JOURNALISTS CONVICTED OVER GAY STORY
A court in Yemen on May 18 convicted three journalists of violating the nation's morals and customs for writing a story about gays.
The March 2003 article in the Arabic-language newspaper This Week quoted men jailed for engaging in gay sex.
'The ruling came as a huge shock to me,' former editor-in-chief Jalal al-Sharaabi told Reuters.
Al-Sharaabi, who received a three-month suspended sentence, and the other two journalists, who received five-month suspended sentences, vowed to appeal.
They all now work for other newspapers.
TRANSSEXUALS WELCOME AT THE OLYMPICS
Transsexuals will be permitted to participate in the Athens Olympics this August, the International Olympic Committee announced May 17.
The committee's medical commission said they must meet the following criteria:
(1) 'Surgical anatomical changes have been completed, including external genitalia changes and gonadectomy.' (2) 'Legal recognition of their assigned sex has been conferred by the appropriate official authorities.' And (3) 'Hormonal therapy appropriate for the assigned sex has been administered in a verifiable manner and for a sufficient length of time to minimize gender-related advantages in sport competition.'
The IOC said women who were born male lose most of their physical advantages over female-born women after lengthy administration of female hormones.
Transsexual participants must have completed their hormone therapy at least two years before the start of the games, the IOC said.