Sex and the city forbidden, but let the Games begin

Monday, Aug 04, 2008 4:41AM UTC

By Paul Majendie and Ben Blanchard

LONDON (Reuters) - Whatever happened to the Mongolian prostitutes? Where have all the "money boys" gone?

Looking for a high-class hooker in the lobby of a five-star hotel? It could be a tough assignment.

Anyone hoping for some readily available sex-for-sale in Beijing during the Olympics may be in for a shock. China is clearly keen to portray a squeaky clean image at the Summer Games and picture postcard Beijing is a top priority.

Prostitution is illegal in China. Banished after the Communist revolution in 1949, it returned with a vengeance in the 1980s when the country embarked upon economic reforms and started opening to the outside world.

For prostitutes and pole dancers alike, pickings now are slim. They cannot wait for the Olympics to end.

Climbing down from her pole in a sparsely populated bar in Beijing's Sanlitun area, 22-year-old Yang Shuo sighed.

"Business is OK but it could be better," she said. "It's the Olympics, you know. Police are cracking down on places like this."

Looking out on a tacky bar filled with a handful of customers, she said: "I am looking forward to the Olympics finishing."

For the oldest profession in the world, drumming up clients at the Olympics is hard work.

"Business is terrible," confessed one prostitute as she strode up to a passing westerner in a downtown Beijing street offering "Sex, Sex, Sex".

"We have been thrown out of the hotels," said the woman in her mid-30s, wearing a low-strung orange top. "We have to do our business on the streets and cut our prices."

"CLOSED FOR RENOVATION"

She normally charges 600 yuan (45 pounds) for three hours. The special Olympic price is now down to 500 yuan.

"I hate the Olympics. We can't wait for them to finish -- then business can return to normal."

The outlook was equally bleak at a bar once notorious as a haunt for picking up Mongolian prostitutes. The guard outside said: "It is closed for renovation. It will not be re-opening until September."

Trying to find out how business was for the money boys -- China's name for gay rent boys -- was not easy. None was prepared to talk unless you paid them first.

The Chinese government has told discos, karaoke bars and other entertainment venues to install windows in private rooms and ensure staff dress modestly in an effort to crack down on prostitution and drugs.

The Ministry of Public Security has decreed that entertainment venues must install transparent partitions between rooms that ensure "the whole environment of the consumer's entertainment area in the room can be seen".

Discos and karaoke bars in China frequently have private rooms for hire and are a favourite place for businessmen to entertain guests, sometimes with prostitutes.

Skimpy outfits were also officially discouraged. Staff members should "dress tastefully and not be too exposing".

(Writing by Paul Majendie; Editing by Nick Macfie)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)

Railway changes orange strip to avoid Dutch soccer fans mix-up

Railway changes orange strip to avoid Dutch mix-up

Friday, Jun 20, 2008 11:31AM UTC

By Mark Ledsom

BASEL (Reuters) - Switzerland's national railway has told its workers to stop using their normal orange reflective vests after confused Dutch soccer fans started following them on to the tracks.

A railway spokesman said the changed strip had been prompted by an incident in the Swiss capital Berne when a group of Netherlands supporters followed a worker on to the lines after mistaking his uniform for their traditional orange dress.

"We have now given out yellow vests to all our staff who have to work on or cross the tracks in Basel, where the Dutch fans are now based," Oliver Tamas said on Friday.

"It has raised a few eyebrows but we think it's a necessary measure to ensure the safety of our guests."

Tamas said that 1,500 railway staff involved in fan coordination work had already been given yellow vests to help them stand out from the Dutch supporters.

Police in Berne also ditched their orange vests after Netherlands were drawn to play all three of their group stage matches in the city.

A Basel police spokesman said on Friday that the yellow vests used by Berne police had now been sent to Basel in time for Saturday's quarter-final between Netherlands and Russia.

(Editing by Jon Bramley)

Ashanti's bloody videos spark protest

Thursday, Jun 12, 2008 By Mariel Concepcion

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Blood-splattered videos for R&B singer-songwriter Ashanti's single "The Way That I Love You" sparked a protest by demonstrators in Los Angeles, prompting the artist and Universal Records to remove the clips from the Internet.

Led by civil-rights organization Project Islamic Hope and its leader, Najee Ali, more than two dozen parents and religious leaders gathered outside the West Coast Universal/Motown offices on Tuesday to voice their displeasure with the videos.

One clip features a scorned lover, played by Ashanti, who gets revenge on her cheating boyfriend by stabbing him to death. Images include a murder scene with a bloody knife and the boyfriend's body in a tub.

A separate promotional video includes a fake news reports about a killing spree allegedly inspired by Ashanti's love crime, as well as bloody walls with the words "black children will die" smeared on them. Before the protest, the promo video was viewable on TheWayThatILoveYou.com, but the site has since been removed.

The site allowed visitors to send customized versions of the promotional video called "Gotchagrams," with options to input a friend's name, their "crime" and "weapon of choice."

"Following discussions with Ashanti, we have jointly decided to remove the TheWayThatILoveYou.com website that hosts the Gotchagram," reads a statement from Universal. "Ashanti and her music have always been about self-empowerment and addressing the issues that are most meaningful to her. We stand by our artist and her creative choices."

"The Way That I Love You" is the first single from her new album, "The Declaration," which debuts this week at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

Reuters/Billboard