failure to investigate crimes against sex workers by clients, bosses and state agents, according to the report. Prostitution is not permitted under Chinese law, although the industry has boomed since the country launched economic reforms in 1978. REUTERS/Stringer

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Suez Canal says Iran navy ships passage delayed

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ISMAILIA, Egypt | Sun Feb 20, 2011 2:22pm EST

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - The passage of two Iranian naval vessels through the Suez Canal has been delayed by 48 hours, a canal official said on Sunday.

The frigate and supply ship had been due to enter the canal with the northbound convoy that moves daily at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Monday.

The passage through the canal would be a first for Iranian naval vessels since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)
World
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Comments (17)
amos033 wrote:
Iran will seize this opportunity to resupply Hamas with weapons and fighters in an attempt to distract its local unrest by engaging with Israel. In the words of Obama’s past Chief of Staff, “Never let an opportunity” go to waste. Remember the “Mavri Mavru? A warship and a supply ship has one purpose: To provoke Israel and take the heat off the Iranian leadership in Iran.

Feb 20, 2011 5:34am EST  --  Report as abuse
zuluphantom wrote:
this was the 3:00am call obama was unprepared for . . . clinton/gates/biden got it right, obama made a bad call.

Feb 20, 2011 6:35am EST  --  Report as abuse
Life1 wrote:
GET OVER YOURSELVES for frigs sake!

The world does NOT revolve around Israel. The Suez canal is an international waterway, and so is the Mediterranean.

To put it in layman’s terms as International Law and Regulations mean absolutely nothing to Americans or Israeli’s: the entire 5th fleet of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf IS a provocation. The shooting down of an Iran Air 747 from Iranian waters IS a provocation. Invading Iraq for absolutely no valid reason IS a provocation. Invading Afganistan for absolutely no valid reason IS a provocation. Selling $60 billion worth of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia IS a provocation. Constantly calling for war against a nation, including the possible use of nuclear weapons, IS a provocation. Sending nuclear bunker busters and long range jet bombers to Israel IS a provocation. Defiantly, and incessantly denying a country’s right granted to it by Article 4 of the NPT IS a provocation. Constantly breaching this same Article 4, and then mindlessly breaching the UN charter that prohibits the ‘THREAT or USE of force’ is a provocation.

Should we continue or is the haze beginning to lift?

Feb 20, 2011 7:29am EST  --  Report as abuse
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