World Sex Sells News

A women's nutter group has welcomed a decision by Spain's parliament to reject a move that would have made prostitution legal.

Parliament on Tuesday voted 329-5 against a proposal to recognize prostitution as a profession.

The Federation of Progressive Women welcomed the vote, describing prostitution as a form of violence and slavery which was being supported and promoted by many people.

The Catalan republican party ERC, which tabled the proposal, said it would prefer prostitution not to exist, but that it was better to grant prostitutes legal rights than to leave them at the mercy of pimps.

Parliament also rejected calls for a ban on newspaper ads on prostitution, saying it was preferable for the media voluntarily to stop advertising the sex trade.

Traditionally perceived as relatively marginal, prostitution is increasingly seen as normal , with ever younger men preferring to pay for sex rather than taking the trouble of trying to pick up girls.

Prostitution is again making headlines after the daily newspaper El Pais published pictures of prostitutes and their clients having sex on the street at night in a Barcelona tourist neighbourhood.

Barcelona had become increasingly lax in applying a 2006 municipal ordinance which stipulated fines of up to 750 euros (1,050 dollars) for sex workers or their clients, critics complain.

Associations representing local residents or the prostitutes themselves urged a legalization of the trade, describing it as the only way to guarantee prostitutes adequate working conditions. The city, however, only deployed more police to chase the sex workers off the streets in the Raval neighbourhood.

The influx of immigrants has led to the growth of prostitution in Spain, where up to 300,000 women are estimated to be selling sex in flats, hostels, streets, parks or at around 2,500 'clubs' functioning as brothels. Around 90% of the sex workers are migrants from countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Nigeria, Romania or Russia.

Nearly 30% of Spanish men admit to having bought sex, according to the National Statistics Institute. The abundant offer of cheap women with a variety of exotic looks has made many young men regard prostitution as a normal leisure activity, with the average age of the clients dropping to around 30years, El Pais quoted psychologists and other researchers as saying. The growth of prostitution reflects a culture of immediacy, the will to get casual sex fast and without effort, the daily wrote.

Police Operation

7th September 2009. From laht.com

One hundred police officers took part Saturday in an anti-prostitution operation in downtown Barcelona that ended with 16 arrests along the landmark thoroughfare of Las Ramblas in the Catalan capital.

Besides the 16 people arrested, another 78 were identified. Those taken into custody were two Nigerian prostitutes, two Brazilian transvestites and another 12 foreign citizens who are in Spain illegally, police officials said.

Taking part in the operation were agents of Spain's National Police, the regional Catalan police and the Barcelona municipal force. This police macro-operation is the first in which the three police forces have worked together and comes after a fierce controversy sparked by the publication at the beginning of this week of prostitutes photographed having sex in the middle of downtown Barcelona.

The interior ministry of the regional government of Catalonia promised to maintain until the end of autumn the police reinforcements that in recent days have succeeded in driving prostitutes out of Las Ramblas, one of the best-known areas.

Update: Legally Moved off the Street

14th September 2009. From spanishnews.es

After days of heavy dispute both amongst Barcelona's citizens, its politicians as well as Spanish and international media, the verdict appears to be that Barcelona's prostitutes will soon be able to legally practice their profession in commercial premises and apartments.

The big debate was stirred up last week, after El Pais published photos of tourists having sex with prostitutes in the streets of Barcelona and around the famous La Boqueria market at night. The photos even led Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to join the discussion, demanding Barcelona to clear out its prostitutes.

The councilor of Citutat Vella, Itziar González, expressed the city council's intention of modifying the urban plan to grant licenses of bars with privées in order to allow sexual practices. The legal changes would be finalized this month and come into effect towards the beginning of 2010. The government hopes to rid Barcelona's streets of prostitution with the new measure.

The measure has been very well received by prostitutes, business owners as well as neighbourhood associations, nevertheless the opposition lead by CiU party leader Xavier Trias, sees the measure as an easy way out and cowardly as well as a step back from the regeneration of the area.

Watching hardcore porn movies at home is on the rise in French households thanks to internet, TV and changing morals but the majority says it has little to do with sex in real life, a survey shows.

In its first general survey on pornography, the IFOP polling institute found that 89% of the 1,016 people interviewed had seen an adults-only film in its entirety or in part – 97% men, 83% women. The majority had viewed the porn at home, 57% alongside a partner.

Access to X-rated movies through cable TV and the Internet has made the genre more commonplace and more accessible, Francois Kraus, who carried out the study on behalf of a porn movie company, told AFP: French people now are more open towards X-rated movies .

While 69% said porn movies were exciting, 59% thought them ridiculous and 58% degrading.

In Islam, there are only men and women, there are no transsexuals, and this is an Islamic country so that makes life very difficult for us, says Tasha who has been cross-dressing since she was a child.

Like many transsexuals in Malaysia, a conservative and mostly Muslim country, the clash between ID card and appearance means Tasha is shunned by employers, and forced to make her living as a sex worker.

It's a hard life, people don't like us, they're always making fun of us, she says as she prepares for another night in the grimy alleyways of Chow Kit, the red light district of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Enforcement officials from the Islamic Affairs Department (JAWI) -- notorious for swooping on nightclubs and motels in search of Muslims drinking or having extramarital sex -- regularly descend on the streets of Chow Kit.

Sex workers are sent scattering on their high heels, and those who are caught and hauled off face jail or intensive counselling sessions like a two-week interrogation Tasha once endured.

Although she is on the margins of society, she continues to perform the Muslim prayers, fasts during the holy month of Ramadan, and respected her mother's wish that she not undergo sex-change surgery. Of course I still believe I'm a Muslim, it's just that the religion cannot accept us transsexuals, she says: Why can't Islam accept us? We are human beings as well. I am also one of God's creations.

It was not always this way for transsexuals in Malaysia, where they are known as mak nyah. Until the early 1980s transsexuals were usually accepted in Malaysia, they could go for a sex change and amend their identity card, says Teh Yik Koon from the National Defence University who has written a book on mak nyahs.

But in 1983 a fatwa , or Islamic ruling, that prohibited gender-reassignment surgery as well as cross-dressing was imposed on all Malaysian Muslims.

Influential Islamic cleric Harussani Zakaria, who helped establish the 1983 fatwa, defended the strict approach and said that transsexuals should use their willpower and adopt a traditional lifestyle: You cannot be transsexual, you are either a woman or a man. Why do they want to go against Allah?. If God has created you as a boy, then act like a boy.

'Feminist porn movie Dirty Diaries , which received 500,000 kronor ($69,000) in public funding, is to premiere this Thursday in Stockholm.

The collection of 12 short pornographic films, all shot on mobile phones, is the brainchild of feminist documentary filmmaker, Mia Engberg. Porn has always been made by men for men, Engberg told news agency AFP, explaining her reasoning for shooting the Dirty Diaries.

Engberg said what makes Dirty Diaries feminist is that it displays women's sexuality in a natural way and shuns what she perceives as mainstream porn's sexist tendency to treat women as objects.

Clips from the films appear on Engberg's website, www.dirtydiaries.se , carrying titles such as Flasher Girl On Tour and On Your Back Woman.

The fact that the project received half a million kronor support from the Swedish Film Institute has attracted criticism from some quarters.

My main issue with this is that taxpayers' money is being use to fund pornography. The fact that it's feminist porn seems to somehow make it okay but there would have been an outrage had it been regular pornography, Beatrice Fredriksson, co-founder of the Anti-Feminist Initiative blog, told The Local.

When asked by AFP if she opposed the Swedish film body backing mainstream pornography, Engberg said: They should not be given any money at all, especially when they are making money out of women's bodies.

Dirty Diaries premieres at the Bio Rio theatre in the inner-Stockholm district of Hornstull this Thursday evening. There will be two further public screenings of the film at the same venue, on Saturday and Sunday. Engberg was quick to point out that the film is available on DVD – together with an interpretive booklet – from Wednesday, and can be ordered from the project's website.

Anti prostitution campaigners at Ruhama have claimed that during 2007-08, there were 341 women directly assisted by the group, including 100 women trafficked into Ireland for prostitution, the majority from Nigeria. Six of the women were under the age of 18.

Spokesperson Geraldine Rowley said: We supported 341 women who have been affected by prostitution in Ireland and of those 55 were new referrals who were trafficked into Ireland. Seven of those were trafficked into Northern Ireland.

There have been 151 investigations by gardai over the past 18 months into alleged trafficking but no prosecutions have taken place.

Gardai said last night that 23 potential victims of trafficking had been referred to the Garda National Immigration Bureau in 2008 and, where appropriate, these were being investigated with police forces from other jurisdictions such as the UK and the Netherlands.

Centre-left Copenhagen counsellors are launching a campaign to prevent an increase in prostitution during two-week UN Climate Change Conference in December.

Nutters of The Social Democrat and Socialist People's Party (SF) councillors are trying to introduce a code of ethics imploring participants at the UN Climate Change Conference not to visit prostitutes.

All participants in the conference will be contacted and encouraged to sign the code of ethics promising not to engage the services of prostitutes.

There is always a serious increase in prostitution during large summits. It is degrading for the women who sell their bodies and also gives a negative image of what the climate delegates are up to when they will come to the Copenhagen conference, SF's Ninna Thomsen told TV2 News.

Colombia has all the attributes to becoming like Thailand as an important touristic destination, including a sex tourism hub.

There are three elements that have nurtured Thailand's sex tourism industry. First, Thailand has a comparative advantage (at least regional) in beautiful women that European and North American sex tourists find appealing. Second, there is an internal culture of male-chauvinism and prostitution. Third, the government has adopted, and in many cases facilitated, this industry by turning a blind eye. Naturally, all these factors are mediated by the economic situation.

Colombia scores particularly high on all these aforementioned elements. Foreigners are usually mesmerized by the beauty of Colombian women as well as their distinctive personalities, which contrast with their counterparts in developed countries. The attributes of men are also appreciated, especially by North American women, who enjoy landing in San Andres islands to engage in romantic and steamy holidays with local boys.

Colombian culture is more male-chauvinist than Thai culture and prostitution catering to the local market is a well-known thriving industry. The development of the internal sex industry is such that each social class satisfies its urges in a distinct manner. Be it with traditional street prostitutes, in brothels or with the more classy pre-pagos (escorts). The culture of quick and (arguably) easy money makes prostitution a more prevalent form of raising (extra) money in Colombia than in other countries, while the belief that prostitution is like any other past-time provides plenty of clients.

The level of sex tourism in Cartagena is already higher than past years. According to Mayerlin Vergara, who works for Fundacion Renacer, half the people on Cartagena's streets after certain hour at night are connected to the sex trade.

European adult filmmaker John Thompson currently is facing a trial in Germany for producing “violent” porn.

The government seized 30 of Thompson's movies that allegedly depict violence, which is illegal in Germany. Thompson faces up to three years in prison if convicted. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Thompson has won numerous awards, including Best New Video Series and Best Producer at Venus and is known for his extreme German Goo Girls (GGG) bukkake and swallowing films.

In May, EuroRevenue, the exclusive online licensor of John Thompson Productions content, announced that Thompson's sold 5 million DVDs.

Thompson says that his actors voluntarily participate and the violence is merely theatrical for the cameras — an actor playing a role like in any mainstream film.

Prosecutors maintain that Thompson's films trivialize and glorify violence and violate the dignity of the women appearing in his movies. Prosecutors also claim that since this allegedly violent porn can be downloaded from the Internet that Thompson's undermined age verification rules.

Serbian 'experts' believe that Serbia should follow Bulgaria's model of handling the prostitution and sex tourism industries in order to raise state revenue.

According to publications in the Serbian media, the cited 'experts' estimated that the country's state budget could raise additional revenue of over 500 million Euros from changes in its approach to prostitution.

They believe that the additional benefits of finding a way to legalize the prostitution would also boost the local economy and turn Serbia into a country with regulated sex tourism. The prostitutes in Serbia are believed to be about 40,000.

The Chair of the Association of Night Clubs, Slavoljup Veljkovic, is quoted as saying that the prostitution industry in Serbia commanded enormous sums of money. He is calling for adopting the Bulgarian experience where each year officially the Bulgarian prostitutes makes at least EUR 1.8 billion, which is 7,2% of the country's GDP .

Economist Goran Nikolic is quoted as saying that a large amount of money would be raised by the state if prostitution was legalized, pointing out that this sort of industry existed anyway. He believes that foreigners associated Serbia with pretty women in general, and that they would feel better if they could be with Serbian prostitutes in a legal way, and to know that they were protected by the law. This sort of regulated sex tourism, in his words, is also going to bring down the prices because there would be no intermediaries for the service.

Contrary to what the Serbian experts imply, Bulgaria has no legal texts legalizing the prostitution in any way. The publication most likely refers to the existence of escort - or 'companion' - services in Bulgaria, many of which are reported to serve as a cover for prostitution services. Those clubs or firms are registered as commercial entertainment companies and they indeed pay the respective corporate taxes.

As police crackdowns on brothels in traditional red light zones have been intensifying after the anti-prostitution law was passed in 2004, owners have found creative ways to fly below the police radar.

Brothel owners have swiftly changed the faces of their businesses, which masquerade as massage parlors or telephone chat rooms, but authorities have also clamped down on these new sex shops.

Amid this game of cat and mouse, a new kind of business has appeared -- Kiss Bang or kissing rooms, where men pay to kiss female workers.

Such establishments are an unintended effect of the special anti-prostitution law passed in 2004, which penalizes both the dealer and client of sex services, experts say.

According to a study conducted by the Ministry of the Female Gender in 2007, the number of brothels in Korea decreased 41%, from 1,679 shops in 2004 to 992 in 2007. Also, the number of women working in the sex industry decreased from 5,567 in 2004 to 2,523, dropping 55%

However, the number of massage parlors and other businesses suspected of engaging in the sex trade nearly doubled to 9,451 in 2007 from 5,481 in 2005.

It is difficult for authorities to harass this new type of business because there are no laws against kissing for money.

Gender Inequality Minister Byun Do-yoon said last month that her ministry would, with the aid of local police, carry out a large-scale crackdown on kissing rooms and other new types of sex related establishments.

For now, the only thing we can do about kissing rooms is strengthen on-the-spot crackdowns and find an actual sex trade there. Then we can suspend their businesses for sexual acts, said Kim Ga-ro, director of Women's Rights Planning Division at the Ministry of Gender Inequality: We are closely studying ways to penalize these establishments.

Police who participate in crackdowns say it is not easy to find these clandestine businesses. Kissing rooms receive clients only through online reservations, and surveillance cameras are installed in front of their buildings, making raids difficult.

It is hard to find where these shops are located. Besides, even if we can find the shops at all, they have strict entrance rules. We don't have enough manpower, and there are not enough reports from citizens, said a policeman, who asked not to be named.

I sentence you to 5 years  community service! Report to my chambers at 8pm sharp

A female stripper charged with rape over an incident with a sex toy at a stag party has been found not guilty. Linda Maree Naggs appeared relieved when the verdict was read out in the County Court.

During the trial, the complainant told the County Court he urged Ms Naggs not to put the sex toy into his anus and was shocked when she did: I was pretty upset at that stage,I could feel something was there.

The best man told the court he scuffled with Naggs and told her to leave after the incident: She said it was just a joke, just a joke. I knew that there was something wrong down there. He said when he asked for his money back, the stripper threatened to call in bikies.

Ms Naggs' barrister Paul Higham told jurors if there had been penetration it was an accident: This is the case of the accidental rape, if there was one.

During Ms Naggs' performance, the best man's shirt was removed and she asked him to take off his jeans, Kieran Gilligan prosecuting said. The court heard he was naked from the knees up. Gilligan said Ms Naggs directed him to get on all fours before she strapped the sex toy to herself. When he raised concerns about where she might put the sex toy, Gilligan said she replied: Not a problem, relax, it's only fun, I won't go there.

But the best man claims she penetrated him anyway, before telling him don't worry, only you and I know , the jury was told.. .[you and I and the rest of the world!]

Istanbul may be about to enter a less salacious chapter of its history as infamous brothels in the Karakoy area are to be knocked down to make way for a children's park. Reports in several daily papers told not just the news that the Beyoglu area was being rezoned but seemed to take great delight in alluding to all the non-Muslim activity taking place around the brothels.

The loss of the brothels is sad as they made up part of the rich tapestry of Istanbul life. Karakoy is one of the oldest boroughs of the Beyoglu district and has been a center of trade and docks since the Byzantine era. The winding cobbled streets and narrow alleys are picturesque and safe during the day but ill lit, seedy and much more dangerous at night. As in all areas serving sailors, prostitutes have always been part of the onshore service industry here.

In recent years the area's infamy has grown; in addition to state-sanctioned brothels, many illegal cathouses have sprung up offering younger, more attractive, girls primarily from the former-USSR. The entrance to the official area is guarded by state police, who always check the ID cards of those entering and sometimes frisk arrivals. The area is generally quiet, as men stand silently, concentrating on the storefront windows, choosing their half-naked amours. Most of the activity in the streets themselves comes from waiters bustling in and out with trays of teas and pastries.

The motivation for closing the brothels remains unclear. One might say that it is the prudish Justice and Development Party (AK Party) moving against dens of iniquity, but that doesn't explain why only two are going. In other areas like Isparta, where a brothel was closed by the AK Party mayor in 2008, it was simply moved out of the center of town onto the main road on the way to Egirdir. Perhaps the AK Party is trying to appeal to non-Muslim minorities by improving their urban environment, but again the loss of only two brothels will hardly make a dent in the reputation of the area.

Over the last few days Thai Channel 3 news has been featuring reports that the police are going to stop Karaoke and Bar girl female workers from touting and showing off their wares outside of the premises.

It was stated that some establishments are permitting their girls to sit outside on the street only dressed in skimpy underwear and that this is causing offence to some tourists and locals.

The big clamp down will begin at Bangkok in the foreseeable future than probably be imposed nationwide.

From nationmultimedia.com

But then after the moralising about girls outside of bars, the government suddenly went one step further and announced that hostesses would be totally banned from karaoke bars.

The Cabinet has approved new regulations that prohibit karaoke parlours from providing drinking or singing partners to customers, with their business licences being revoked if they do.

Deputy government spokes-man Phumin Leetheeraprasert said the Cabinet also assigned the Office of the Council of State to adjust some of the wording before the regulations are implemented.

The regulations should take effect in mid-August.

Police and law officials have raided German bordellos under suspicion of social security fraud, among others. They have been trying to stop the flat-rate fee system in brothels, arguing that it violates prostitutes' dignity.

While the global recession has hit the financial sector, the export industry, and car companies, it has also been felt in the world's oldest business sector - prostitution.

One such way which has made headlines in Germany is the flat-rate fee system, offered by at least four brothels in Germany, where prostitution is legal.

The Pussy Club chain offers such a flat rate, which entitles customers to unlimited sexual services all day for a one-off entry fee of 70 euros ($100).

But the new discount scheme has triggered a wave of protests, especially in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Authorities there are now trying to shut down the brothels, arguing the new pricing plan violates the human dignity of the women working there.

Baden-Wuerttemberg Justice Minister Ulrich Goll told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that there was a strong enough legal justification for police and authorities to intervene: If you look at the way these brothels advertise, then there's a violation of the human dignity of the prostitutes who work there, he said, adding that authorities were working on a way to stop the brothels from operating the way they do under that current fee system.

On Sunday, police and justice officials searched brothels using the plan in Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Schoenefeld near Berlin and Wuppertal. They say they suspect the bordellos of social security fraud, employing foreign prostitutes without permission and not maintaining hygiene standards.

The brothels' advertising slogan has a simple message: Sex with all women, as long as you want, as often as you want. For 70 euros customers are entitled to all the sex, food and drink they want between 10 am and 4 pm. The evening flat rate rises to 100 euros.

The operator of the Pussy Club brothels, Patricia Floreiu, defended the new pricing scheme, arguing that most customers leave after one or two sessions and that none of the women are forced into the working under the new terms: It simply brings in more customers. Hardly anyone can 'do it' more than twice. So basically the flat rate is mostly for the free beer, she says.

Two of the brothels, in Stuttgart and Heidelberg, were ordered closed after health inspectors said they might spread disease. The raids also targeted franchises in Berlin and the city of Wuppertal, but those brothels remained open.

Bar owners in Phnom Penh were told by the Ministry of Interior that they were required to close at midnight and to ban striptease dancing and the showing of pornographic films.

District and police officials have distributed a list of rules drafted by the ministry to bar owners and instructed them to sign contracts stating that they had read the rules and understood that they would have to close if they did not comply with them.

Daun Penh District Governor Sok Sambath said Sunday that the officials were reminding the bar owners of rules that were already in place: We just re-informed all bars to follow the contract - to close their bars after midnight, not to play loud music, not to show pornographic videos, not to allow drug use and not to allow strip dancing .

A Berlin brothel has come up with a novel way to offset the impact of the global economic crisis and target a new group of customers at the same time - offering a discount to patrons who arrive on bicycles.

The recession has hit our industry hard, said Thomas Goetz, owner of the Maison d'envie brothel: Obviously we hope that the discount will attract more people. It's good for business, it's good for the environment - and it's good for the girls.

Customers who arrive on bicycle or who can prove they took public transportation get a 5-euro ($7) discount from the usual 70-euro ($100) fee for 45 minute sessions, Goetz said. He said the environmentally friendly offer was working a charm.

The owner of a premises that is being used as an adult cinema in the city is to bring proceedings against the tenants in the Circuit Criminal Court in a bid to have them evicted.

R Byrne Concrete Ltd was fined €1,000 before Galway District Court in January for the unauthorised use of the building at Unit 3, Liosbán Industrial Estate on the Tuam Road.

The company was also ordered by the court at the time to have its tenants, the Jade Winters Adult Store and Cinema, evicted by the end of June. The eviction never took place and the City Council decided to bring R Byrne Concrete Ltd back before the District Court this week for noncompliance of the court order and for continuing the offence since the court order was made.

Update: Winters Continue

9th March 2010.  See article from galwaynews.ie

Galway's Jade Winters sex shop has been allowed to remain open on condition it closes adult film viewing booths on its premises immediately.

Landlords, R. Byrne Concrete Ltd had sought an order before Galway Circuit Civil Court to have tenants Anipax Ltd evicted from its premises for breach of its tenancy agreement.

Wannabe Latin lovers can improve their technique by playing with the erogenous zones of naked mannequins at a new interactive exhibition that has now opened in Berlin.

The Amora sex academy that has opened in Berlin on welcomes visitors with the wry slogan, Finally -- an exhibition for those who always have to touch everything.

More than 50 interactive displays guide visitors through the intimate areas of the male and female bodies, offering helpful tips on everything from striptease to oral sex and how to achieve a perfect orgasm.

The show features several life-sized plastic models, naked and in various positions. One female mannequin light ups when touched in the right spot. A voice shrieks That's it!" when the visitor manages to put his finger on the elusive G-spot.

Next to it is what the museum called its Spank-o-meter. It measures the level of pleasure a mannequin receives when spanked with a leather whip.

Founded by Frenchman Johan Rizki, the sex academy opened in London earlier this year and is also due to come to Barcelona.

An Olympic hopeful from New Zealand has opened a brothel in a bid to raise cash for a tilt at taekwondo glory in 2012.

Logan Campbell competed at Beijing in 2008, but has now opened a 14-room gentleman's club after becoming tired of seeking funding from his parents. To take the financial strain from his parents Campbell has gone into partnership with Hugo Philiips to set up what the pair insist is a high-class escort agency.

New Zealand decriminalised prostitution six years ago, and brothels are allowed to operate with few restrictions.

But NZ Olympic officials say Campbell's business venture may count against him when choosing a team for London 2012.

Selection takes into account not just performance but also the athlete's ability to serve as an example to the youth of the country, Team NZ morality manager John Schofield told the country's Sunday Star Times newspaper.

9-12th July
MARGHERA, VENEZIA

A porn industry trade fair featuring striptease shows and erotic massage booths, was scheduled to open Thursday near Venice, despite attempts by the Italian lagoon city's mayor to ban it.

A court order on Wednesday overturned a townhall ordinance prohibiting the four-day Erotica Tour Millennium , from being held in the Marghera industrial district.

Mayor Massimo Cacciari has warned of the potential danger, posed by the fair being held in an area which is already very degraded. Cacciari, a philosophy of aesthetics professor, was especially critical of the envisaged active audience participation during some of the striptease shows.

Such performances threaten to remove the brakes from participant's inhibitions resulting in anti-urban behaviour, according to the municipal ordinance.

Still, the court order specifies that to avoid the risk of riots involving over-enthusiastic spectators, local police must be deployed in and near the marquee tent hosting the event.

Gardaí in Carlow have seized a huge consignment of  pornographic films in a series of raids on an adult shop in the town.

Gardaí secured a court order to take into police ownership more than 1,500 items including DVD discs and hundreds of plastic covers with explicit and supposedly obscene sexual images. The material will be destroyed by a specialist company with a waste disposal licence.

Gardaí admitted they were unable to identify the owners of the shop, who are hiding behind bogus, shell companies . Their application to have the material impounded was not contested in court.

The gardaí passed information gathered in their ongoing investigations to the Criminal Assets Bureau. Under existing legislation, outlets which rent or sell films in video or DVD format must have a retail licence from the Irish Film Censors Office, and all films must bear a sticker verifying that they have been classified. [and of course the IFCO have banned hardcore, although there is an ongoing court challenge]

A sample selection of the films seized was submitted to the Irish Film Classification Office, which confirmed they had not been classified for viewing in Ireland and were prohibitable under terms of the Video Recordings Act 1989. Garda sources confirmed that similar films are on sale at shops in towns and cities throughout the State.

In 2008, 261 cases of unclassified films were brought to the attention of the Irish Film Classification Office, which a spokesman said would represent a sample of much larger numbers confiscated by the gardaí.

The shop in Carlow, Temptations, running since 2006, continues to trade on Tullow Street.

A mayor in the state of Baden-Württemberg has started an initiative to outlaw so-called flat-rate bordellos.

The plan was announced in an interview with Christoph Palm of the Christian Democrat party and mayor of the town Fellbach, near Stuttgart.

Social Democrat representative Katrin Altpeter has lent her support to the plan. The state must intervene quickly to ban arrangements that do not respect human dignity, she said.

The Pussyclub bordello opened in Fellbach on June 5 offering a flat-rate deal for sex. Customers pay between €70 and €100 to patronise prostitutes as often as they like in a single visit.

The low price raises the suspicion that the women are being exploited, Palm told SWR4.

Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates are quoted by ContactMusic.com as calling for prostitution to be legalized after playing historical hookers in a new period movie.

The pair play 1920s French courtesans in the film Cheri directed by Stephen Frears'. ContactMusic reports that the risque subject matter has prompted them both to question why the world's oldest profession has been banned throughout most of their native America.

Pfeiffer says, There is an argument to be made for providing some protection for prostitutes. It would solve a lot of problems for them. They're going to do it anyway. Her co-star Bates agrees: For health reasons, it would be better for people to enjoy those pleasures.