TOKYO, Sept 30, 2008 (AFP) - Tokyo police said Tuesday they had arrested a man with a passion for women's underwear who used a fishing rod to reel them in.

Akira Hino, 51, was arrested last week for stealing a pair of knickers from a laundry pole on a second-floor balcony, a police spokesman said.

GENEVA, Sept 23, 2008 (AFP) - A Thai prostitute who went missing late last month was found murdered in eastern Switzerland on Tuesday, allegedly killed by a convicted rapist, police said.

SEOUL, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - South Korean police said Thursday they have seized beds and bathtubs weighing a total of 100 tons during a crackdown on prostitution in the capital Seoul.

They said the items and others were confiscated and destroyed during raids on dozens of massage parlours and brothels in the city's eastern district of Jangan.

SYDNEY, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - A married mother of three from the United States was convicted in an Australian court Tuesday of having underage sex with a 15-year-old boy she met on the Internet.

SYDNEY, September 14, 2008 (AFP) - An Australian churchgoer accused of sexually assaulting a woman during prayer sessions meant to lift a black magic curse on her was refused bail Sunday, it was reported.

A magistrate described the allegations against 61-year-old Sydney man Tony Golossian as 'bizarre and evil' and declined to grant him bail, Australian Associated Press reported.

SYDNEY, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Two churchgoers in Australia duped women into taking part in sex acts during fake prayer sessions by promising to lift black magic curses on them, police said Friday.

LONDON, September 11, 2008 (AFP) - 'The Joy of Sex', the iconic 1970s book which became the bedroom (and elsewhere) bible for a generation, has been re-released in an updated version for the noughties.

The original book, featuring a bearded man and his partner demonstrating the art of love in intimate if sketchy detail, sold millions of copies after its first publication in 1972.

HELSINKI, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a European security body, urged Wednesday its 56 member states to intensify efforts to crack down on human trafficking.

HONG KONG, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - A Hong Kong television reporter who quit his job after he was arrested for masturbating naked on a bus said he was only trying to 'ease his stress,' reports said Friday.

LONDON, September 4, 2008 (AFP) - Prostitutes in London are offering full sex for just 15 pounds (18 euros, 26 dollars), according to a report Thursday, which said it showed the 'disturbing prevalence' of the sex industry in the capital.

PARIS, September 3, 2008 (AFP) - Men tend to wind up with life partners who look like their mother, while a woman is lured to a partner who looks like her father, scientists reported on Wednesday.

DUBAI, August 31, 2008 (AFP) - Two foreign women have been jailed for a month for kissing and fondling each other and engaging in 'indecent acts' on a public beach in Dubai, the media reported on Sunday.

KUALA LUMPUR, August 31, 2008 (AFP) - A Malaysian welder had to have a nut removed from around his penis after an attempt to lengthen it before he gets engaged next week went embarrassingly wrong, a news report said Sunday.

The nut got stuck on his penis following an erection, the Star newspaper said, forcing him to seek help at a hospital in southern Johor state.

SYDNEY, August 27, 2008 (AFP) - Australian police said Wednesday they were investigating a private Catholic boarding school for boys after 13 former students said they had been molested there nearly 30 years ago.

The abuse allegedly occurred at the prestigious St Stanislaus' College in Bathurst, west of Sydney, for about six years between the late 1970s and early 1980s.

BEIJING, August 26, 2008 (AFP) - Relatives and 'secret lovers' of corrupt Chinese officials could face prison under draft legal amendments that target spiralling corruption in the government ranks, state media said Tuesday.

A `lonely and disturbed` Hong Kong man had to call police to try and free him after his penis got ...

THE HAGUE, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Environment lobby Greenpeace has released a racy video called 'Forest Love,' with fondling, moaning and gyrating trees to revitalise a campaign against illegal logging.

The suggestive clip was meant to remind the European Commission of the importance of protecting the world's forests, said a statement on the website of the Amsterdam-based body.

WARSAW, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - He has been dubbed the high priest of Catholic Kama Sutra, but Polish Friar Ksawery Knotz says that by giving married couples tips on how to practice divine sex he is simply doing God's work.

ROME, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Catholic groups from Europe to the Americas called on Pope Benedict XVI on Friday to reverse the Vatican's opposition to contraception, on the 40th anniversary of a key text confirming its position.

ROME, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Catholic groupings from Europe to the Americas on Friday called on Pope Benedict XVI to reverse the Vatican's stance on contraception, in an open letter published in a daily newspaper.

ELDORADO, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The jailed leader of a polygamist sect and five other men linked to a Texas compound raided earlier this year have been indicted on child sexual assault and other charges, officials said Tuesday.

CHICAGO, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - The erectile dysfunction drug Viagra has proven effective at combating sexual dysfunction in depressed women, according to a study published Tuesday.

Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect of antidepressants and a major reason why people stop taking medication for their depression.

CHICAGO, July 21, 2008 (AFP) - The erectile dysfunction drug Viagra has proven effective at combating sexual dysfunction in depressed women, according to a study published Tuesday.

Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect of antidepressants and a major reason why people stop taking medication for their depression.

SYDNEY, July 18, 2008 (AFP) - A brothel offering a special discount during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Sydney said Friday business had more than doubled since the pontiff arrived.

VATICAN CITY, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI was flying into controversy on Saturday as he headed to Australia, where Sydney Archbishop George Pell faces allegations of covering up a priest sex abuse scandal.

PARIS, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Coaching parents at work on how to talk to their adolescent children about sex could be an effective way to reduce risky sexual behaviour among teens, according to a study in the United States released Friday.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - The more frequently older men have sex, the less likely they are to develop erectile dysfunction, a study published Tuesday in the American Journal of Medicine showed.

Researchers in Finland surveyed 989 men, aged 55-75, first in 1999 and again five years later. At the start of the study, the men were free of erectile dysfunction (ED).

JAKARTA, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - An elderly Indonesian woman famed nationwide for supernatural skills in lengthening penises has died, reports said Thursday.

Reclusive Mak Erot, famed for penis extension treatment incorporating traditional herbs and Islamic prayer, died last week in Caringin village on the western coast of Java island, the Kompas daily's website reported.

BEIJING, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Like countless other Beijing prostitutes, 'Kelly' had viewed the Olympic rings as akin to dollar signs, expecting a big pay-day as the city shifts into party mode for next month's Games.

But those dreams are in doubt now thanks to a police offensive aimed at preventing the city's rollicking sex industry from tarnishing the Games.

PARIS, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - Men and women in their early seventies are having sex more often and enjoying it more than their counterparts three and four decades ago, according to a Swedish study published Wednesday.

Septuagenarian women in particular expressed satisfaction with their amorous activities, suggesting they may have benefited more from the loosening of sexual mores.

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2008 (AFP) - Older men who have more sex will experience fewer erection problems, Finnish researchers reported in the July issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

SYDNEY, July 8, 2008 (AFP) - The leader of the Catholic church in Australia Tuesday denied trying to cover up allegations of sex abuse against a priest, just days before Pope Benedict XVI is due to visit for World Youth Day.

SYDNEY, July 8, 2008 (AFP) - Australia's top Catholic cleric Tuesday denied trying to cover up allegations of sex abuse against a priest, but admitted a letter he wrote to a victim was 'badly worded and a mistake.'

SYDNEY, July 7, 2008 (AFP) - An Australian art magazine which used an image of a naked six-year-old girl on its cover came under fire Monday from activists calling for new laws to stop the exploitation of children by artists.

PARIS, July 6, 2008 (AFP) - Women's pregnancy rates drop and miscarriages increase when the baby's father is over 40 years old, according to a study to be released Monday.

PARIS, July 6, 2008 (AFP) - Women's pregnancy rates drop and miscarriages increase when the baby's father is over 40 years old, according to a study to be released Monday.

LONDON, July 2, 2008 (AFP) - British police have arrested more than 500 suspects in a crackdown on human trafficking in the sex trade, the government said on Tuesday.

The Home Office said the majority of the 167 victims identified originated from China, south-east Asia and eastern Europe. Most were women, with the youngest aged just 14.

JERUSALEM, July 1, 2008 (AFP) - Schoolgirls in a southern Israeli town are taught not to date Bedouins and shown a video called 'Sleeping with the Enemy,' but the man behind the sex education programme insisted on Tuesday it was not racist.

SYDNEY, July 1, 2008 (AFP) - As Sydney prepares for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI and hundreds of thousands of Catholics, the city's brothels are readying themselves for an expected surge in demand for sex.