One of Germany's biggest luxury brothels is being built in the capital to cater for visitors to next year's World Cup.
The 60-room bordello -- oddly named Artemis after the goddess of chastity -- is within walking distance of the Berlin Olympia stadium.
legitimate work
Prostitution, which was legalized in Germany three years ago, is expected to be a huge money spinner during the competition, with brothels paying around 20 euros (US$24.2) for each prostitute each day to the authorities.
Andrea Petsch of the prostitute support network Hydra said: "The World Cup is a mega-event and lots of money will be made in many areas, one of which is prostitution."
Experts predict that around 40,000 foreign prostitutes will travel to Germany for the football tournament. To save the public from spotting women "offering their services," wooden huts are to be erected close to stadiums in cities including Dortmund and Cologne.
Love shacks
It is planned that the "love shacks" will be assembled in a designated area, complete with condom machines and snack bars.
But Petsch is dubious. "It sounds as if the poor women will be working in something like a toilet cabin. Working conditions at the new brothel in Berlin seem much better.
"I understand it is not going to be like the average brothel, where the prostitutes stand waiting at the windows. It will be more like a spa, with saunas, jacuzzis and bars."
`tolerance'
Prostitution was legalized in Germany in 2002, to remove the industry from criminal hands and to improve working conditions. In most cities there is a legal red-light district, known as a "tolerance zone," but the trade is banned elsewhere.
Germany's largest brothel, which has 120 rooms, is in Cologne, where authorities collect 700,000 euros a month from the trade.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]