Saturday, June 13, 2009

Hundreds turn up for first Shanghai gay pride day

Hundreds turn up for first Shanghai gay pride day
By Royston Chan
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Hundreds of gay men and women, some with rainbow flags painted on their faces, turned out for Shanghai's first gay pride festival Saturday to celebrate with cocktails, drag shows and a hot body contest.
There was no parade, and the crowd paled in comparison with similar events in Sydney or San Francisco, but some people detect a more international, open-minded attitude in China's financial capital as it prepares to host next year's World Expo and aspires to become a global financial center.
"I don't think China is very conservative now. Shanghai is developing very fast and it's becoming more and more international," said Amy Lin, a 17-year-old from Taiwan who joined Saturday's festivities.
The crowd was heavy on expatriates and English speakers, rather than typical Shanghainese.
The pride day events also included traditional Chinese dance performances by drag artists flashing fans and feathers. A few events earlier in the week, including a film screening and a play, were abruptly canceled due to a lack of proper licenses.
"We've organized events in the past, social events for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, wine tastings, book club, pub crawls, drag shows. But this is the first time that we've done it all in one week and call it a gay pride festival," said Hannah Miller, a co-organiser.
The event received some favorable advance publicity in China's official English-language press.
"The festival is being hailed for making the (LGBT) community more 'visible'," the official China Daily wrote earlier this week, drawing comparisons with U.S. President Barack Obama designating June as National Gay Pride Month.
Miller said she hoped the event could appeal to a broad array of people.
"We're definitely not trying to make it a festival for foreigners. We want it to be something that everyone feels comfortable coming to and that can raise the awareness about the LGBT community in Shanghai for locals and foreigners, straights and gays."
One party-goer, a 27-year-old who gave his name only as Joe, compared the event to gay pride gatherings in the West.
"Coming from Sydney, this is considered quite small, because a big day out like this in Sydney will try about 5,000 to 6,000 people in the park," he said.
"I think one step at a time."
(Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Matthew Jones)

Source: Reuters

It's Sir Count Dracula for actor Christopher Lee

It's Sir Count Dracula for actor Christopher Lee
By Matt Falloon
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Dracula actor Christopher Lee and British golfer Nick Faldo will receive knighthoods in the Queen's Birthday Honors List -- and a 93-year-old station master gets a nod too.
The 87-year-old Lee, famed for his role as the blood-sucking Count in the Hammer horror movie classics, has found popularity with more modern audiences by starring in the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars trilogies.
Former world number one Faldo has captained the European Ryder Cup team and won six majors during an illustrious career.
The Queen's twice-yearly list recognizes achievements in all walks of British life, from the rich and famous to community workers.
There are 984 nominations in all, more than 70 percent of whom are "local heroes."
They include 93-year-old Iris Horn, the volunteer railway station master in the dainty village of Stogumber in Somerset, who is honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
The work of six lifeboat workers, three "lollipop ladies" who help school children cross the road and a funeral director is also recognized.
There are MBEs for World Cup-winning England women's cricket captain Charlotte Edwards, badminton player Gail Emms and former England cricketer Graeme Hick, regarded by many as one of the most naturally gifted batsman of his generation.
The man who spotted the recession coming, ex-Bank of England arch-dove policymaker David Blanchflower, will be made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Blanchflower, who stepped down from the Monetary Policy Committee last month, spent much of the last year trying to persuade his fellow policymakers to slash interest rates to avoid a deep economic slump and mass unemployment.
"I am very pleased and honored," Blanchflower told Reuters.
Classical pianist Mitsuko Uchida will be made a Dame, TV chef Delia Smith gets a promotion to CBE from OBE and former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion will be knighted.
Michael Burgess, the coroner who conducted inquests into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, will receive an OBE.
(Additional reporting by Sumeet Desai; Editing by Steve Addison)

Source: Reuters

Low thyroid? Maybe you're an "elephant"

Low thyroid? Maybe you're an elephant
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Low thyroid activity, one of the most treated conditions in the United States, may actually be a sign of longevity, researchers reported on Friday.
While they said it was far too soon for people taking thyroid pills to stop, they will be looking to see if the thyroid may hold the key to a long life, at least for some people.
Dr. Martin Surks and colleagues at the Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York studied hundreds of people who had lived to be 100, and found evidence that people with low thyroid activity were more likely to be in that group.
"We studied a large group of Ashkenazi Jews with exceptional longevity," Surks told a news conference at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, specialists in human hormones.
They used a large national survey of health to see what the average hormone levels are for people of various ages.
The thyroid, located in the neck, is a kind of master gland, secreting hormones that affect metabolism. Doctors usually check its activity by an indirect measure -- looking at levels of TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone.
High TSH levels suggest the thyroid is underactive, a condition known as hypothyroidism. Low levels suggest it is overactive, known as hyperthyroidism.
People with low thyroid function may lose hair, gain weight and feel sluggish, while those with overactive thyroids may lose weight, feel their hearts race and have trembling hands Both can be easily treated with a daily pill.
Surks and colleagues found 15 to 20 percent of people over the age of 60 had TSH levels that suggest an underactive thyroid gland. He told the meeting he believed that may be normal for older people and may in fact be a sign of longevity.
"We estimate that 70 percent of old people whose TSH was minimally elevated and who were considered to have hypothyroidism were actually in their age-specific limits," Surks said in a telephone interview.
OLD AGE
They singled out 200 Jews who had lived to be 100, and 400 of their children. Two genetic changes were linked with low thyroid function but also with extreme old age.
Metabolic rate affects life span in animals. For instance, elephants have slow metabolic rates, slow heartbeats, and can live for decades, as opposed to mice, which have fast metabolisms and live for just months.
It may be, Surks said, that people with low thyroid function in old age were "elephants" with a slow metabolism who can live longer, as compared to 'mice" with fast metabolic rates who may have shorter natural life spans.
"If you are an older person with high TSH, this suggests you are on the road to a long life," Surks said. Continued...
Source: Reuters
 

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