Prostitution: Sex doesn’t sell. The mass-market end of the business TIMES are tough for Debbie, a prostitute in western England who runs a private flat with other “mature ladies”.
She does two or three jobs a day. A year ago she was doing eight or nine. She has cut her prices: “If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t still be open.” She says that she can now make more money doing up furniture and attending car-boot sales than she can turning tricks. George McCoy, who runs a website reviewing over 5,000 massage parlours and individuals, says that many are struggling. 10 things about extradition. 26 June 2013Last updated at 19:29 ET By Kathryn Westcott and Vanessa Barford BBC News.
The Ghosts of Europe Past. Cuba 'to offer' limited public internet access. The government of Cuba has said it will soon expand public access to the internet, although it will maintain restrictions for access at home.
It said that 118 internet points would be set up on the Caribbean island from 4 June, to allow web surfing for $4.5 (£3) an hour. John Sifton: The Real Costs of CIA Cash. (Washington) -- When the New York Times reported recently that the CIA routinely provides cash payments to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, totaling in the tens of millions of dollars, many were surprised.
Honduras Death Squads: Police Accused Of Killing Gang Members With Impunity. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- At least five times in the last few months, members of a Honduras street gang were killed or went missing just after run-ins with the U.S.
-supported national police, The Associated Press has determined, feeding accusations that they were victims of federal death squads. In a country with the highest homicide rate in the world and where only a fraction of crimes are prosecuted, the victims' families say the police are literally getting away with murder. In March, two mothers discovered the bodies of their sons after the men had called in a panic to say they were surrounded by armed, masked police. The young men, both members of the 18th Street gang, had been shot in the head, their hands bound so tightly the cords cut to the bone. That was shortly after three members of 18th Street were detained by armed, masked men and taken to a police station.
In the last two years, the United States has given an estimated $30 million in aid to Honduran law enforcement. U.S. US shale oil supply shock rocks global power balance. A steeper-than-expected rise in US shale oil reserves is about to change the global balance of power between new and existing producers, a report says.
Over the next five years, the US will account for a third of new oil supplies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The US will change from the world's leading importer of oil to a net exporter. Demand for oil from Middle-East oil producers is set to slow as a result. "North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world," said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Roe v. Wade Ruling Flawed. The North Korean spy who blew up a plane. 22 April 2013Last updated at 13:43 GMT By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes BBC News, Seoul.
Brazil prosecutors investigate ex-President Lula. 6 April 2013Last updated at 14:38 ET Former President Lula remains immensely popular.
Ticket charges: No more 'excessive' card surcharges. 5 April 2013Last updated at 19:29 ET New rules should make it cheaper to book cinema tickets Consumers booking a range of items from cinema tickets to hotel rooms now have new protection from card surcharges.
A ban on "excessive" debit and credit card charges begins on Saturday 6 April. The government said it should put an end to unscrupulous practices by some businesses. Until now, many people have been asked to pay large surcharges for using cards, especially when booking online. Is This a Pandemic Being Born? - By Laurie Garrett. Here's how it would happen.
Children playing along an urban river bank would spot hundreds of grotesque, bloated pig carcasses bobbing downstream. Hundreds of miles away, angry citizens would protest the rising stench from piles of dead ducks and swans, their rotting bodies collecting by the thousands along river banks. Is This a Pandemic Being Born? - By Laurie Garrett. Here's how it would happen. Children playing along an urban river bank would spot hundreds of grotesque, bloated pig carcasses bobbing downstream. Hundreds of miles away, angry citizens would protest the rising stench from piles of dead ducks and swans, their rotting bodies collecting by the thousands along river banks.
Is India in breach of Vienna convention over Italian envoy? 14 March 2013Last updated at 13:08 GMT. How the words of US presidents helped define the country. With Prince Muqrin’s Appointment, Saudi Succession Crisis Looms. Generational change has been postponed again in Saudi Arabia, and the kingdom’s succession process is now clear for the foreseeable future. With King Abdullah’s appointment this week of his half-brother Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz to the position of second deputy prime minister behind Crown Prince Salman, the inner circle of princes that has run the kingdom for half a century will retain power.
Prince Muqrin, along with King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman, are all the first-generation offspring of the current kingdom’s founder, King Abdul Aziz.