Seriously, what’s the chances of it? I remembered at least one case where a man claimed to be pregnant but it turned out to be a hoax. A search on the net reveal another site or an update of the old site. Male Pregnancy used to "monitor" the progress of the pregnancy until it was reveal that it was entirely a hoax.

However, apparently this case is for real because the man who is pregnant is actually a transsexual man, which means that he was once a she but didn’t get his womb removed. So anatomically, it is still possible for him to be pregnant. Hmm…

CHICAGO - A TRANSGENDER man who is six months pregnant said in an interview aired by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he always wanted to have a child and considers it a miracle.

‘It’s not a male or female desire to have a child. It’s a human desire,’ a thinly bearded Thomas Beatie said. ‘I have a very stable male identity,’ he added, saying that pregnancy neither defines him nor makes him feel feminine.

Mr Beatie, 34, who lives in Oregon, was born a woman but decided to become a man 10 years ago. He began taking testosterone treatments and had breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest.

‘I opted not to do anything with my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day,’ he told the talk show host. Mr Beatie’s wife Nancy said she inseminated him with a syringe using sperm purchased from a bank.

Now, he said, his size 32 jeans are getting a bit tight and his shirts are a bit stretched.

Nancy, to whom he has been married for five years and who has two grown daughters by a previous marriage, also appeared on the show, saying the couple’s roles will not change once the baby is born.

‘He’s going to be the father and I’m going to be the mother,’ she said. Their marriage is legal and he is recognised under state law as a man.

The couple was shown on video provided by People Magazine, which collaborated with Winfrey on the show, showing the room that will be the baby’s nursery.

Mr Beatie said the little girl was going to be ‘daddy’s little princess’. The couple was also filmed in their hometown of Bend, Oregon, where he underwent an ultrasound showing the baby in his womb.

‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe she’s inside me,’ Mr Beatie said while watching the ultrasound image. ‘We see her as our little miracle.’

His obstetrician, Dr Kimberly James, who practices in the Oregon town, told Winfrey: ‘This is a normal pregnancy.’ She said Mr Beatie stopped taking testosterone two years ago and his levels of the hormone are normal.

‘This baby is totally healthy,’ she said. ‘This is what I consider a normal pregnancy.’

The couple said they had been turned down by a number of other doctors before Dr James agreed to take him as a patient.

The couple said an earlier attempt at pregnancy failed when he developed a tubal pregnancy, resulting in surgery that removed his Fallopian tubes.

The couple said they decided to go public with the pregnancy because they wanted to control the way the news got out. ‘We’re just going to have the baby now,’ Nancy said. ‘If we have to, we’ll go hide.’

The couple runs a small business in Bend and has some savings, she said. In addition, Mr Beatie is working on a book about his childhood, his mother’s suicide and his life growing in Hawaii where, as a girl, he was a teen beauty pageant contestant and earned a martial arts black belt.

Winfrey called the development ‘a new definition of what diversity means for everybody’. — REUTERS

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 4th April 2008

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I didn’t know what start the frenzy, however, checks at major supermarkets have reveal that all their rice are gone! Singapoerans (and PRs alike) have started on a buying spree on all rice available in the market. This was especially so with all the recent attention given to the rice - be it news that it’s sufficient or otherwise.

Have you bought your rice yet?

Update: If not, it’s not too late yet because we apparently have sufficient rice (you just have to look at the right places, like within the washing powder shelf). Otherwise, it’s not a bad idea to be be surviving on fusilli, spaghetti, penne and marcoroni for a change. =)

THERE is no shortage of rice. There is no need to worry. And there is no need to rush out and buy more than you need.

For the second time in under a week, Mr S. Iswaran assured Singaporeans yesterday that stocks are ample and likely to remain so as imports are arriving as usual.

The Government will not set a price cap on rice, he said, because that would only hamper importers from going out to secure supplies at a time of rising prices worldwide.

But consumers can expect prices to rise in the short term.

‘It’s a global phenomenon and as a small importing country, we have to accept there’s going to be higher prices,’ he said.

‘And we’re not going to control the price because that would harm our importers and affect our supply of rice.’

The Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry spoke to reporters at a Pasir Panjang warehouse which stores part of Singapore’s three-month rice stockpile.

He said there was no need to draw on the reserves and if the situation reached that point, the Government would announce it.

More than once, he urged people to stay calm and his advice was simply this: ‘Buy what you need.’

He said that Singapore gets a lot of its rice from Thailand, the world’s largest exporter.

As a proportion of Thai exports, Singapore requires a relatively small amount. It also tends to buy the higher grades of Thai rice, which have not been subject to export curbs.

‘As long as we are able to pay the market price, we will be able to get supply,’ he said.

A 5kg bag of Thai fragrant rice has gone up by 60 cents from $4.70 to $5.30 in the shops.

Mr Iswaran said Singapore traders also buy from a wide range of countries worldwide.

Checks at supermarkets yesterday showed that many people were not yet heeding the advice to stay calm and were buying more than usual.

At NTUC FairPrice’s Toa Payoh Hub outlet yesterday afternoon, the rice shelves went bare in mid-afternoon, but were restocked soon afterwards.

Said mother of three Lye Geok Yong, 45: ‘I bought one extra 5kg bag because I want to stock up and save a little money. People were buying, so I also bought.’

MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Lee Bee Wah said it was nothing more than ‘herd mentality’ at work.

Opting out of the mad dash was Ms Sherrie Chan, 37, a mother of two whose family takes three months to go through a 10kg bag.

She said: ‘What’s the point of buying so many bags of rice? It will just be eaten by weevils.’

Mr Iswaran said what the Government is concerned about, is the effect of rising prices on low-income families.

They should get some relief from growth dividend and GST offset payments coming their way this year.

But his ministry will also work with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to help those in difficulty.

Also urging people not to buy more than they need was Consumers Association of Singapore chief Seah Seng Choon.

‘Consumers should wait for the storm to clear and buy only what is needed in view of the current unusual high prices,’ he said.

limjess@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 4th April 2008 - today’s the start of Qing Ming in the lunar calendar - a day for families to tend to the graves of their departed