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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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White House confirms Obama visit to Myanmar this month

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U.S. President Barack Obama smiles at reporters as he and his family return after his re-election, to the White House in Washington November 7, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Barack Obama smiles at reporters as he and his family return after his re-election, to the White House in Washington November 7, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 2:06pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly re-elected President Barack Obama will travel to Myanmar later this month, the first such trip by a U.S. president, as part of a Southeast Asia tour that will also include stops in Thailand and Cambodia, the White House confirmed on Thursday.

Obama plans to meet Myanmar's President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, on his visit to Myanmar, the White House said, in the latest sign of Washington's support for democratic reforms in the once-isolated country.

U.S. confirmation of the November 17-20 trip to Southeast Asia followed word from officials in the region of Obama's travel plans.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick)
World
Myanmar
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Comments (1)
totherepublic wrote:
Still will not go to Isreal? Coward!

Nov 08, 2012 2:48pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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