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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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French armored column leaves Bamako for north Mali

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BAMAKO | Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:55pm EST

BAMAKO (Reuters) - A column of French armored vehicles has left the Malian capital Bamako, heading north towards territory controlled by Islamist rebels, a French military official said on Tuesday.

"A convoy of armored vehicles left this afternoon heading north," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters without providing further details.

It was the first such movement since France began a military operation on Friday to halt a southward advance by the alliance of Islamist groups.

(Reporting By Bate Felix; writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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