The 17 members of the Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously that the benefits of OraQuick HIV test outweigh its potential risks for consumers. The test kit uses a mouth swab sample to detect the presence of HIV within 20 minutes.

The manufacturer OraSure already sells a version of the test to doctors and other health professionals. Studies showed the test was less accurate when used by consumers, but panelists said that the benefits of expanding HIV testing outweigh a small decrease in test accuracy.

Source: AP

At least, that’s what it will say on the cover of magazine’s May 21 issue, which is available on iPad today and will be on newsstands Monday.

The cover shows a close-up portrait of the president with a rainbow-colored halo over his head, the colors referencing symbols adopted by the LGBT movement. The cover advertises an upcoming piece by Newsweek writer Andrew Sullivan in support of Obama’s record with the gay community.

Newsweek has released this preview of the article to Politico:

It’s easy to write off President Obama’s announcement of his support for gay marriage as a political ploy during an election year. But don’t believe the cynics. Andrew Sullivan argues that this announcement has been in the making for years. “When you step back a little and assess the record of Obama on gay rights, you see, in fact, that this was not an aberration. It was an inevitable culmination of three years of work.” And President Obama has much in common with the gay community. “He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family,” Sullivan writes.

The move comes mere days after Newsweek’s competitor Time Magazine offered a controversial cover of their own, depicting a young mother breast feeding her 3-year-old boy. A Newsweek spokesman would later tell the New York Post that when their Editor-In-Chief Tina Brown saw the cover she responded, “Let the games begin.”

Newsweek’s cover may be designed to elicit the memory of another White House occupant with a not-so-fitting title. Supporters of then-President Bill Clinton dubbed him the “first black president” for his work with the African American community. The term was first used by author Toni Morrison in a 1998 issue of The New Yorker.

Source: ABC News

President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday became the first U.S. president to publicly support gay marriage, helped champion the end of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. He is counting the ban's repeal last September as a fulfillment of one of his campaign promises.

The 1993 policy allowed gays and lesbians to serve in the military only if their sexual orientation was kept a secret. Many senior members of the military publicly warned against repealing the ban in wartime, saying it could hurt cohesion of troops or undermine morale.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, however, said a report he received on Wednesday showed there had been no negative fallout - something he credited to the military's gradual preparation for repeal, which included sensitivity training.

"It's not impacting on morale. It's not impacting on unit cohesion. It is not impacting on readiness," Panetta said.

Army General Martin Dempsey, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the top U.S. military officer, said: "I have not found any negative effect on good order or discipline."

Asked what many top brass had been afraid of, Dempsey said: "What were we afraid of is we didn't know.

"And I think that the way we were given a year to make this assessment to educate ourselves to collaborate, to build the sense of trust ... I think it worked out well," he said.

Under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, more than 14,500 U.S. service members were thrown out of the military since it went into effect in 1993, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. (See graphic r.reuters.com/vaj83s)

Gay rights groups for years denounced the law and called its end a important milestone in the fight against anti-homosexual discrimination. Some have compared its demise to the integration of the U.S. armed forces.

Source: Reuters

Social conservatives and religious leaders condemned his remarks.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign attacked Republican Mitt Romney, who restated his opposition to same-sex marriage, as out of touch on the issue.

Mr Obama travelled to the West Coast on Thursday for fundraisers in Seattle and Los Angeles likely to raise millions.

One fundraiser, to be held at the home of George Clooney, is expected on its own to raise $15m (£9.3m), partially from a general raffle offering members of the public the chance to meet the Hollywood actor.

In the wake of his interview with ABC News, gay advocates applauded Mr Obama's remarks.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said that the president's comments would "inspire thousands more conversations around kitchen tables and in church pews".

'Deeply saddening'

But Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, labelled Mr Obama's remarks "deeply saddening".

"We cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society," he said in a statement. "The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better."

On Thursday morning, the Obama campaign sought to capitalise on the president's political gamble by releasing an internet video titled Mitt Romney: Backwards on Equality.

It shows a clip of Mr Romney, the Republican who is expected to challenge Mr Obama for the White House in November, saying on Wednesday that he opposes gay marriage.

The video says that even former Republican President George W Bush supported civil unions, a step short of marriage.

On Wednesday evening, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives moved to reinforce the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act (Doma).

By 245-171, lawmakers voted to prevent the justice department from using taxpayer funds to actively oppose the act, which prevents gay marriages from being recognised at the federal level.

Mr Obama ordered the department to stop actively defending Doma in February 2011.

The vote's sponsor, Kansas Republican Tim Huelskamp, said it was not Mr Obama's "prerogative" to decide "which laws matter and which do not".

Mr Obama broke from his long-claimed indecision on the issue of gay marriage to express outright support for the right of homosexual couples to marry, in an interview on Wednesday with ABC News.

The US president acknowledged that his interview had been prompted by Vice-President Joe Biden's remarks on Sunday that he was "absolutely comfortable" with gay marriage.

He said he had planned to speak on the issue before the Democratic convention in September, and would have preferred to have "done this in my own way, on my own terms without, I think, there being a lot of notice".

In 2010, Mr Obama said his views on the issue of gay marriage were "evolving", a stance that had frustrated gay rights supporters and donors.

However, Mr Obama's newly declared stance does little to change the legal status for gay people who wish to wed in states where such marriages are outlawed. Thirty-one US states have passed constitutional amendments or legislation against same-sex marriage.

'Bible's against that'

On Tuesday, North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment - 61% in favour and 39% against - effectively banning same-sex marriage or civil unions.

A Gallup poll on Tuesday suggested that 50% of Americans were in favour of legalising gay marriage - a slightly lower proportion than last year - while 48% said they would oppose such a move.

Mr Obama's announcement is seen as politically risky in the upcoming election, especially in the South, where one in three swing voters strongly opposes allowing gays and lesbians to wed. Mr Obama narrowly won North Carolina in the 2008 election.

BBC North America editor Mark Mardell says the Obama campaign hopes the announcement will energise younger voters.

But Mr Obama's remarks may not play so well with religious African-American voters, a key Obama voting bloc. Recent polling suggeststhat support for gay marriage among black church-goers remains lower than many other groups.

Pentecostal Pastor Charles Bargaineer, of the largely black New Fellowship Church of God in Florida, told the Associated Press he was troubled by the president's position.

"I don't think that's appropriate for the president," Mr Bargaineer told Reuters news agency. "The Bible's strictly against that."

When asked whether he would vote again for Mr Obama, Mr Bargaineer said: "I'll have to pray about that."

Reverend Scott Clark, a gay pastor from the San Francisco Theological Seminary, said it had been "deeply moving" to hear Mr Obama "finally acknowledge the full dignity and humanity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and our families".

Source: BBC News

Jennifer Mahoney, 33, of Manalapan pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to sexual exploitation of a child.

She faces between 15 and 30 years in prison when she is sentenced Aug. 22, and will have to pay restitution to the victim. She had been charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

As part of the plea, Mahoney agreed 30 years is the appropriate sentence, although the judge will have the final say. She would be under supervised release for anywhere between five years and life after her sentence is completed. She also agreed not to appeal.

Mahoney has been in custody since December after prosecutors said three pornographic videos showing assaults on the child were found on the computer of Robert Ramos Jr. of Austin, Texas.

Ramos was charged with possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors. Prosecutors in Texas say he set up seven fake Facebook accounts to solicit teenage girls to send him nude photos and videos of themselves engaged in sex acts.

Mahoney admitted to sexually assaulting the girl and streaming the assault live over a video chat service on the Internet. She also admitted to abusing the girl on another occasion, recording the abuse on a camera phone and emailing the video to at least one other person. Finally, Mahoney admitted to viewing other videos of child sexual abuse streamed to her using a video chat service.

"This horrible crime is a stark example of how harmful child pornography is, and how its young victims bear not just the physical and emotional scars of violent sexual assault, but lifelong trauma as others repeatedly watch," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement. "Those like Mahoney, who create and feed the market, perpetuate unimaginable suffering for the children they abuse."

Source: ABC News

 Police say a man arrested in a Southeast Texas city for riding his unicycle in the nude was distracting drivers and creating a hazard.

Kemah (KEE'-muh) police Chief Greg Rikard (RY'-kurd) says 45-year-old Joseph Glynn Farley was not intoxicated or impaired when he was arrested Wednesday on a bridge in the city 20 miles southeast of Houston.

Rikard says Farley had been falling off the unicycle and into traffic.

Farley told officers that he liked the feeling of riding without his clothes, which were found at the base of the bridge.

Police charged Farley, of Clear Lake, with misdemeanor indecent exposure. Bond is set at $1,500.

Online jail records did not list an attorney for Farley.

Source: AP

There were few signs elsewhere that Obama's announcement Wednesday would drive change abroad. Conservative Christian and Muslim leaders decried his change of heart, and even in Australia, where a gay-marriage debate similar to America's has brewed for years, the left-leaning prime minister said she remains opposed.

Several countries, mostly in Europe but also Canada, Argentina and South Africa, already allow gay marriage. But for hundreds of millions of other people in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere, homosexuality is rarely even discussed, let alone gay marriage rights.

In China, "the government treats homosexuality like it does not exist," said Xiong Jing, an activist who volunteers in gay support groups in Beijing. She said legalizing gay marriage there would be "unrealistic and impossible."

Sodomy was a crime in China until 1997, and the government considered homosexuality a mental disorder until 2001. Today gays are frequently discriminated against and ostracized in the country, which shows little tolerance for activism of any kind.

Xiong welcomed Obama's support for gay marriage but didn't think it would make much difference in China, and wished he had done more. "If he, as president, was able to not just express his own personal opinion but to support policies on this, that would be even better," she said.

Natee Teerarojjanapongs, a gay activist from Chiang Mai, Thailand, was more excited. Though Thailand is often seen as gay-friendly by tourists, Thai society is conservative and there has been little support for expanding gay rights in the Southeast Asian country.

"I was starting to lose hope in fighting for gay marriage legalization in Thailand," Natee said, "but now Barack Obama's endorsement is rekindling my fire and is giving me the encouragement to go on."

Homosexuality also remains taboo in India, despite large gay pride parades recently in New Delhi and other big cities. Only this year, the government accepted a court ruling that struck down a colonial-era law banning gay sex, and the Supreme Court is now hearing appeals.

In New Zealand, Key said he was "not personally opposed to gay marriage" in an emailed statement Thursday that did not mention Obama. Opposition leader David Shearer went a step further with a tweet saying, "I fully support marriage equality in principle."

Key said the issue is not currently on the government's agenda but could be considered later. New Zealand currently allows same-sex civil unions, which are similar to gay marriages but seen as inadequate by activists who see them as conferring second-class status to gay couples.

In Argentina, which became the first Latin American country to approve gay marriage in 2010, gay-rights activist Cesar Cigliutti said Obama was playing catch-up.

"It seems to me that by taking this position Obama is aligning himself with the entire world, with these times we're living in, with the achievements of rights in other countries," Cigliutti said.

In Australia, three bills in Parliament would allow same-sex couples to marry, and polls have indicated that most Australians support gay marriage. Change is unlikely, however, because both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott oppose it.

"I've made my mind up, and my position on this is well known," Gillard told reporters Thursday. "I think it just reinforces this as a matter that people form their own views on, a deeply personal question people will think about, work their way through it; obviously President Obama has and he's announced a decision."

France also has a population largely in support of gay marriage and a head of state who opposes it, but that is about to change. Francois Hollande, who defeated President Nicolas Sarkozy in elections Sunday, made "the right to marry and adopt for all couples" part of his campaign platform, and has set legislative passage for no later than June of next year.

The Vatican, a strident opponent of gay marriage, did not immediately comment on Obama's announcement, but others opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds excoriated him. Politicians tied to Pentecostal and Catholic churches in Latin America have spoken out strongly against it.

"Barack Obama is an ethical man and a philosophically confused man," said Peruvian congresswoman Martha Chavez of the conservative Catholic Opus Dei movement. "He knows that marriage isn't an issue only of traditions or of religious beliefs. Marriage is a natural institution that supports the union of two people of different sexes because it has a procreative function."

In the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines, the only country in the world apart from the Vatican where divorce is illegal, the issue of gay marriage is not even on the agenda of gay rights groups because some of their members oppose it.

"We have some members who are religious, and their belief and devotion to God is there and is the biggest hindrance for them," said Goya Candelaria, spokesman of Pro Gay association.

The priority for many gay activists is passage of a bill pending in the House of Representatives that would penalize schools and companies for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They deny the Catholic Church's claim that the bill would open the door for same-sex marriage.

Religion-based opposition is also strong in Egypt's conservative Muslim-dominated society. Laws prohibiting "debauchery" or "shameless public acts" have been used to imprison gay men in recent years.

"This is unacceptable, because it is against religion, traditions and against God," said engineer Shady Azer in Cairo. "God created Adam and Eve. He didn't create two Adams or two Eves."

Some gay-marriage opponents expressed concern that Obama would try to use American influence to push gay rights on their home countries.

"We want good relations with America, but America must not interfere in other countries' policies on this issue," said Ibrahim Ali, an independent member of Malaysia's Parliament and leader of a rights group for the country's majority Malay Muslims.

"They can practice this in America if they want, since it's their right, but we are still very concerned, because whatever America practices, it often wants other countries to follow suit," he said.

Sodomy is punishable by 20 years in prison in Malaysia — a law that has been used twice against a prominent opposition leader. Anwar Ibrahim went to prison after a conviction in 2000 and was acquitted in a separate case early this year, though prosecutors have appealed the second case. He has said the charges were a trumped-up effort to remove him from politics.

Though the sodomy law is rarely enforced in Malaysia, gays who speak out commonly become targets of abuse. Azwan Ismail drew anonymous death threats and criticism by Islamic officials in 2010 when he spoke about his sexuality in a Youtube video.

Azwan said Thursday that he was heartened by Obama's comments, and that Malaysians who support gay rights should "take this as a sign to be active and brave. ... This is crucial in fighting homophobia in this country."

Source: AP

He has become the first sitting US president to back gay marriage.

Mitt Romney, the Republican who is set to challenge Mr Obama for the White House in November's elections, promptly said he was against gay marriage.

In recent days, Vice-President Joe Biden and cabinet member Arne Duncan had expressed support for gay unions.

A Gallup poll on Tuesday suggested that 50% of Americans were in favour of legalising gay marriage - a slightly lower proportion than last year - while 48% said they would oppose such a move.

The interview with ABC News was apparently hastily arranged as Mr Obama came under mounting pressure to clarify his position on the issue.

"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Mr Obama told ABC.

He pointed to his administration's commitment to increasing rights for gay citizens. He cited the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and said his administration had dropped support for the Defense of Marriage Act.

"I've stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient," Mr Obama said.

He said he had changed his views after seeing gay members of his own staff who were in "incredibly committed monogamous relationships", and service personnel who felt constrained by not being able to wed.

Mr Obama also said discussions with his own family had helped the "evolution" of his views on the issue.

"There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and... Malia and Sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently," Mr Obama said.

"It doesn't make sense to them and frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective."

In 2010, Mr Obama said his views on the issue were "evolving", a stance that had frustrated gay rights supporters and donors.

His comments aired on Wednesday come a day after North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage or civil unions.

The Obama campaign had opposed that measure, which was passed with 61% in favour and 39% against.

In the US, 31 states have passed constitutional amendments or legislation against same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, Mr Romney set the stage for an election year clash over the polarising social issue by saying he was against gay marriage.

The former Massachusetts governor told a Fox News affiliate: "I do not favour marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favour civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name.

"My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not."

Source: BBC News

North Carolina voters have approved a state constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage and civil unions, dealing a blow to efforts across the United States to extend gay marriage rights.

The amendment, which defines marriage between a man and a woman as the only legally recognised domestic union in the state, was passed by a wide margin on Tuesday.

With 95 of 100 counties' results reported, about 61 per cent of voters backed the amendment.

North Carolina law already blocks gay and lesbian couples from marrying, but the state now joins other southeastern states in adding the prohibition to its constitution.

Many voters simply viewed the amendment as a vote on same-sex marriage despite efforts by the measure's opponents to broaden the discussion, Tom Jensen of the Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling firm said.

"Anytime in North Carolina you have a majority of Republicans and African Americans on the same side of an issue, that's a very potent combination," Jensen said.

Gay rights struggle

Twenty-eight other states have voter-approved constitutional bans on same-sex marriages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Massachusetts, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York and the District of Columbia allow gay and lesbian nuptials.

Maryland, New Jersey and Washington state have passed laws this year approving same-sex marriage, but Governor Chris Christie vetoed New Jersey's law and opponents in Maryland and Washington are threatening ballot initiatives to overturn those laws.

The vote in North Carolina followed statements by senior officials of President Barack Obama's administration this week which were interpreted as supporting gay marriage.

Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday he was "absolutely comfortable" with allowing same-sex couples to wed, and Arne Duncan, the education secretary, said gay marriage should be legal.

Obama has said he favours civil unions but has stopped short of supporting gay marriage.

Supporters of the amendment in North Carolina, a swing state in the November 6 presidential election, said it would preserve the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman and make laws forbidding gay marriage harder to repeal.

Opponents said a ban would jeopardise health insurance benefits for unmarried gay and heterosexual couples and signal that the state was unfriendly to a diverse workforce.

Billy Graham, a prominent Christian evangelist, called on voters to support the measure, while Bill Clinton, a former Democratic president, and some business leaders urged North Carolinians to reject it.

"We will not allow marriage to be redefined in this state. The nation is watching North Carolina, and we have given them a high standard to follow," Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of the pro-amendment group Vote for Marriage NC, told supporters at a celebration party.

Source: Aljazeera

During a wide-ranging interview with David Gregory on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday, Biden weighed in on a wide range of topics--the economy, foreign policy, gay marriage, blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangjang, Mitt Romney and Osama bin Laden--six months ahead of the general election.

Biden said "it's not a concern" that job growth appears to have stagnated because "there is no stagnation."

"There were four million jobs lost in the six months or so before we came to office," Biden said. "Before I lowered my right hand on Jan. 20 [2009], we lost 700,000 jobs that month. And before we got out first major economic initiative passed, we lost another 3.5 million jobs. Since that point, it's been steady growth, not enough. There's still a lot of people in trouble. But there's no stagnation.

"I come from a household where whenever there was a massive recession, somebody around that table was gonna lose their job," Biden continued. "Here's the deal. What is Romney proposing? He's proposing, as to quote Bill Clinton, 'going back to the last policy of the last administration on steroids.' I mean, what is [Romney] talking about? He talks about another $2 trillion in tax cuts for the very wealthy. Is that how he's gonna do it? Is he gonna create jobs by continuing to undercut getting people to college and helping them get there by undercutting education? Is he gonna continue to create jobs by eliminating investments in research and development? I mean, what, what's the plan? We've seen this movie before."

While Biden wouldn't say if the Obama administration would support gay-marriage legislation in a second term, he expressed his personal views on the topic:

DAVID GREGORY: And you're comfortable with same-sex marriage now?

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: I-- I-- look, I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction-- beyond that.

DAVID GREGORY: In a second term, will this administration come out behind same-sex marriage, the institution of marriage?

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: 
Well, I-- I-- I can't speak to that. I-- I-- I-- I don't know the answer to that.

Later in the interview, Biden conceded his public criticism of Romney regarding Osama bin Laden was hypocritical.

DAVID GREGORY: You questioned Romney's bona fides on foreign policy in a wide area. But in this particular area, you said, "Bin Laden is dead, GM is alive. Could you say that slogan in reverse for Governor Romney?" And it's striking, Mr. Vice President, given that at the H-hour of D-day for this operation, you told this president, "Don't do it. Don't do it now," is what you said. And yet you're saying Governor Romney should be questioned? When that was your judgment at the time?

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: 
That-- that's a valid point. I don't know what Governor-- I didn't say he wouldn't.

But Biden hinted the country would be less safe in a Romney presidency. "Based on what [he] has said, for example, him saying our archenemy, I'm paraphrasing, is Russia. Oh, he called it the Soviets. If that's his prism through which he views our national security interest, I would say it would not be as strong."

He also addressed bin Laden's apparent criticism of his ability to step in as president in a letter--released last week--in which the terror leader concluded " Biden is totally unprepared for that post."

"Osama bin Laden's been wrong about a lot of things," he said on Sunday. "I hope he was wrong about that."

Biden added that he wasn't sure if he'd be interested in running in 2016, with or without Hillary Clinton. But he's locked into the 2012 ticket.

"There's no way out," he said. "I mean, they've already printed Obama-Biden."

Source: ABC News