Union launches push for prostitute rights
MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of prostitutes working in Spain urgently need labor rights to prevent them from being exploited, one of Spain's most prominent union leaders said Wednesday.
"This is a strong, powerful sector, and one that is growing," said Jose Maria Fidalgo, general secretary of Workers' Commissions, one of Spain's two major national trade unions.
"In a civilized country, we cannot tolerate a non-regulated sector where hundreds of thousands of people, particularly women and immigrants, are being exploited," he told journalists ahead of a May 26 conference on rights for sex workers the union is organizing.
Carmen Bravo, the union's head of women's issues, said estimates of the number of prostitutes active in Spain ranged from 300,000 to 400,000. More than 90 percent are immigrants and the majority work in roadside brothels.
Police raids on this type of establishment frequently turn up large numbers of eastern European or African women being held in conditions of near slavery, having been brought into the country by traffickers.
"The sector is growing relentlessly," Bravo said.
Figures on how much the industry is worth are hard to come by, she added. "But we're talking about astronomical figures."
One study estimated a national newspaper was making 6 million euros ($7.7 million) a year from selling advertising space for sex services.
Next week's conference involves political parties, social and legal experts and sex workers themselves. The union hopes it will pave the way for legislation for the sector, which it says is the only way to protect workers.
Viagra-fueled Italian stallions seized by police
ROME (Reuters) - Italian police have discovered a mob-linked race track where they say horses were pumped full of Viagra and other drugs to fix races.
The illegally built and operated track, known locally as "Miss Charmet," is located on the outskirts of Naples city -- home to the Camorra, the local version of the Sicilian Mafia.
"We are able to ascertain the use of the famous (drug) Viagra to increase the performance of these horses," police commander Mario Pantano told local television.
It was not clear how Viagra affected the horses' speed.
The track and its horses, worth an estimated 5 million euros ($6.4 million), were seized by authorities investigating illegal doping of horses, according to local media.
Court Rules Woman Not Liable in Sex Suit
(AP) BOSTON - A woman isn't legally responsible for injuries her boyfriend suffered while they were having consensual sex more than a decade ago, a state appeals court ruled Monday.
The man, identified only as John Doe in court papers, filed suit against the woman in 1997, claiming she was negligent when she suddenly changed positions, landed awkwardly on him and fractured his penis.
The man underwent emergency surgery in September 1994, "endured a painful and lengthy recovery" and has suffered from sexual dysfunction that hasn't responded to medication or counseling, the appeals court said.
Although the woman may have exposed her boyfriend to "some risk of harm," the three-judge panel said her conduct during the sexual encounter wasn't "wanton or reckless" and can't support a lawsuit.
The man's lawsuit already has been thrown out by judges in Salem District Court and Essex Superior Court.
The appeals court upheld those rulings while noting that its ruling doesn't apply to cases where someone has negligently infected a partner with a sexually transmitted disease.
"There are no comprehensive legal rules to regulate consensual sexual behavior," Justice Joseph Trainor wrote. "In the absence of a consensus of community values or customs defining normal consensual conduct, a jury or judge cannot be expected to resolve a claim that certain consensual sexual conduct is undertaken without reasonable care."
The man's attorney, John Greenwood, said he is likely to appeal Monday's ruling to the state's highest court.
"It's a case that hasn't been seen before in Massachusetts," he said.
Greenwood argued that consensual sex doesn't mean "anything goes. ... The fact that some behavior was agreed to by the parties doesn't mean all behavior was agreed to by the parties."
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