Briefly: Ontario’s top court legalizes brothels

CANADA

Ontario’s top court legalizes brothels

TORONTO — A ban on brothels puts prostitutes at risk and is unconstitutional, Ontario’s top court ruled Monday in a case that is expected to be appealed to Canada’s top court and have ramifications for the country at large.

The Ontario Court of Appeal said prostitutes should be allowed to work safely indoors.

The court in Canada’s most populous province has given the government a year to rewrite the law if it chooses.

At the same time, the court said concerns about the nuisance created by street prostitution are real, having a “profound impact on the members of the surrounding community.” So it upheld the ban on soliciting for the purposes of selling sex.

Prostitution itself is not illegal in Canada, but pimping, operating a brothel and communicating for the purposes of selling sex are considered criminal acts.

PERU

No problem with U.K. over nixing of ship visit

LIMA — Peru’s president has denied that problems exist in the country’s relations with Britain after Peru’s decision to cancel a visit by a British navy frigate.

Britain last week criticized the decision to cancel the warship’s visit. Peru said the visit was canceled out of solidarity with Argentina in its dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands.

President Ollanta Humala said in an interview with the Peruvian television station Panamericana that “there is no impasse, no problem in the diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Peru.”

Mr. Humala said in the interview Sunday night that the cancellation of the visit is an “issue relating to the present situation.”

He said Peru’s relations with Britain “continue moving forward.”

COLOMBIA

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