Full Focus

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

Photos of the week

Our top photos from the past week.   Slideshow 

Pictures

Photo

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Photo

Best of Cannes

Style and scenes from the Cannes Film Festival.  Slideshow 

Photo

Ethiopia's salt trails

For centuries merchants have traveled to Ethiopia to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin.  Slideshow 

Sponsored Links

Russia warns of tough response to U.S. human rights bill

Related Topics

MOSCOW | Thu Nov 15, 2012 6:32am EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned on Thursday that the U.S. Congress will damage relations with Moscow if it passes legislation designed to punish Russian officials for human rights violations, and promised a firm response.

U.S. lawmakers may vote on Friday on a measure directing the government to deny visas to Russian officials involved in the detention, abuse or death of a lawyer who died in a Moscow jail in 2009 and freeze any assets they might have in U.S. banks.

"Such a step will unavoidably have a negative effect of the whole range of Russian-U.S. relations ... We will have to react, and react toughly, depending on the final version of this unfriendly, provocative act," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

(Reporting by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya; Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
World
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
chizzlinsam wrote:
good riddance russia…putin is a stalin throwback–see you in another 50 years…

Nov 15, 2012 7:53am EST  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »