‘Pregnant man’ to appeal ruling rejecting divorce
A transgender man who made worldwide headlines after he married and gave birth to three children will appeal an Arizona judge’s ruling denying him a divorce from his wife of 10 years. Thomas Beatie, 39, was born a woman but began living as a man in his 20s, initiating hormone treatments, undergoing breast-removal surgery and legally changing his name, though he kept his female reproductive organs.
He married Nancy in 2003, a year after his double mastectomy, and went on to bear three children, conceived through artificial insemination and donor sperm and Beatie’s own eggs. Now an Arizona resident, Beatie filed for divorce last year, seeking dissolution of his marriage and hoping to wed his new girlfriend. A few days back, Maricopa County Family Court Judge Douglas Gerlach ruled that Beatie had failed in his divorce petition to prove that he was a man when wed in 2003, and thus was unable to show that he and his wife were a heterosexual couple. Because same-sex marriages are not recognised as valid in Arizona, Gerlach held that he could not grant Beatie a divorce. (Reuters)
Climber aims for Everest at 80
An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had heart surgery four times is heading to Mount Everest to try for a third ascent of the world’s highest peak and will become the oldest person to reach the top if he succeeds.
Yuichiro Miura climbed to the summit of the 8,850 metre mountain in 2003 and 2008. He skied down Everest from an altitude of 8,000 metre in 1970.
Miura and a nine-person team will climb up the standard southeast ridge route, pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they became the first people to reach the summit in May 1953. “The record is not so important for me,” the white-haired Miura told reporters in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, before setting out for the mountain. “It is important to get to the top.” (Reuters)
Samoan airline says pay by weight plan ‘fairest’ way to fly
A Samoan airline that says it is the world’s first carrier to charge passengers by their weight rather than per seat defends the plan as the fairest way to fly, in some cases actually ending up cheaper than conventional tickets.
Samoa Air, which opened in 2012, asks passengers to declare their personal weight during booking, which is then charged per kilogram at a rate dependent on flight length. The customers will also be weighed at the check-in counter.
The Pacific Islands contain some of the world’s most prevalent countries for obesity, many ranking in the top 10, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Samoa is ranked number four, with 59.6 per cent of the population considered obese, said the most recent 2008 WHO report. (Reuters)
Italian Scientists reportedly discover gate to hell
Italian scientists say that the “Gate to Hell” is the real deal-poisonous vapours and all. The announcement of the finding of the ruins of Pluto’s Gate (Plutonium in latin) at an archeology conference in Turkey last month, was recently reported by Discovery News. Francesco D’Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento in lecce, Italy, who has been excavating the ancient Greco-Roman World Heritage Site of Hierapolis for years, led the research team.
D’Andria told Discovery News he used ancient mythology as his guide to locate the legendary portal to the underworld. “We found the Plutonium by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring. Indeed, Pamukkale’ springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces originate from this cave.”
Scribes like Cicero and the Greek geographer Strabo mentioned the gate to hell as located at the ancient site in Turkey, noted Discovery, but nobody had been able to find it until now. Also discovered: The remains of a temple, and a pool and stairs placed above the cave. D’Andria is now working on a digital rendering of the site. (Yahoo News)
13 per cent American voters think Obama is Antichrist
Seven per cent of American voters believe the moon landing was faked, 6 per cent say Osama bin laden is still alive, and 13 per cent think President Barack Obama is the Antichrist.
This is according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling, which recently conducted a survey on 20 “widespread and/or infamous” conspiracy theories.
According to the poll of 1,247 registered American voters, 37 per cent believe global warming is a hoax. Nearly a third (29 per cent) of those polled believe aliens exist.
Voters are split (44 per cent say yes, 45 per cent no) on whether President George W Bush intentionally misled the American people about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (Yahoo News)