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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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Intense machinegun fire breaks out in Tripoli

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TRIPOLI | Sat Mar 5, 2011 11:41pm EST

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Intense and sustained machinegun fire broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli before dawn on Sunday, Reuters witnesses said.

It was unclear who was shooting, which started at about 5:45 a.m. (10:45 p.m. EST), or what caused it. Automatic weapon rounds, some of it heavy caliber, echoed around central Tripoli along with pro-Gaddafi chants and whistling and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.

A government spokesman denied any fighting was under way in Tripoli. "I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, there is no fighting going on in Tripoli," said Mussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman.

"Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 percent under control. What you are hearing is celebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square." He added, however: "I would like to advise not to go there for your safety.

Tripoli is the main stronghold of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as he faces a two-week-old rebellion posing the biggest challenge ever to his 41-year-old autocratic rule in the oil-exporting North African state.
World
Libya
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