UK Home Secretary blames drinking on TV for all the country's ills

So I wonder if the UK will pixellate the beer bottles like they do in Thailand

From the Telegraph see full article

Television programmes that glorify drunkenness will be branded unacceptable as part of a "zero-tolerance" approach to anti-social behaviour, Jacqui Smith has announced.

The Home Secretary began a campaign to shame television companies into taking the programmes off-air, saying they encourage alcohol misuse.

Alcohol misuse can cause real damage to people, she told the Labour conference. And incidentally, why celebrate drunken behaviour on our television screens?

Her aides made clear that there were no plans to legislate or regulate, with the aim being to shame programme makers into realising that they were damaging young people's lives.

Ibiza Uncovered, which is shown on Sky television, follows the drinking and other antics of young people on holiday and Booze Britain, which is produced by Granada and shown on Bravo, follows groups of mainly young people "on the town".

In 2003, the charity Alcohol Concern warned that soap characters were seen drinking too often in television pubs. It said scenes on television involving drinking had almost doubled since the 1980s.

Italy considers on-the-spot fines for guys buying sex

From the BBC see full article

Italy is considering imposing on-the-spot fines on prostitutes' clients, the interior minister says.

Giulio Amato also revealed plans to serve legal papers in clients' homes in order to shame them.

He told a Senate committee he was examining efforts to keep prostitutes off the streets where they were near children or places of worship.

Italy allowed brothels to operate legally until 1959. It now has laws to stop pimps exploiting prostitutes. Critics say the laws have served to drive prostitutes onto the streets.

 
Potentially, kerb crawlers are serious sex offenders in the making

The police shouldn't waste their time profiling the bleedin' obvious.These are just guys who want to get laid. They see working girls as the most practical short term way of achieving this end.

Thinking of profiles, I wonder if by any chance, this noxious police moralist is a religious nutter? He would certainly fit the profile of those who think they are justified in totally screwing up peoples lives over minor issues of a morality based on nonsense.

Based on an article from the Evening Star see full article

Suffolk police today said it was considering building up a detailed profile of the men caught soliciting prostitutes in the red-light district as a way of helping it to catch future offenders.

And the force is looking at making it a requirement for offenders to answer questions about their motives.

The move would represent an extension of the force's crackdown on the men who create a demand for the street sex industry following its early success.

After the force made 100 arrests in the first six months of the new vice crackdown, Chief inspector Bruce Robinson, Ipswich district commander, said there was currently little detailed information about the psychology behind kerb crawling.

When offenders are caught kerb crawling or soliciting a prostitute they are handed a caution and made to sign what is known as an Acceptable Behaviour Contract, which requires them to cease using street prostitutes.

The new measures could see a clause added into those contracts requiring the men to answer questions about their offending, thereby helping police to build up a more detailed picture of the type of men who seek the services of street sex workers.

Robinson said: Potentially they are serious sex offenders in the making. They may say 'well it's just something we do every now and then' but actually we may be building a profile on them as a potential suspect.

Robinson said he was surprised kerb crawlers continued to go out in search of prostitutes in Ipswich despite warnings of the police's zero tolerance stance. However he added that it was thought fewer men were now patrolling the red-light district.

Sex workers to be given permits to issue invoices and pay tax

From Google News see full article

In an effort to bring prostitutes into the legal economy, officials said that Hungary will allow sex workers to apply for an entrepreneur's permit, a move that could generate government revenues from an industry worth an estimated $1 billion annually.

The permits allow prostitutes to give receipts to customers and become part of the legal economy by paying taxes and making social security contributions, said Agnes Foldi, head of the Hungarian Prostitutes' Interest Protection Association.

Hungary's sex industry including prostitution and the production of pornographic materials, generates an estimated $1 billion annually, said Agnes Bakonyi, the spokeswoman of Hungary's tax authority APEH: It is one of the leading sectors of the shadow economy. With this project, APEH is trying to help a group of professionals, in what is called the world's oldest profession, who have never paid taxes in their life.

Hungary legalised prostitution under certain conditions in 1999. Prostitutes can work legally only within certain zones, distant from schools and churches, and must get regular medical checkups. Pimping and bordellos are banned.

One of the prostitutes who already has been granted a permit said she applied for it in an effort to improve her future and self-image: From now on, no one will be able to ask me where I got the money to buy my house or my car, said Rebeka, Now we are also part of a taxpaying group and we too are making a contribution to society.

Amsterdam continues action against red light area

From Radio Netherlands see full article

The Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, wants to ban pimping in the city's red light district and other areas where prostitutes work. He says the ban is needed to prevent exploitation and human trafficking, and sees it as the next step in cleaning up the red light district.

Ten years ago a parliamentary commission established that the district was controlled by around 16 people with "serious criminal histories and/or contacts". In recent years, an increasing number of stories have been circulating about human trafficking and forced prostitution in the red light district. The mayor and city council concluded that the district was no longer a tourist attraction to be proud of.

The big clean-up started last summer when Amsterdam refused permits to a number of "window" brothel operators. The most important of them was Charles Geerts, owner of large number of premises in the red light district.

Cohen expalins: Our aim is to combat criminality. To make the district more manageable. To improve the quality of life by reducing the excessive concentration of prostitution, bad-quality cafes and restaurants, and marijuana coffee shops. We want to create more opportunities for bona fide businesses.

Cohen believes the legalisation of prostitution in the Netherlands seven years ago hasn't had the desired effect. Many prostitutes have not become "ordinary employees" or self-employed businesswomen, but are still exploited by pimps. The mayor is therefore calling for a ban on pimping.

The pressure group for prostitutes, the Red Thread, strongly opposes the council's measures. Spokeswoman Metje Blaak says Red Thread asees no advantage in a pimping ban. Blaak says the measure is unnecessary because pimping is already illegal. In the criminal code there is indeed an article forbidding "the inducement of women to commit involuntary sexual acts for money". The offence is punishable with a prison sentence of up to eight years. The Red Thread thinks Cohen would do better to enforce the existing law.

S Korea to confiscate passports of people buying sex abroad

From Google News

South Korea has announced a crackdown on its nationals evading the country's tough anti-prostitution law by buying sex abroad instead.

The government will revise the law so that its citizens caught buying sex in foreign countries will have their passports confiscated, the gender equality ministry, the justice ministry and the foreign ministry said in a joint press briefing.

An inter-ministerial team has also been formed to clamp down on brokers who help South Korean girls obtain visas to sell sex abroad and travel agents who arrange sex tours for South Korean men, they said.

The government agencies share the view that the country's image is being damaged greatly by the purchase of sex (by South Korean travellers) in overseas countries and decided to step up crackdowns on sex trafficking here and abroad as well, they said.

South Korea brought in a tough anti-prostitution law in 2004, punishing clients with fines and throwing pimps in prison. Last year alone, courts prosecuted 35,000 clients, 2.5 times higher than the number of those who were caught buying sex in 2003.

The latest government initiative followed a local TV report last week about South Korean high school students allegedly buying sex while they were on field trips to China. The MBC TV network showed South Korean teenagers venturing into a massage parlour in China. Some said it was common practice.

Philippines attempt to ban all sex entertainment

From the Manila Standard Today see full article

A nutter politician, Bienvenido Abante, has proposed legislation, Philippines House Bill 708, prohibiting and penalizing the production, printing, publication, importation, sale, distribution and exhibition of obscene and pornographic movies and materials, and the exhibition of live sexual acts.

This bill is presumably similar to a previous attempt, Bill 480, filed by Sergio Osmeña III, which has the same exact descriptive title as Rep. Abante’s where “obscene and pornographic materials” are defined as:

1. Explicit pictures or scenes depicting or describing sexual acts; masturbation, oral and anal sex, autoerotism; excretion such as urination and edema materials; sadomasochistic sex, bestiality, necrophilia, pedophilia, bondage and sex, sex with sacrilege; sex acts between and among children
2.  Lewd or libidinous depiction or description of the nudity of human body and its various parts such as male and female genitals, pubic region, buttocks, female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola, male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, genitals in a state of sexual stimulation; fondling or erotic touching of genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breast
3. “Sex stories” such as columns, narrative or illustrated stories and articles contained in newspapers graphically depicting sexual acts
4. Lewd depiction and description of sexual paraphernalia such as life-sized rubber dolls, dildos, artificial vagina, vibrators or sexual gadgets of any kind
5. Still photographs of movies whether domestic or foreign, having sexual contents, and previously or subsequently rated “R” or “X” by the MTRCB.

According to a press release issued by the Public Relations and Information Dept. of the Philippine government, violators of the proposed law could be punished with imprisonment and fines ranging from approximately $1100 to $11000.

   
'Family' Airline finds another outfit too skimpy

From Pantagraph.com see full article

A second young woman has come forward to claim that Southwest Airlines Co. employees made her cover up on a recent flight.

Setara Qassim told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that a flight attendant confronted her during the trip from Tucson to Burbank and asked if she had a sweater to go over her green halter-style dress.

Qassim, 21, said she was forced to wrap a blanket around herself for the rest of the flight. She complained that if Southwest wants passengers to dress a certain way, it should publish a dress code.

   
'Family' Airline finds outfit too skimpy

From MSNBC see full article

It doesn’t take much to get thrown off an airplane these days, as Kyla Ebbert found out when a Southwest Airlines employee told her she was too bare for the air. Two months later, she’s still trying to figure out what was wrong with her outfit.

In an exclusive appearance on the Today Show, Ebbert modeled the outfit she says she wore on the flight in question. It consisted of a snug-fitting white top with a scoop neck that stopped just short of showing cleavage.

Over the shirt was a green sweater that buttoned underneath her bosom. It was finished with high-heeled sandals and a white denim mini-skirt with a fashionably frayed hem.

Michele Ebbert told Today co-host Matt Lauer. She looks like every other college girl in San Diego.

Not according to a Southwest employee identified only as “Keith,” who approached Ebbert after she had taken her seat on the plane and was listening to the flight attendants go through their pre-departure routine.

He asked her to step off of the plane and when they were in the jetway, he told her that her clothing was inappropriate and asked her to change her clothes: He told me, ‘I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to take a later flight. You’re dressed inappropriately. This is a family airline. You’re dressed too provocative to fly on this flight,’

I said, ‘What part of it, the shirt, the skirt? Which part?’  Ebbert continued: And he said, ‘The whole thing.’

A compromise was finally reached when Ebbert promised to pull up her top, which wasn’t showing cleavage to begin with, and pull down her tiny skirt.

Ebbert went back onto the plane and to her seat, feeling that every eye on the plane was staring at her: I was humiliated. I was embarrassed. They all heard him lecturing me.

In response to a Today Show query, the airline sent the following statement: Southwest Airlines was responding to a concern about Ms. Ebbert's revealing attire on the flight that day. As a compromise, we asked her to adjust her clothing to be less revealing, she complied, and she traveled as scheduled. When a concern is brought to our Employees' attention, we address that situation directly with the Customer(s) involved in a discreet and professional manner.

What really tops the whole story off is that Ebbert wore the same outfit on the return flight to San Diego later that day. A female flight attendant also took note of it, according to Ebbert.

I was complimented by the stewardess on my return flight, she said.

Amsterdam to buy up red light windows

From Expatica see full article

The municipality of Amsterdam wants to work with large investors to buy up more of the buildings in the red light district so as to combat crime and deterioration. The city has its eye mainly on prostitution businesses and coffeeshops.

Together with NV Stadsgoed of housing corporation Het Oosten Amsterdam has already acquired 83 buildings in the notorious neighbourhood.

We plan to continue this on a larger scale," alderman Lodewijk Asscher (economic affairs) said on Thursday. We are in talks with large investors who can develop new investment plans for the inner city under the direction of the municipality.

Charles Geerts ('Fat Charles'), one of the most important business owners in the red light district, is on the verge of selling all his buildings to an Amsterdam housing corporation. A considerable number of prostitution windows in the area will disappear with the sale.

The municipality revoked Geerts' brothel permits in 2006 because of his presumed criminal connections and allegations that he was using his empire for laundering money. The accusations have never been proven however.

Intolerable pain weapon for crowd control

Hopefully no one would sell it to Thailand...would they?

From the Times see full article

The first heat-ray gun goes on display in London this week.

Raytheon, the American defence company, is hoping to find customers for its Silent Guardian system, developed as a form of non-lethal crowd control, which will be shown at the Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi) exhibition, the world’s largest arms fair.

The weapon emits a wave of energy that vaporises skin moisture, causing an intense burning sensation. Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials will be invited to place their hands in front of the machine’s ray and experience what its maker describes as “intolerable” pain.

A Raytheon marketing brochure explains: The system’s antenna emits a focused beam of millimetre-wave energy. The beam travels at the speed of light and penetrates the skin to a depth of 1/64th of an inch, producing an intolerable heating sensation that causes the targeted individuals to instinctively flee or take cover.

Raytheon envisages that the ray gun will be deployed for crowd-control and peacekeeping missions. It said that the machine had been certified by Guinness World Records as the first heat-ray gun.

The weapon is shaped like a satellite dish and can be mounted on a van or on a security checkpoint. It emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation up to half a kilometre, which causes water particles in the skin to vibrate, creating a burning sensation equivalent to touching an oven ring.

Raytheon insists that the gun does not cause any physical harm unless a victim is exposed to the ray for a sustained period.

Anti-arms industry campaigners are opposed to Raytheon promoting the system in Britain. Symon Hill, a spokesman for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: The Silent Guardian sounds like a dictator’s dream – a weapon to suppress dissent and protest.

Despite the claims that the heat ray is harmless, the American military so far has rejected calls for it to be deployed in Iraq. There are still concerns about how the weapon affects eyes or contact lenses worn by those coming into contact with it.

Major German ISP blocks adult content

It is not just Thailand that suffers internet censorship

From X Biz see full article

European Internet provider Arcor reportedly is blocking their ISDN/DSL subscribers from access to certain adult-oriented websites. The company is Germany’s second largest provider of fixed line phone and the only German telecom with an IDSN network independent of No. 1 Internet provider Duetsche Telekom.

According to an article posted on Heisse Online, Arcor spokesperson Paul Gerlach has confirmed that several adult sites have been blocked due to lack of age verification safeguards, making adult content available to underage users: Pornographic content is freely accessible [on the pages concerned] with insufficient or no checks on age.

The company stated that the blockages were requested by a German adult Internet company that is compliant with German laws, which restricts adult content to prevent minors from accessing it.

Section 184 of the German Penal Code calls for fines and up to a one-year jail sentence for Internet companies that do not require age verification.

Until the legal position is clarified, Arcor has voluntarily complied with this request. Provisionally, therefore, the corresponding pages cannot be accessed from the Arcor network, Gerlach said. The company expects that the website operator and the company that hosts the pages will remove the unlawful content or make it inaccessible to the public, Gerlach said.

As the global adult Internet market becomes more competitive, several foreign companies have set up sites translated to German and, according to Heisse Online, sometimes overlook German statutes regulating the Internet. Some of the sites being blocked by Arcor include Sex.com, YouPorn.com and PrivatAmateure.com.

Vodafone, Arcor's parent company, is the largest provider of mobile phone service in Germany and Austria; its customers will no longer be able to access the blocked sites on their mobile devices through the Vodafone network.

Gordon Brown's ministerial team. Left to right: Women's Issues, Patriotism & Jingoism, Religious Observance, Fun & Recreation, Men's Issues

 
More nasty ideas to get more Brits in prison

Based on an article from the Guardian see full article

Ministers are considering proposals to prosecute men for buying sex, the Guardian has learned.

Senior members of the government are discussing whether to criminalise the purchase, rather than sale, of sex - as Sweden did eight years ago.

One minister acknowledged the move would be quite a dramatic step, but added: There's no doubt whatsoever it's being talked about. There is increasing awareness among senior ministers, particularly women, that demand for prostitution is an area which needs to be tackled seriously and hasn't been.

A number of senior women in government - including Jacqui Smith, the home secretary; Patricia Scotland, the attorney general; Vera Baird, solicitor general; and Harriet Harman, leader of the house - are thought to be sympathetic to the calls.

Other proposals being considered include large-scale programmes to name and shame men caught kerbcrawling, which is already illegal. But campaigners believe that only by criminalising clients can they help women working in brothels as well as on the streets and send out a signal that paying for sex is not acceptable.

Fiona Mactaggart MP, who as a home office minister was in charge of tackling prostitution until last year, said: The criminal justice bill that comes back on the first day [after the parliamentary recess] includes changes to the prostitution strategy. It would be possible to put into it some amendment which deals with this issue of men who pay for sex, she said.

A Home Office spokeswoman said it had no current plans to criminalise paying for sex. But the Guardian understands that the proposal is being discussed informally with a view to longer-term action.

The government has won praise from unexpected sources for other socially conservative measures recently, ranging from scrapping plans for a supercasino to launching a review of media violence and its impact on children and young people.

Sweden criminalised buying sex but decriminalised selling it eight years ago. Supporters of the scheme say it has slashed the number of brothels and clients and cut the level of sex trafficking into the country to hundreds of women. But some critics have suggested that women who remain in the sex industry have become more vulnerable as a result of the reforms.

   
Appeal court allows policeman to be fired for operating adult website

Ummm...I wonder if holidaying in Pattaya could be construed as impropriety

From SF Gate see full article

A police department had the right to fire an officer for operating a Web site that featured sexually explicit photos and videos of his wife, a federal appeals court ruled.

Although Ronald Dible's conduct may have been unrelated to his job as a police officer in Chandler, Arizona, his actions hurt the department in the eyes of the public and were not protected by freedom of speech, said the Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

His activities were simply vulgar and indecent, said Judge Ferdinand Fernandez. They did not contribute speech on a matter of public concern.

But one member of the three-judge panel said the court's rationale might apply equally to an off-duty officer who angered some members of the public by marching in a gay pride parade.

Dible and his wife, Megan, started the Web site in September 2000 and charged users a fee for watching nude videos. The department did not learn about the site until January 2002 and questioned Ronald Dible, who initially denied he had anything to do with the site, the court said.

Dible was fired in April 2002. His suit, filed in 2003, claimed that the department had violated his right of free speech.

Upholding a lower-court ruling in the city's favor, the appeals court cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2004 that allowed San Diego to fire a police officer who had made and sold sexually explicit videos of himself, stripping out of a police uniform. The court said the officer's activities had harmed the police department and were not constitutionally protected.

Unlike that officer, Dible did not tell his porn customers that he was a police officer. But the court said the harm caused by his conduct, once disclosed, far outweighed any legal protection it deserved.

The public expects officers to behave with a high level of propriety, and, unsurprisingly, is outraged when they do not do so, said Fernandez, joined by Chief Judge Mary Schroeder. The law and their own safety demands that they be given a degree of respect, and the sleazy activities of Ronald and Megan Dible could not help but undermine that respect.

Judge William Canby, in a separate opinion, said Dible's lies to police investigators were the only valid grounds for his dismissal. He said police officers, like other public employees, have a right to free expression outside the workplace that is unrelated to their job, even if some find it objectionable.

Naked Rambler on a 3 year jail sentence

It is the contemptible sheriffs that should be locked up.

From The Scotsman see full article

The Naked Rambler has been ordered to serve a further 83 days in prison after picking up his 11th conviction for breach of the peace.

Stephen Gough, 48, was picked up by police officers on July 31 on his release from Saughton prison wearing only a pair of boots.

A number of pedestrians and motorists witnessed Gough, and one driver even tooted his car horn at him. He denied his nudity amounted to a breach of the peace at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday.

But Sheriff Kathrine Mackie disagreed and ordered him back to prison - where he has been almost continuously for the last 16 months.

His solicitor, John Good, pointed out that the jail time he had served was the equivalent of a three-year term, but said his client still refused to wear clothes and planned to continue his solitary confinement at Saughton. He told the court: It is Mr Gough's position that people should not be afraid of the human state.

Mandatory human chip implants to be banned in California

From LA Times see full article
See also Home chip implantation kit

Tackling a dilemma right out of a science fiction novel, the California state Senate passed legislation that would bar employers from requiring workers to have identification devices implanted under their skin.

State Senator. Joe Simitian proposed the measure after at least one company began marketing radio frequency identification devices for use in humans.

The devices, as small as a grain of rice, can be used by employers to identify workers. A scanner passing over a body part implanted with one can instantly identify the person.

RFID is a minor miracle, with all sorts of good uses, Simitian said. But we shouldn't condone forced 'tagging' of humans. It's the ultimate invasion of privacy. Simitian said he fears that the devices could be compromised by persons with unauthorized scanners, facilitating identity theft and improper tracking and surveillance.

The bill has been approved by the state Assembly and now goes to the governor.

One company, VeriChip, has been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration to sell implanted identification devices, and about 2,000 people have had them implanted, Simitian said. CityWatcher.com, a Cincinnati video surveillance company, has required employees who work in its secure data center to have a microchip implanted in an arm.

   
Passenger persecution policy at UK's Merseyrail

From the Times see full article

A student who was taken to court for putting her feet on a train seat escaped a potentially career-wrecking criminal conviction yesterday after lawyers branded the case a “ludicrous” waste of time and money.

Kathleen Jennings wiped tears from her eyes as she was given an absolute discharge by Chester magistrates.

The university student, who is studying maths, had fallen foul of the train operator Merseyrail’s “zero tolerance” policy to protect its upholstery.

Although she removed her flip-flops from the seat as an inspector arrived, this did not satisfy the company. Rather than imposing a fine, it chose to pursue the matter through the courts, in a move that was criticised yesterday as an absurd over-reaction.

Had she been convicted of a criminal offence, the teenager could have struggled to realise her ambition of becoming a maths teacher.

However, Christine Abrams, the chairwoman of the magistrates’ bench, gave Miss Jennings an absolute discharge, meaning that no criminal offence will be recorded and she will suffer no penalty. There were no costs awarded.

Abrams said: The bench is united in feeling that while this may have been contrary to a by-law, Merseyrail should have a less draconian method for dealing with matters of this nature. She advocated a more commonsense approach in the future. A fixed penalty system may be more appropriate.

Earlier Kevin Jones, representing Merseyrail, told the court that, as a train inspector approached Miss Jennings, she took her flip-flops off the seat. He admitted there was no verbal warning but said that a notice in front of her warned passengers of a £100 penalty for resting their feet on seats.

From the Daily Mail see full article

But it has emerged that Merseyrail is to take 600 more passengers to court for putting their feet on its seats.

It is the only train company in the UK to prosecute for the offence and claims the policy, which was introduced in February, has widespread support among passengers.

Most offenders receive a conditional discharge and are fined around £50.

A Merseyrail spokesman said: More than £34million has been spent on refurbishing our fleet to provide a clean and comfortable journey. To date, we have prosecuted some 240 people for putting their feet on the seats and other by-law infringements such as smoking. All have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty by magistrates. A further 600 people or so are due in court over the next few months.

We do not regard our campaign as draconian. We are responding to the demands of passengers who don't want to sit on a seat covered in mud or dirt.

 
Nutters to litigate on the basis of 'erotoxins' causing  physiological harm

From AVN see full article

A new blog has been established at www.familyfragments.com to serve as the informational portal for the Lighted Candle Society, an anti-porn activist group formed in 1991 by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III and former California Lieutenant Governor John Harmer.

The LCS intends to attack the porn industry via civil litigation, using the blog to garner support for its cause and keep porn opponents informed of its progress, according to the American Family News Network.

The suits being drummed up by the LCS will largely be based on state and federal obscenity laws, but there is also talk of presenting "scientific evidence" that pornography causes "physiological harm," as determined by the likes of Dr. Judith Reisman.

Formerly a singer on the Captain Kangaroo show, Reisman subsequently re-diverted her professional life toward media studies and is best known for attempting to debunk the work of Alfred Kinsey. Among her claims are that Kinsey's research was the basis of a "child molestation protocol," and that watching pornography causes the brain to emit "erototoxins" which have a toxic effect upon the viewer.

LCS spokesman Justin Hart commented, We now have the scientific fodder to throw on the fire. We also have done a lot of strategic legal research into specific state statutes that are favorable to plaintiffs in this regard.

Reisman’s 'research' is that pleasurable experiences produce endorphins, noted AVN's Mark Kernes. If that’s their scientific basis for banning porn, eating chocolate will be next.

   
Non driver arrested for failing to show drivers licence

From Slashdot see full article
See full story at Michael Righi's blog

Michael Righi was arrested in Ohio over the weekend after refusing to show his receipt when leaving Circuit City.

When the manger and 'loss prevention' employee physically prevented the vehicle he was a passenger in from leaving the parking lot, he called the police, who arrived, searched his bag and found he hadn't stolen anything.

The officer then asked for Michael's driver's license, which he declined to provide since he wasn't operating a motor vehicle. The officer then arrested him, and upon finding out Michael was legally right about not having to provide a license, went ahead and charged him with 'obstructing official business' anyways."

   
UK Police run over pedestrian's foot and then issue charge for denting the police car

Based on an article from the Daily Mail see full article

When a pedestrian was hit by a police car which mounted the pavement, it was obvious who was going to come off worse. After suffering a broken foot in the collision, however, Daniel Horne thought all the damage had been done.

Until he received an £80 fine - for denting the vehicle.

Mr Horne had been walking home in June when the marked police car mounted the pavement and crushed his foot under the wheel. An apologetic officer then took him to hospital where he spent three hours being treated for his damaged foot.

The police driver took Daniel to hospital for treatment to his foot after the accident at Beddau, near Pontypridd, South Wales and waited with him.

Mr Horne said: The copper was very helpful and was there with me for about three hours while the doctors examined me. My metatarsal was completely crushed and I was put in a cast. He gave me a lift back but then told me: 'Sorry but I've got to do this to cover myself.' I was amazed when he issued me with the £80 fixed penalty notice. I was speechless when he wrote out that I ran into a police vehicle causing a dent.

The fine ticket reads: You ran into the n/s [near side] front wing of a marked police vehicle causing a dent.

Daniel said: There is no way I'm going to pay the fixed penalty fine. I've spoken to my solicitor and I'm going to fight it all the way.

A South Wales Police spokeswoman said: A fixed penalty was issued for criminal damage. We have received a complaint from Mr Horne and are looking into it.

 
Las Vegas allows brothel adverts

From Las Vegas Now see full article

Advertising in Las Vegas started a new era on Friday. For the first time ever, a legalized brothel bought a moving billboard to drive around Las Vegas. The world famous and historic Chicken Ranch became the first brothel to advertise.

Two state laws had previously banned brothels from advertising anywhere. On July 12, a federal judge overturned those laws, saying they were "overly broad," clearing the way for this.

The Chicken Ranch Brothel in Pahrump paid for the moving billboard. The Chicken Ranch billboard may actually seem tame for Las Vegas standards. There are no girls anywhere on it -- although it does offer free transportation. Ads pushing Las Vegas shows reveal much more.

A spokesman for the Chicken Ranch says the brothel wants the advertisements to be done with taste and discretion. Meredith says it hit the mark.

State law allows counties in Nevada to have legal brothels if the population is under 400,000 people. That means prostitution is not legal in Clark County and Washoe County. The closest brothels to Las Vegas are 60 miles to the west in Pahrump in Nye County.

Beware, clip joint! The Soho Cabaret Great Windmill Street

 
Potential victims will be warned about Soho rip off bars

Thankfully no clip joints in Pattaya but there a couple that would merit an SMS warning

From the Daily Mail see full article

Text messages and emails warning passers-by they are entering an area where clip joints masquerading as sex bars operate are to be sent out under a pioneering new scheme.

Westminster City Council will use Bluetooth technology to send a message about the dangers of Soho's notorious clubs to the owners of mobile phones or BlackBerrys who wander within a 30-metre radius of three venues.

Beware, clip joint! Twilights Rupert Street

The warning reads: £5 to get in, £500 to get out. Criminals operate some of the hostess bars in Soho. Don't enter without knowing what you'll get for your money.

Clip joints are a well established Soho scam and Westminster has been campaigning for years to drive them out of the West End.

Customers are lured inside with false promises of "adult entertainment" - only to find a shabby room, no bar and no entertainment.

Beware, clip joint! Illusions Great Windmill Street

They are presented with huge bills for entry and soft drinks and menaced into paying. Those who refuse risk being frog-marched to cash machines.

Westminster's initiative will see the message issued between 500 and 1,000 times per day, targeting the last three remaining clip joints in the area - Twilights in Rupert Street and Illusions and The Soho Cabaret in Great Windmill Street.

A Westminster spokesman said: "It's hard to close them down. They are unregulated and do not need a licence because they do not sell alcohol or provide any entertainment: It's difficult to gather evidence against them because anyone who does come a cropper is too ashamed to go to the police or council. In the past we have managed to close them down using property laws and health and safety laws. For example, we can shut them down if they don't have proper fire exits. The remaining ones will go eventually but in the meantime we need to warn people about them.

People will be asked if they want to read the message from the council before it is displayed in full. The technology allows it to be sent out only once to each device. Leaflets warning people about the bars are also regularly distributed in the area by the council.

   
Discriminatory legislation in Atlanta

From The Telegraph see full article

Plans to ban low-slung, underwear-exposing trousers have provoked allegations of racism and the restriction of personal freedom after councillors in Atlanta declared it should be the first major city to tackle "offensive dressing".

Critics of the planned ban have claimed the measure would allow police to target young black males

Officials want to impose a $100 (£50) fine and community service for offensive dressing after complaints not only of indecency but of lowering the image of the black community, where the fashion began.

For several years, American youths, male and female, have worn oversize trousers around their hips, or even lower, in a trend exported overseas - not least to Britain. Held up with a belt and periodic tugs, they often reveal boxer shorts or, in the case of girls, thong underwear.

Critics have claimed the measure would allow police to target young black males. This would establish an additional type of racial profiling, said Debbie Seagraves, of the Georgia state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

But at a heated meeting in Atlanta, the division was between old and young - or, perhaps, between non-hip and hip.

The motion was proposed by a black councillor, C T Martin, who has described sagging trousers as an "epidemic" that is a "major concern" around the country. He was supported from the large audience by James Allen, 76, who said he would start a "belt brigade" to patrol the streets for inappropriate trouser-heights. Underwear flashers held up a sign saying "Clothes are not a crime".

The meeting ended with the council members showing their age, or perhaps their wisdom, and setting up a task force to look into the issue further.

 
Chief Justices proposes Sharia law

For those retired couples thinking of giving up on Thailand and moving to Malaysia

From the Telegraph see full article

Hardline Islamic law could be introduced across Malaysia under reforms proposed by the country's chief justice.

As the nation in south-east Asia celebrated 50 years of independence from Britain yesterday, its government was preparing to discuss a plan that would revolutionise the legal system put in place by its former colonial administrators.

Ahmad Fairuz, the chief justice, told an Islamic conference in Kuala Lumpur that 50 years of independence had failed to free Malaysia from the "clutches of colonialism". Sharia law should be "infused" into the gaps created by abolishing common law, he said.

Malaysia's non-Muslim Chinese and Indian communities, who form 40% of the population, are alarmed at creeping Islamisation.

Abdul Badawi, the prime minister, this month joined other leaders for the first time in denying what the British-authored constitution has said for 50 years - that Malaysia is a secular state.

Sharia law already operates in some Malaysian states and is occasionally applied to non-Muslims, as in July when Islamic officials forcibly separated a Hindu-Muslim couple with six children after 21 years of marriage.

Gangs of politicians posturing on YouTube

Based on an article from The Times see full article

Three Scottish teenagers from Glasgow’s Xcross gang put a video on YouTube in which they gloated over the killing of a 21-year-old father.

Caught by the police, the three stars of the disturbing internet movie pleaded guilty to culpable homicide last week, allowing the story of their online bragging to be told. Plastered all over the Scottish newspapers last week, it is hardly surprising that the shock that such videos exist have begun to lead to calls for more regulation of the video-sharing website.

In the past fortnight MPs have queued up to criticise YouTube in an attempt to look tough on law and order, in response to the spate of gun crime. As a result, John Whittingdale, who chairs UK's Commons Culture Select Committee, is considering a public enquiry into the topic.

What we’re seeing is the emergence of this, and a whole series of undesirable things emerging from new media,  Whittingdale said. There are also concerns about cyber-bullying and about the use by some Islamic fundamentalist groups of some pretty appalling websites.

Ivan Lewis, a health minister, who has some responsiblity for “inter-generational issues”, delivered a warning in Sunday’s Observer that companies should “do everything in their power” to prevent such material appearing online - a clear hint of how far concerns have reached at the political level. On the other side of the fence, David Cameron called for curbs on violent music and games, as the Tory leader strayed close to the issue of online regulation.

The storm is an indication of how the “you can’t regulate the internet” debate is shifting. Two years ago, Lord Currie of Marylebone, Ofcom’s chairman, argued that there was no need for any specific internet regulation, because existing laws, such as those covering incitment to racial hatred, made illegal anything that was likely to provoke the most offense.

Yet there is a recognition privately in regulatory circles that the debate is being reopened - although there are no plans as yet for a formal Ofcom consultation - and acknowledgement that this is an issue that the Government may force the communications authority to consider.

I’m not sure there is currently the case for any statutory intervention, Whittingdale said,“but we want to see Google and the internet service providers getting together and focusing on what might be done. An inquiry from Whittingdale’s committee is likely in the next few months.

It is unlikely that a solution lies with the expansion of Ofcom’s caller centre, which handles viewer complaints about television - “Who would pay for it?” one insider asks - but there is some interest, particularly among Conservatives, in trying to extend the familiar film rating system used by the BBFC.

For the moment, YouTube is resistant, although it does restrict some content to the over18s, but that is unlikely to satisfy the growing band of political critics; if the issues of children and gangs remains in the public eye for much longer - and it probably will - the prospect of tightening internet regulation becomes more and more likely.

 
Record emigration from Britain

From the BBC & The Telegraph

More people left the UK last year than in any year since 1991, statistics just released suggest.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that some 385,000 people left the UK for the long term in the year to mid-2006.

This is almost certainly the greatest emigration since the 1960s, when thousands left to start new lives in Australia. It could even be the highest since before the First World War, though official figures are not available.

Almost 200,000 of those leaving for a year or more were British citizens and the rest were foreign nationals returning home or going elsewhere.

Since 1997, 1.8 million British nationals have left the country and about 900,000 have returned. At the same time, more than three million foreign nationals arrived and about half that number left.

The departure of so many Britons is exacerbating the demographic and cultural changes wrought by high levels of immigration.

Surveys indicate that another one million are set to pack their bags for good over the next five years and a further 500,000 live abroad for part of the year.

Not only do more British live abroad than any other nationality, they are also more spread out. There are 41 countries with more than 10,000 British living there and another 71 countries with more than 1,000.

Long-term migration into the UK, meanwhile, was 574,000.

The figures show the UK's population grew to 60,587,000 - an increase of 349,000 (0.6%). They also suggest there were 159,000 more births than deaths.

The number of people aged 85 or over grew by 6% to 1,243,000 while the number of people of retirement age increased by 1% to 11,344,000.

The average age of Britons abroad was 39 compared with just over 34 in 1971.

A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research for the BBC News website in 2006 showed almost one in 10 British citizens lives overseas.

The top expat locations were Australia, Spain, the US and Canada.

Increasing numbers were heading to Asian countries such as the UAE, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand and China. 

 
Requiring visitors to the US to carry ID cards

Doesn't a passport count as an ID card?

From The Times see full article

Every foreigner in America, including British visitors, would be required to carry an ID card bearing photograph and fingerprints under plans drawn up by Rudolph Giuliani, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.

Giuliani is hoping to cement his status as the Republican favourite by promising to enforce immigration and border controls, drawing on expertise in combating crime from his time as mayor of New York. He announced last week that all foreigners, including holiday-makers, would be obliged to carry a “tamper-proof” biometric card, which could be issued at ports of entry.

If you don’t have that card, you get thrown out of the country, Giuliani said. He intends to call it a Safe card (for secure authorised foreign entry).

The proposal plays to his reputation for being tough on terrorism and shores up his credentials on immigration, but at the price of a row over civil liberties.

The question is: in what circumstances will people be asked for their IDs? said Jay Stanley, a privacy expert at the American Civil Liberties Union. Will dark-skinned foreigners be asked for their IDs while a Caucasian person isn’t? Opponents also believe it could be costly, cumbersome and could affect trade and tourism.

   
UK social services take babies to meet adoption targets

Based on an article from The Telegraph see full article
For help against baby stealers see FASSIT

A heavily pregnant woman is at the centre of an extraordinary legal battle with social workers after she secretly recorded them threatening to take away her newborn baby.

Vanessa Brookes, 34, who is due to give birth early next month, smuggled taping equipment into a meeting with social services officials, fearing they would try to take her baby for forced adoption.

She recorded a social worker telling her and her husband Martin that even though there was no immediate risk to your child from yourselves, the council would seek a court order to place the child in foster care.

Mother and baby would be allowed "two or three days" in hospital together, but should not leave the premises until social workers came to remove the infant. In a desperate attempt to keep their baby, the couple have published the recorded conversation on the internet.

Shits of Calderdale council, in West Yorkshire, last night accused them of breaching the Data Protection Act by recording its staff without their knowledge or consent. The council said it had begun legal action to have the recording removed from the YouTube website. Mrs Brookes said: Even puppies and kittens aren't removed from their mothers at birth. Social workers always record everything, so why shouldn't we record them?

John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP and chairman of campaign group Justice for Families, said: I find it very odd that a newborn baby would be removed when there is not any allegation by the authorities that the child is at risk. Yet this case is not unique. There are many cases in which newborns are removed because of allegations that their mothers may at some later stage 'emotionally abuse' the child.

The case returns the spotlight to claims that social services are being heavy-handed in removing children from their parents, in order to meet Government adoption targets.

The Sunday Telegraph has previously revealed cases of mothers who were not told why their children were taken away, and cases of families whose children were not returned even after the parents had been cleared of wrongdoing. More than 2,000 babies aged under a year were taken for adoption last year, almost triple the level of a decade ago.

Social services took an interest in the Brookes family after Mrs Brookes, who is partially-sighted, was diagnosed with depression and a personality disorder, leading to concerns that her baby might be subjected to "emotional abuse". Neighbours have complained that the couple's household was disorderly, but neither has been accused of abusing or harming a child.

In the recorded meeting, the social worker tells the couple: It's our intention as a local authority that when your baby is born, we go into court on that same day and ask for an interim court order because we would wish to place your baby with foster carers.

He tells Mrs Brookes: I would like you and your baby to stay in hospital until the courts have made a decision.

The social worker admits to the couple that a back-up plan is being drawn up in case the judge refuses the application for a care order. He says: What we also have to think about is a child protection plan that looks at you, at home, with your baby. There is no immediate risk to your child from yourselves, that's my understanding from reading documents.

A spokesman for the shites of Calderdale council said officials would seek a meeting with Mr and Mrs Brookes to understand how this information came into the public domain. We are taking action to have this item removed from YouTube. This recording was made without the knowledge or consent of our member of staff.

 
West Australia to decriminalise brothels

From News.com.au see full article

Police have welcomed proposals to decriminalise and regulate West Australian brothels, in a move due to be debated in State Parliament in the next month.

WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty will introduce legislation into State Parliament when it resumes next week which would allow brothels to operate legally.

Prostitution is not prohibited in WA but it is illegal to manage a brothel and live off the earnings of prostitution.

The laws are archaic and need to be changed, McGinty said: The new laws which we will be introducing to parliament in the next month will see brothels regularised, to the extent that we accept the reality that they are there and what we want to do is give local government the power to regulate where they are located and how they operate.

We want to give the police the power to properly control activities that might be crime-related but most importantly we don't want the absurd situation of the police being required to turn a blind eye to any illegal activity.

A Police Royal Commission in WA recommended the laws be changed to avoid the possibility of police corruption in terms of turning a blind eye to something illegal but unenforceable, McGinty said.

Organised Crime Detective Superintendent Kim Porter said the advent of new prostitution laws would be welcomed: The police have certainly been in a difficult position for quite some time, trying to deal with issues that have been not particularly clear in terms of legislation.

   
Due to wine, women & crime

Based on an article from Arab News

Travellers and travel agents were not informed of a ban on Saudis travelling to Thailand and so many Saudis, who visited the country at the beginning of the summer, have returned to face questioning from the Kingdom’s authorities.

Thailand has for the past 12 years been on a list of countries that Saudis are not allowed to visit. The list includes Israel, Iraq and Bosnia.

Many Saudis still continue to apply for tourist visas to Thailand, which are easily obtainable. There are no direct flights from the Kingdom to Thailand. Connecting flights are available in Dubai and Qatar. The Thailand Tourism Commission states it received 9,000 Saudis tourists in 2006. People this summer have once again been asked not to visit Thailand unless for business reasons, a rule that many members of the public are unaware of.

People believe the ban has been reinforced because of men who visit Thailand to drink alcohol, visit prostitutes and then be robbed and at times murdered.

The administration has stressed that those who have travelled to Thailand as tourists and come back will be questioned about why they travelled there. They would also be prevented from travelling for six months to three years and fined SR5,000 for breaking the ban.

However, not all visitors to Thailand have been questioned on return but an employee at a travel agency said: Those who have not been questioned will most likely be questioned when they renew their passports.

   
Anti porn bill is extreme, discriminatory and dishonest

Based on an article from AVN see full article

The bill presented to the Australian Parliament Tuesday would brand anybody caught with five or more pornographic items in the aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory a "trafficker," punishable by up to two years in prison.

Introduced to the Parliament by Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough, the draft laws would prohibit the delivery of pornographic materials into the area, and charge anybody possessing the forbidden five or more items with trafficking, regardless of whether they have any intent to profit from them.

Meanwhile, possession of less than five pornographic items could still earn perpetrators a fine of between $5500 and $11,000 under the new bill.

This ban applies no matter where material is being sent from, Brough said. We have to stop material at its source, by preventing mail order companies sending material into a community, as well as residents or visitors sending or taking material into a community.

Lufthansa consider bunks beds for air travellers

From the Daily Mail

With triple-decker bunk-beds stacked from floor to ceiling, it looks a cross between a school dormitory and the sleeping quarters on a troop ship.

But travellers take note. German airline Lufthansa is considering introducing just such an economy sleeper cabin on its long-haul flights.

It would, for the first time, offer economy-class passengers a bed rather than a seat for a more comfortable ride.

Details of the idea - which would radically alter intercontinental travel - emerged as the airline hailed encouraging feedback from customers quizzed in an online poll.

The high-density bunk-beds would allow the airline to accommodate enough passengers, while still providing them with the luxury of a good night's sleep on an overnight flight, without having to charge them a £3,000 price tag.

The bunk beds would be transformed from seats after take off and would cost around £120 more than a flexible economy fare.

They would be linked to the flight entertainment system but would be unlikely to include a meal service, other than a light snack and bottled water from the buffet, because passengers booking them would be anxious to get their heads down to sleep as quickly as possible.

Torturous punishment flogging

Before you think about Malaysia as an alternative to Thailand...

From the Daily Mail see full article
See also video of a bloody caning

Strapped on a wooden frame, a prisoner braces himself for the brutal onslaught.

Within moments of the first blow being struck by the cane-wielding official, the skin on his buttocks breaks and the raw wound begins to open.

Lash after lash after lash follows until his flesh is reduced to a bloody mess. With each blow, the body flinches and there is a cry.

The caning was meted out in a jail in Malaysia, where the authorities insist that it is a legitimate punishment.

However, a video of the flogging has caused an outcry after it was posted on the Internet and seen around the world.

In images condemned by Malaysia's own lawyers, the unidentified male prisoner, thought to be a drug dealer, is shown being struck 20 times on his bare buttocks with a rotan - a bamboo-like cane.

The Bar Council of Malaysia, which represents 8,000 lawyers, has called for such punishment to be abolished and stepped up its campaign after highlighting the video images. We are against the death penalty and corporal punishment, said council president Ambiga Sreenevasan: It's against all international human rights norms and the various conventions on torture. It's inhumane and degrading.

The six-minute clip, entitled Malaysian Caning Judicial Corporal Punishment, was posted on www.lifeleak.com, an international video-sharing site.

Malaysia's deputy internal security minister Fu Ah Kiow defended the punishment. He said the video clip was recorded at a local prison and is used in drug prevention and other anti-crime campaigns.

The minister added: The video is a means to educate the public and to show how hideous caning can be. It is a deterrence for drug traffickers and drug addicts.

Somehow somebody duplicated it and posted it on the website, but it's not done by our officials. It is for education and training purposes, there's no big deal about it.

Flogging is widely used in Malaysia for numerous offences.

Massive amount of luggage goes missing on BA

And next month BA want to impose a one bag limit on hold luggage too.

From The Telegraph

Tens of thousands of pounds worth of lost bags and belongings are being sold off by airlines at auctions across the country, The Daily Telegraph reports today.

A baggage crisis at Heathrow has led to suitcases