A sign is seen on the opening day of Switzerland's first sex drive-in on August 26, in Zurich, which is aiming to get prostitution off the city streets. An Iranian tanker caught in a stand-off between Tehran and the West has raised an Iranian flag and has had a new name painted on its side, Reuters images of the stationary vessel filmed off Gibraltar showed on Aug.
Turkey's first national earth observation satellite, named Rasat, completed its 8th year in orbit. Switzerland ups legal prostitution age from 16 to News World September 10 Switzerland ups legal prostitution age from 16 to 18 GENEVA - Agence France-Presse A sign is seen on the opening day of Switzerland's first sex drive-in on August 26, in Zurich, which is aiming to get prostitution off the city streets.
The lower house of parliament voted to change the Swiss penal code to make it illegal to pay for sex with a minor, following suit after the upper house adopted the bill. Until now, paying for sex with people above 16 -- the legal age of consent in Switzerland -- was legal in the small Alpine country.
With the law change, prostitutes between the ages of 16 and 18 will not face penalties, but clients who pay for sex with minors will face up to three years behind bars.
Anyone encouraging prostitution by minors, including pimps, and people running brothels or escort services, will face up to 10 years in prison. The law change also raises the legal age to participate in pornography, making it a crime punishable by up to five years in jail to produce, import, promote, screen or possess pornography featuring minors. The parliament's decision was needed for Switzerland to implement a European Council convention on the protection of children that it signed in Prostitution is legal and regulated in Switzerland, where it is considered a legitimate form of economic activity.
