Voodoo Child Smugglers Busted in Netherlands

You know, just in case CNN gig falls through

(NEWSER) - Eliot Spitzer is rumored to be a possible replacement for Campbell Brown on CNN , and in case he doesn’t get that job, Olivia Allin of The Frisky suggests 10 alternatives:

• Britney Spears’ assistant: “The logic here would be that since he’s apparently attracted to sexual young women, Britney could scare him off of that addiction”—and he could help her regain control of her life in the process.
• Unpaid prostitute: “Wouldn’t it be cool if Spitzer were forced to sleep with people he wasn’t attracted to?”

Proposed law would ban cops from arresting prostitutes

(NEWSER) - San Francisco could soon become the first major city in the US where prostitutes won't be arrested, the AP reports. The city votes next month on the controversial Proposition K to decriminalize sex work. The measure won't actually legalize the trade, but will forbid local law enforcement from investigating or prosecuting anyone for prostitution. More»

Trafficked women aren't giving consent, campaign maintains

(NEWSER) - British authorities are targeting men who pay for sex with a hard-hitting ad campaign comparing some instances to rape, Reuters reports. Because thousands of women trafficked into the country each year are forced into prostitution, there's nothing consensual about the sex they sell, the ads suggest. "Walk in a punter, walk out a rapist," say the ads to be posted in men's rooms. More»

Ruling could open floodgates of compensation for thousands of others

(NEWSER) - In a groundbreaking decision, Britain has awarded four women smuggled from eastern Europe to the UK and subjected by their captors to "forced prostitution, multiple rapes and beatings" more than £140,000. The decision, the first to consider false imprisonment and forced prostitution as categories for awarding damages, will serve as a legal precedent, the Guardian reports. More»

Crackdown on men soliciting prostitutes hailed as success

(NEWSER) - A Swedish law that penalizes men who solicit sex with prostitutes rather than the women themselves has been a huge success in cleaning up the streets and reducing human trafficking, proponents say. But Swedish sex workers see the ban as an undue burden on an already burdensome job and argue almost unanimously for decriminalization, Der Spiegel reports. More»