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May
May
‘First Gay President’ on Newsweek Cover Stirs Buzz
On Monday, Newsweek declared Barack Obama ‘the first gay president’ on its cover week with no apologies, equalling its rival Time in the likes of online buzz.
It depicted Obama with an angelic rainbow halo just days after Obama became the first sitting president of the United States ever to come out in favor of same-sex marriage.
“Obama’s earned every stripe in this haloed rainbow,” said Tina Brown, editor of Newsweek and its online counterpart The Daily Beast, on her Twi…
US surgeons have employed a novel form of medical procedure called nerve transfer to restore hand function in a person who was paralyzed by a neck injury, said a study published on Tuesday.
The breakthrough surgery worked by taking a non-functional nerve that controls pinching the forefinger and thumb and plugging it into a functioning nerve in the man's upper arm which had been used for bending his elbow.
After many months of intensive physical therapy, the 71-year-old p... 
A US aid program with the goal of helping foreign countries to fight the AIDS epidemic saved 740,000 lives from 2004-2008, states a US study published on Tuesday.
The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was started by former president George W. Bush in 2003 with a five-year, (Dollor) 15 billion investment in global AIDS in 15 countries.
The analysis by scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine in California examined health and survival information... 
One in three adults suffers from high blood pressure, show WHO figures.
Canada and the United States have the fewest patients, at less than 20 percent of adults, but in poorer countries like Niger the estimated figure is closer to 50 percent, the UN body said.
While wealthier countries have seen their cases drop thanks to effective, low-cost treatment, in Africa many remain people undiagnosed and are not getting help, according to the WHO.
Its World Hea... 
Eating too much sugar can reduce your brainpower, warn US scientists who published a study Tuesday showing how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup sapped lab rats’ memories. 
An over-the-counter version of a test that could allow people to test themselves at home for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is in waiting, with a panel of experts on Tuesday urging US regulators to allow the test.
The Blood Products Advisory Committee voted unanimously, 17-0, that the OraQuick In-Home Test was safe and effective and that any benefits outweighed the potential risks of use.
The US Food and Drug Administration does not have to follow the advice of the ex... 
Scottish government laid a minimum price for alcohol on Monday, sounding out numerous Scots were ‘drinking themselves to death’ and it was apt moment to tackle the country’s bond with alcohol. 
Kabo Moeti, a 31-year-old mulls over getting circumcised while he waits outside a clinic in a Botswana village. 
Mickey Mouse – another supporter of gay marriage in Japan. 
HIV/AIDS patients at higher risk of sudden cardiac death, reveals study. 
Jacob, Sophia most popular US baby names in 2011, says federal agency.
The Social Security Administration, which started tabulating baby names in 1997, said Mason, the second most popular boys' name, was the only new entry into the top 10 for either gender.
William, Jayden and Noah rounded off the top five names for boys, as did Emma, Olivia and Ava for girls on the lists posted on the agency's website .
Among all boys' names, Brantley saw the biggest lea... 
An intensive debate on Main Street about social media’s powerful impact on children must be ensued after Facebook’s big stock offering on Wall Street, expresses an expert on the subject. 
Most young US drivers believe that texting behind the wheel is dangerous, but nearly a third admit that they do it anyway, shows survey. br
In Pakistan's lawless tribal northwest, an outbreak of measles has killed 12 children, say sources.
Doctor Mohammad Ali Shah, chief of the main hospital in Miranshah, the biggest town in North Waziristan, told AFP that military operations, power cuts and curfews meant there was a shortage of medicines.
The restive and impoverished district bordering Afghanistan is Pakistan's most notorious Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold, and hit frequently by US drone strikes target... 
A new energy-efficient lighting system that offers a palette of 16 million shades is going to make New York’s iconic Empire State Building greener and also more colorful. 
A bunch of disciplined nuns arrange themselves into lines around a golden Buddhist shrine on a hot, cloudless morning on a hillside on the outskirts of Kathmandu. 
Voicing opinions on Facebook and other social media sites convey a powerful reward to the brain akin to the pleasure from food and sex, concludes a Harvard study.
The study led by two neuroscientists and published this week concluded that "self disclosure" produces a response in the region of the brain associated with dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure or the anticipation of a reward.
The researchers said most people devote 30 to 40 percent of their speech to "... 
Samara Chopra, ruffling across the stage in her red stilettos, red lipstick and a flower in her hat, was always going to be a hit with the inmates of Tihar high-security jail in New Delhi.
The audience of about 1,000 male prisoners whooped with delight as Chopra, lead singer of the Ska Vengers, ran through a high-energy one-hour set at an afternoon concert inside the prison grounds.
Clapping her hands high in the air, and belting out ska, reggae and soul classics, she soo... 
A paper in The Lancet medical journal has revealed that nearly five million children younger than five succumbed to preventable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria in 2010. 
An international expo at a glittering hi-tech venue was flagged off by South Korea's President with a huge seafront display of fireworks and lasers.
After four years of preparation and (Dollor) 10 billion investment, a 2,000-strong crowd -- including foreign delegates -- cheered as the sky lit up above the southern city of Yeosu.
A total of 104 nations and 10 international organisations will stage exhibitions over the next three months at the expo which has the theme "The Living ... 
A swimwear campaign featuring a deeply tanned model that sparked outrage among cancer groups has finally caused Swedish cheap-and-chic fashion giant H (and) M to tender an apology.
"We are sorry if we have upset anyone with our latest swimwear campaign. It was not our intention to show off a specific ideal or to encourage dangerous behaviour, but was instead to show off our latest summer collection," the company said in an email sent to AFP.
"We have taken note of the views and... 
Events celebrating sexual diversity, lesbian films and literature, and transvestite fashion shows and dances in the street marked the opening of a Conference Against Homophobia in Cuba. 
"Obama supports gay marriage: let's drink" said the board outside Stonewall Inn, a New York bar widely seen as the home of the US gay rights movement.
Inside the Greenwich Village watering hole, patrons celebrated US President Barack Obama's decision Wednesday to publicly back same-sex marriage -- but also expressed concern that the risk could cost him re-election.
"It's historic, I am very happy," Ari Spectorman, a 50-year-old financial advisor visiting New York, told AF... 
The US Food and Drug Administration has been urged by a panel of experts to approve Lorcaserin, a new weight loss drug, developed by Arena Pharmaceuticals. 
Researchers unveiled a population clock predicting that Japan could theoretically become extinct in 1,000 years due to sharp decline in birth rates.
Academics in the northern city of Sendai said that Japan's population of children aged up to 14, which now stands at 16.6 million, is shrinking at the rate of one every 100 seconds.
Their extrapolations pointed to a Japan with no children left within a millennium.
"If the rate of decline continues, we will be able... 
Government’s top drug regulatory had colluded with pharmaceutical firms to approve drugs without proper clinical trials, say sources. 
North Carolina became the 30th state to ban same-sex weddings in the US hours before President Barack Obama finally voiced his support for gay marriage. 
The rewarding market in medical tourism is on the rise; right from liposuction in Athens to an eye operation in Dubaitempting more and more countries look for ways to profit from foreign patient care. 
Older men who are obese with low testosterone levels can shed weight by taking supplements of the male hormone, according to the findings of a study released on Wednesday.
In a test group of 115 testosterone-deficient men with a mean age of 61, hormone injections over five years yielded an average weight loss of 16 kilograms (35 pounds), said the study presented to the European Congress on Ovesity in Lyon, France.
The mean waist circumference fell from 107 centimeters (42... 
Recent survey shows that more Americans can’t live without their smartphones anymore. 