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

Shooting heard at paratroop base in Mali capital: sources

Related Topics

BAMAKO | Fri Feb 8, 2013 4:05am EST

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Shooting was heard on Friday at a paratroopers' base in Mali's southern capital Bamako and government forces have sealed off the area, Malian military sources said.

It was not immediately clear who had caused the shooting.

Since a military coup in March last year that plunged Mali into chaos and led to the occupation of the north by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, paratroopers loyal to former President Amadou Toumani Toure had been largely sidelined and some arrested.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Bamako; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
World
Africa
Mali
Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.