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OTTAWA - Group sex among consenting adults is neither prostitution nor a threat to society, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Wednesday as it lifted a ban on so-called “swingers” clubs. In a ruling that radically changes the way courts determine what poses a threat to the population, the top court threw out the conviction of a Montreal man who ran a club where members could have group sex in a private room behind locked doors.

Giant crabs colonise Rome’s ancient ruins By Web Editor. Filed under Generalon October 28th, 2005 (ANSA) - A rare species of crab has taken up residence in one of the city’s most important archaeological sites and is not only thriving but also growing to abnormal proportions. The freshwater crab ‘Potamon fluviatile’ was already known to survive in small numbers in rivers and waterways from Sicily to Tuscany, where it generally grows to a length of about 4 cm. But according to three zoologists at the Roma 3 university, an isolated colony of the crabs is also doing very well in...

BERLIN, July 29 (Reuters) - A German company is looking to cash in on an expected boom in the sex trade during next year's soccer World Cup with a 60-room brothel a walk away from Berlin's Olympic Stadium, German media reported on Friday. Named after the virgin huntress of Greek mythology, the "Artemis" complex is due to open for business in September with whirlpool, sauna, cinema, buffet restaurant and a staff of 100 prostitutes, mass circulation daily Bild reported. "This is no flash rip-off joint where clients are taken for a ride," a spokesman for the Artemis GmbH investment company...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — With four weeks left in the season, Oregon fishermen have brought in 33.3 million pounds of Dungeness crab, breaking last season's record harvest by about 10 million pounds. "It's off the charts," said Nick Furman, executive director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. Furman said the catch will put about $50 million into the pockets of Oregon's commercial fishermen. Spinoffs from harvesting, processing, marketing and other activities could mean $150 million in economic benefits for Oregon, he said. Last season, fishermen netted 23.7 million pounds, breaking a record which had stood for 24 years. To have...

Jack Brooks observes the 25 or so women sitting at stainless steel tables, picking lumps of meat out of blue crabs fished from the Chesapeake Bay. There are a handful of Americans and about 18 Mexicans packing up small tubs for sale to restaurants and markets. "We have to have the Mexican workers just to sustain our business. American workers simply are not available," the co-owner of J.M. Clayton Co., a Cambridge, Md., business founded by his great-grandfather in 1890, said last month.

Reports mixed on blue crabs Biologist 'seriously concerned' with the bay's spawning stock; other studies are more hopefulChesapeake Bay blue crabs may be in worse trouble than previously imagined, according to Virginia Institute of Marine Science research into the survival rate of female crabs. But the data collected on crabs in the estuary do not all agree.The institute's study of mature female crabs between November 2001 and October 2002 estimated that only two out of 100 survived the study year. "This is one of the first times I'm seriously, seriously concerned with the spawning stock," said Rom Lipcius, a VIMS...

I need some SPIDER identification help. A few weeks ago, I was bitten by a Brown Recluse (very painful and long lasting effects). One of my dogs was bitten by another spider - and my wife a couple days ago was also bitten - but NOT by another Recluse luckily. Tonight I just found THIS rather large spider sitting at my back door - now dead! Can anyone identify this arachnid? Hot Springs Arkansas area. Thanx! ps. that is 1 inch on the scale.

Stalin's last army - hordes of gigantic crabs on their way to invade Europe - By Julius Strauss in Kirkenes, northern Norway (Filed: 28/02/2004) Millions of giant Pacific crabs, whose ancestors were brought to Europe by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s, are marching south along Norway's coast, devouring everything in their path. The monster crabs, which can weigh up to 25lb and have a claw-span of more than three feet, are proving so resilient that scientists fear they could end up as far south as Gibraltar. Energised by a mysterious population explosion a decade ago, whole armies of the crustaceans...

Crabbers subsidized with federal aid checks It's the first time funds of this magnitude have been provided by U.S. Associated Press NAGS HEAD - For the first time, more than 2,000 crabbers will get federal aid checks to make up for a glut of foreign imports and a drop in prices. N.C. crab harvests have fallen off drastically from the record 65.6 million pounds caught in 1996. This year's catch, not yet counted, is higher than it has been in recent years, but the bigger catch has driven prices down. Crabbers were paid about 20 cents per pound this year,...

<p>If the Earth's climate continues to warm up as predicted, some crab species along the Pacific coast may face extinction. A study shows that small crabs that live just off the beach in warmer waters have little tolerance for rising temperatures. Jonathon H. Stillman, a marine biologist at Stanford University, tested the heat tolerance of four species of crabs found in the shallow waters of the Pacific Ocean and reports his findings this week in the journal Science.</p>