Fridae

Nearly a decade after his widely quoted remarks about the gay issue in Singapore in a 1998 CNN interview, former PM Lee Kuan Yew again commented on the issue over the weekend - this time acknowledging that homosexuality might be genetically determined and questioned the city-state's ban on sex between men.

Gay men - who constitute 7.3 percent of the total HIV/AIDS sufferers in China estimated to number 650,000 in 2005 - will be the first group enlisted to help in a government-initiated program.

Organisers of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival are calling for entries for its 2007 short film contest to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS among gay men in the territory.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that gonorrhoea is now among the "superbugs" resistant to common antibiotics.

The Law Society of Singapore has released a statement disagreeing with the Ministry of Home Affairs' proposal to retain the country's laws against gay sex.

Spider Lilies (刺青) has become the first Taiwanese movie to win the Teddy Bear Award for Best Gay/Lesbian Film at the Berlin Film Festival.

To be hosted by an openly gay man, the ground-breaking online series will focus on gay issues and will be launched on Thursday by Phoenixtv.com and other mainstream web sites.

A popular US gay magazine has attracted controversy by outing several semi-closeted celebrities in a cover story in its May issue.

A study of 159 men from the San Francisco Bay area has found that five sites on the penis, which all regularly removed by circumcision, are more sensitive than the most sensitive site remaining on the circumcised penis.

The 1,500-member Israeli Gay Youth Organization (IGY) will be offically recognised by the country's Education Ministry. Elsewhere, a group of human rights experts have launched a groundbreaking set of principles on sexual orientation and gender identity to combat discrimination and abuse worldwide.