Nobody does Tabloids like the Russians...

Moth to the flame that I am, every once in a while I cannot resist browsing through the English version of Pravda, former state propaganda organ-turned-trashy tabloid. Perhaps such things serve as a restorative after the depressing task of sifting through the Australian Government's own propaganda organ. Anyway, here is a Sunday night sampler:

Thousands forced into sex slavery to satisfy perverted fantasies of the rich
An organized criminal group specialized in human trafficking has been arrested in the city of Taganrog, Southern Russia, by a regional directorate for combating organized crime. The group comprised 2 men and a woman. Alexander Sviridov, 30, was the group’s leader. The man previously served a prison term for larceny. Svetlana Prokhorova, the 42-year-old mother of four, was Svidorov’s right hand and sidekick. Not unlike her boss, woman is no stranger to breaking the law either.

Love that translation - you can almost hear the authorial accent coming through: 'woman is no stranger to breaking the law either'.

Women going on sex tours look for big bamboos and Marlboro men
While men choose Asia for their sex tourism, women go to Southern Europe (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia and Spain), to the Caribbean Basin (Jamaica, Barbados and the Dominican Republic), Genoa and Kenya in Africa, Bali, Indonesia and Phuket in Thailand to enjoy sex tourism. Nepal, Morocco, Fiji, Ecuador and Costa-Rica are less popular. Thailand, the Dominican Republic and Cuba are the countries that suit for sex tourism of both sexes, male and female.

Some rich men can pay up to 500 dollars for sex with disfigured prostitutes
Sex with scary prostitutes is becoming a popular pastime for Japanese men. There are a number of brothels staffed with inmates whose faces and heads were badly marred by burns, bruises or congenital malformations like hydrocephalus (accumulation of serous fluid in the cranium, often leading to great enlargement of the head). “I’ve learned to see my disadvantages as advantages,” reads one of the messages posted by the 22-year-old Mimiko on a web forum frequented by local prostitutes. Mimiko was born with cleft palate or a fissure at the roof of the mouth due to failure of the two sides to fuse in embryonic development. “In the past, I couldn’t even imagine having any sort of full-blown sex life. Nowadays men wait in line to get my favors. More importantly, I’ve already saved up enough money to pay for surgery!” Mimiko writes in her message.
Males offer their own reasons to explain a penchant for such a quirky kind of sensual pleasure.
“I’m just fed up with those shapely ladies. They have sex with you as if they’re doing some kind of job. On the contrary, girls who have been out of luck in terms of sex can attend each customer in the best way possible, they never fake it, they make love with total candor and passion,” said Andrei. A diversity of cultural and ethnical characteristics adds color to the Russian market of weird sex. For instance, some women from southern republics of the former Soviet Union are in demand. Their sex appeal has nothing to do their attractive curves or impulsive temperament. Those women look somewhat hairy; they have excess bodily hair – a condition caused by increased levels of male sex hormones in the female body.

Always making fun of the Uzbeks. And their 'inmates'.

I won't even bother with the 'photo-journalism' piece about the soccer lines-woman's nude photo-shoot (in the 'sport' section), the graphic piece on anorexics, several articles on Chavez, or the lake monster terrorising villagers in the Ukraine.