“Pregnant man” pregnant again

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Thomas Beatie, who was born a woman but lives as a man in Oregon after surgery and hormone treatment, is expecting a second child, Beatie has told Barbara Walters in an interview set to air on television on Friday.

Beatie, 34, who is legally a man but kept female reproductive organs when he had a sex-change operation 10 years ago, is in his first trimester of pregnancy, he told celebrity interviewer Walters for the ABC news program “20/20″ that will air on November 14. Walters highlighted the interview on her daytime chat show, “The View,” on Thursday.

With his thin beard, Beatie made headlines around the world and was dubbed the “pregnant man” before giving birth to a baby girl on June 29. He told Walters that after giving birth he did not go back on the male hormone testosterone that he took after his sex change, because he wanted to have another baby.

“I feel good,” Beatie told Walters. “I had my checkups with my hormone level, as far as the hCG. And everything is right on track.”

Beatie was referring to human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone which is produced in women during pregnancy.

He said that the new baby is due on June 12.

Beatie’s wife, Nancy, 46, whom he married five years ago, was unable to conceive because of a prior hysterectomy. He has said that is why he had a baby himself, through artificial insemination using donor sperm and Beatie’s own egg.

The couple live in Bend, Oregon, and have lead a quiet life since the birth of their baby girl, Susan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081114/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_pregnantman;_ylt=Avn_mEor3pmVj9_2.dYWtBvtiBIF

 

Bra for the boys an online bestseller in Japan

TOKYO – Who said bras are only for women? A Japanese online lingerie retailer is selling bras for cross-dressing men and they’ve quickly become one of its most popular items.

Since launching two weeks ago on Rakuten, a major Japanese web shopping mall, the Wishroom shop has sold over 300 men’s bras for 2,800 yen ($30) each. The shop also stocks men’s panties, as well as lingerie for women.

“I like this tight feeling. It feels good,” Wishroom representative Masayuki Tsuchiya told Reuters as he modeled the bra, which can be worn discreetly under men’s clothing.

Wishroom Executive Director Akiko Okunomiya said she was surprised at the number of men who were looking for their inner woman.

“I think more and more men are becoming interested in bras. Since we launched the men’s bra, we’ve been getting feedback from customers saying ‘wow, we’d been waiting for this for such a long time’,” she said.

But the bra, available in black, pink and white, is not an easy sell for all men.

The underwear has stirred a heated debate online with more than 8,000 people debating the merits of men wearing bras in one night on Mixi, Japan’s top social network website.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/classified-odd/11/22/08/bra-boys-online-bestseller-japan

 

Preacher with 86 wives gets court reprieve

A Nigerian court has granted temporary reprieve to an 84-year-old Muslim preacher with 86 wives after local leaders threatened to force him to leave the area unless he divorced all but four of them.

Mohammed Bello launched a legal challenge after local chiefs and Muslim leaders in Bida, a town in central Niger state where he lives with his wives and some 170 children, gave him until Sept 7 to comply with Islamic sharia law, which allows a man to have no more than four wives at a time.

The Islamic preacher said in his petition that the threats violated his right to life and personal liberty.

“Leave is hereby granted to the applicant to enforce his fundamental human right to personal liberty, life and to freedom of movement,” state news agency NAN quoted Abuja High Court judge G. Kolawole as saying.

The ruling gives Bello temporary protection from banishment while the court decides whether his rights have indeed been violated. The judge adjourned the case to September 18.

Bello has received a number of death threats in the last few weeks after the Nigerian media began reporting on his unusual marital situation, his spokesman said.

Some newspapers said last week that Bello had agreed at a meeting with local officials to divorce all but four of the women and had asked for time to return them to their families.

But his spokesman denied the reports and said the preacher intended to marry more wives instead.

His case has stirred controversy in Africa’s most populous nation of 140 million people, roughly half of whom are Muslim. Many Muslim scholars say Islam allows men to have up to four wives at any given time who must be treated equally.

http://www.mia.com.mk/default.aspx?vId=56941773&lId=2&pmId=

 

Firemen hoist 600-pound man from his home

CALVERTON, New York – A man who weighs an estimated 600 pounds (270 kilograms) has been rescued from his home in suburban New York after falling and struggling alone for two days to telephone for help.

Newsday reports that authorities say they used saws to dismantle one wall of David Schock’s modular home in Calverton on Long Island to extract him because the 57-year-old was too large to be removed through the front door.

A fire official says that at least 10 firefighters hoisted Schock onto a custom-built wooden backboard designed for large people.

Authorities say he was taken to a nearby hospital. His condition was not immediately available.

Neighbors say Schock was reclusive and his health had deteriorated. They say he had been getting around on a wooden box with wheels. - AP

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/127039/Firemen-hoist-600-pound-man-from-his-home

 

Weatherman proposes to girlfriend live on air

Texas station KAMC anchor Emily Leonard’s jaw dropped when she introduced a sports bulletin only to see her boyfriend, Matt Laubhan, a meteorologist for rival station KLBK, sitting behind the sports desk.

Mr Laubhan told viewers the normal sports report was taking a “sabbatical” for “some breaking news”. He referred to Miss Leonard as “not only the sweet, quirky, crazy girl that you watch every morning on this channel” but “the love of my life”.

He then invited them to “sit back and watch me make a young woman cry, hopefully in a good way.”

As a shocked Miss Leonard grinned and covered her mouth with her hand, he walked over to the desk where she was sitting, commenting that she “must be wearing waterproof mascara” because she wasn’t crying. Then he dropped to one knee and asked: “I was wanting to know if you might want to marry me, how about it?”

Miss Leonard, who confessed “I’m shaking”, then cried out “yes” numerous times before her new fiance slipped the ring on to her finger. She also paused to shout “you all knew!” to her colleagues before wiping away some tears and hugging Mr Leonard.

“So you had no clue?” he asked.

“No,” she said, adding, “I think I got lipstick on you.”

“I don’t think it matters,” her fiance replied.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3174710/Weatherman-proposes-to-girlfriend-live-on-air.html

 

Diabetic’s foot found in Quezon City community

MANILA, Philippines – A human’s left food was found in a community in Quezon City on Saturday, a radio report said.

Radio dzBB said the foot was found wrapped in a black plastic bag and placed inside a box at No. 13 Wisdom Street, barangay (village) Bahay Toro in Project 8 district.

Residents reportedly found the box and took interest in it, only to find it contained a mutilated body part.

The criminal investigation unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) found out that the foot was cut off from a diabetic patient named Avelino Romaluan of the Quezon Memorial General Hospital.

Radio reporter Allan Gatus said the body part came with the name of the doctor who supposedly cut off the foot.

Police said they are still investigating why the foot was not properly disposed. – Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/126448/Diabetics-foot-found-in-Quezon-City-community

 

Mummy’s on Parade

MONTERREY, Mexico – First they jet-setted to Monterrey in specially designed glass cases. Crowds lined the streets to watch them pass.

Only in Mexico, where a fascination with death dates back to pre-Hispanic times, could mummified corpses receive the same welcome as a celebrity.

The 15 females, eight males and one head make up a macabre troupe of 100-year-old corpses visiting this industrial city from Guanajuato’s Museum of the Mummy. They are part of a special exhibition in Monterrey that runs through Dec. 28

Government officials discovered the mummies in the late 19th century when they dug up bodies from Guanajuato’s Santa Paola cemetery because the families of the dead couldn’t pay a grave tax.

The mountainous region’s dry climate had created the perfect conditions to inadvertently mummify the corpses, and the bodies were eventually put on display at a local museum.

The collection is believed to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere. And the 23 corpses and head in Monterrey are the largest group from the museum to ever hit the road.

The mummies were supposed to go on display Sunday as part of Monterrey’s Santa Lucia Festival. But high humidity levels worried curators. The show opened Tuesday.

More than 300,000 people are expected to view the bodies. - AP

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/126203/Have-mummy-will-travel-Mexican-corpses-on-tour

 

Chocolate Helps Heart Stay Healthy

A small square of dark chocolate daily protects the heart from inflammation and subsequent heart disease, a new study of Italians suggests. Milk chocolate might not do the job.

However, this guilty pleasure has a limit.

Specifically, only 6.7 grams of chocolate per day (or 0.23 ounces) represents the ideal amount, according to results from the Moli-sani Project, one of the largest health studies ever conducted in Europe. For comparison, a standard-sized Hershey’s kiss is about 4.5 grams (though they are not made of dark chocolate) and one Hershey’s dark chocolate bar is about 41 grams (so a recommendation might be one of those weekly).

Chronic inflammation of tissues in the circulatory system is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, such as myocardial infarction or stroke. So doctors strive to keep patients’ inflammation under control. One marker for inflammation in the blood is called C-reactive protein.

The researchers found a relationship between dark chocolate intake and levels of this protein in the blood of 4,849 subjects in good health and free of risk factors (such as high cholesterol or blood pressure, and other parameters). The findings are detailed in the latest issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

“We started from the hypothesis that high amounts of antioxidants contained in the cocoa seeds, in particular flavonoids and other kinds of polyphenols, might have beneficial effects on the inflammatory state,” said Romina di Giuseppe, lead author of the study. “Our results have been absolutely encouraging: People having moderate amounts of dark chocolate regularly have significantly lower levels of C-reactive protein in their blood. In other words, their inflammatory state is considerably reduced.”
The inflammation reduction that the researchers observed controlled for other confounding variables such as wine or produce intake.

Previous studies have found that chocolate might be good for you, though doctors usually warn that it is more important to focus on one’s overall diet when it comes to health. One health study found that blood platelets among chocolate-lovers were less likely to clot together in dangerous clumps.

Other studies have found a host of diet and exercise changes that can help a person beat the odds of death. Clearly, no single change is a guarantee of long life.

With chocolate, moderation is key, the new study found.

“The best effect is obtained by consuming an average amount of 6.7 grams of chocolate per day, corresponding to a small square of chocolate twice or three times a week. Beyond these amounts the beneficial effect tends to disappear,” di Giuseppe said.

The milk in milk chocolate interferes with polyphenols, so the team kept that out of the study.

“We consider this outcome as the beginning of a large series of data which will give us an innovative view on how [to achieve] prevention in everyday life, both against cardiovascular disease and tumors,” said Licia Iacoviello, head of the Laboratory of Genetic and Environmental Epidemiology at the Catholic University of Campobasso and responsible for the Moli-sani Project.

The Moli-sani Project is funded by the Pfizer Foundation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080923/sc_livescience/chocolatehelpsheartstayhealthy;_ylt=AvrHupBVyQwSF8Mi660P7ekPLBIF

 

Diamond found in Lesotho among the largest ever

LONDON (AFP) – Gem Diamonds, a London-listed mining firm, said on Sunday it had recovered a 478 carat diamond from its mine in Lesotho: the 20th-largest rough diamond ever found.

The discovery of the gem, which the company said had the potential to become one of the largest round-cut diamonds in the world, was made on September 8 at the Letseng mine in Lesotho.

“Preliminary examination of this remarkable diamond indicates that it will yield a record-breaking polished stone of the very best colour and clarity,” the company’s Chief Executive Clifford Elphick said in a statement.

The diamond, which has not yet been named, has the potential to yield a 150 carat polished stone, a company spokesman said.

That would be far bigger than the 105 carat round-cut Koh-i-Noor diamond seized by Britain from India in the 19th century and now part of the Crown Jewels.

It would still only be a fraction of the size, however, of the Cullinan diamond discovered in 1905, which was 3,106 carats when recovered and yielded a teardrop shaped diamond of 530 carats: the Great Star of Africa.

The Letseng mine is owned by a mining company that is 70 percent owned by Gem Diamonds, with the remaining 30 percent held by the Lesotho government.

Gem Diamonds’s share price on the London Stock Exchange was 741.50 pence at the close of trading on Friday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080921/wl_africa_afp/britainlesothominingdiamond_080921145205

 

Call him Jeff, says SC; he used to be called Jennifer

MANILA, Philippines—A person who is genetically female but has a rare and permanent medical condition that allows the development of both male and female sex organs is now legally and officially a man.

The Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the Regional Trial Court in Siniloan, Laguna, that allowed the person—to be identified in this report as Jeff—to alter his birth certificate and change his name from Jennifer to Jeff and his gender from female to male.

It denied the plea of the Office of the Solicitor General stating that the lower court’s ruling should be reversed because the person had failed to follow proper procedures.

In its decision, the high court initially referred to the person, now 27, as “she” and later as “he.”

“We respect respondent’s congenital condition and his mature decision to be a male. Life is already difficult for the ordinary person. We cannot but respect how respondent deals with his unordinary state and thus help make his life easier, considering the unique circumstances in this case,” it said in the decision written by Justice Leonardo Quisumbing and dated Sept. 12.

Mind and emotions

Jeff’s petition to be allowed to make changes in his birth certificate states that in his mind and emotions, he is male.

The petition also says that:
• He was diagnosed to have congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which gives a person both male and female characteristics.

• He was registered as female in his birth certificate but subsequently developed secondary male characteristics.

• At 6, he was found to have small ovaries; at 13, his ovarian structure was minimized and he had no breasts and did not menstruate.

To support Jeff’s petition, psychiatrist Michael Sionzon testified that he was genetically female, but that since his body secreted male hormones, his female organs did not develop normally.

Jeff has both male and female sex organs, Sionzon said.

The psychiatrist also said Jeff’s condition was very rare and permanent, and recommended that since he had made up his mind to live as a man, the gender change would be to his benefit.

No ‘unnatural steps’

In affirming the sex change, the Supreme Court observed that under the medical condition, Jeff had ambiguous genitalia and the features of a male.

The tribunal said that in cases like this, the determining factor was what the person had determined his/her gender to be.

It also said Jeff had let nature take its course and did not take “unnatural steps” to interfere with what he was born with.

“In the absence of a law on the matter, the court will not dictate on respondent concerning a matter so innately private as one’s sexuality and lifestyle preferences, much less on whether or not to undergo medical treatment to reverse the male tendency due to congenital adrenal hyperplasia,” the high court said.

It said it would neither consider Jeff to have erred in not choosing to take steps to become female nor force him to undergo treatment.

Since Jeff would be the one to live with his “intersex anatomy,” he should be able to choose what to do regarding his sexual development and maturation, the high court said.

“In the absence of evidence that respondent is an ‘incompetent’ and in the absence of evidence to show that classifying respondent as a male will harm other members of society … the court affirms as valid and justified the respondent’s position and his personal judgment of being a male,” it said.

Diversity of nature

The Supreme Court said that in issuing its decision, it was merely respecting the diversity of nature and how an individual dealt with what nature had given him/her.

It also said that though a person was required under Philippine laws to be classified as male or female, it was “not controlled by mere appearances when nature itself fundamentally negates such rigid classification.”

The high court found no merit in the Office of the Solicitor General’s arguments that Jeff had failed to include the local civil registrar in his petition, that Rule 108 of the Rules of Court does not allow the change of gender in a birth certificate, and that his condition did not make him male.

According to the high court, Rule 108 applies to substantial changes and corrections in the civil register.

It also said Jeff was deemed to have substantially complied with the rules when he gave the local civil registrar a copy of his petition for changes in his birth certificate.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080917-161148/Call-him-Jeff-says-SC-he-used-to-be-called-Jennifer