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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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Nigeria says 17 Islamists insurgents killed in helicopter strike

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria | Fri Feb 1, 2013 10:46am EST

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian security forces used helicopter gunships to destroy a camp belonging to the Islamist sect Boko Haram in forest in the northeast on Friday, killing 17 of them in a battle, they said.

A statement from joint military and police forces in northeast Borno state also said one of their number was killed in the exchange of fire, which cast fresh doubt on a ceasefire declared by one Boko Haram commander this week.

(Reporting by Ibrahim Mshelizza; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Jon Boyle)
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