In early June, journalists identified him as a 29-year-old, multilingual, middle-class architect who worked as a translator for freelance journalist Peter Maass during the war.

"He's a lot like us but he's not us," Maass told the Los Angeles Times June 4, after learning of his translator's other identity. "Salam sees what's happening around him -- the tragedy or the absurdity, and he communicates it in a human voice that most journalists don't have."

Pax's blog continues at http://dearraed.blogspot.com.

In a June 3 posting, he wrote: "I was wondering when will he [Maass] find out [that I am Salam Pax] and if he will be angry because I didn't tell him. I think he isn't. [In his article about at Salon.com,] he uses words like 'chubby' and 'cherubic' to describe me. Ewww."

Mauresmo was on-hand as her likeness was unveiled in late May.

She also recently posed topless for the cover of Paris Match and announced, "I've found the woman of my life."

In the accompanying article, Mauresmo said she was "wounded" in 1999 when fellow player Martina Hingis called her "half a man" and competitor Lindsay Davenport made fun of her "guy" shoulders.

For a while, Mauresmo said, she refrained from showing her shoulders in public.

Liberal Democrats John Stewart, 30, and Neil Fletcher, 38, who represent neighboring districts, have been together 10 years. They were elected to their seats in May.

"We are very much in love and would like to have some type of marriage," Fletcher said. "It would be great to have some kind of legal acknowledgement of our relationship."

Stewart added: "We have never hidden the fact that we are a couple. We take our careers on the council seriously and it seemed like an appropriate time to make our relationship perfectly clear. We name each other as respective partners on the Lib Dems' Web site so it is not rocket science to find out."

Fletcher said the couple doesn't "really go round the gay scene and only visited a gay club together for the first time last week."

One soldier has been arrested, after dropping off incriminating film for processing back in Britain, and the other seven members of his unit are under investigation by the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police.

According to the Telegraph, "[One] picture showed a pair of white legs and the head of an Iraqi. The hand of a man behind the Iraqi's head appeared to be forcing him to perform a sex act. [Another] picture showed a pair of bare bottoms with an Iraqi on his knees on the floor and his body bent. Another man was pressed behind him in what seemed to be a sexual position. [Another] picture appears to show two naked Iraqis cowering on the ground."

The register determines one's fundamental legal identity in Japanese society.

According to the Mainchi Daily News, the plaintiff, a former woman, argued that without the change, he would be unable to get a job or get married, which, he said, violates his Constitutional right to pursuit of happiness.

Gay groups and European Union officials said they would continue to push for a total ban on workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Slovakia is scheduled to join the EU in May of next year.

"It is progress but it is not enough," said Onno Simons from the European Commission's Bratislava delegation. "The EC definitely looks forward to [Slovakia approving] an anti-discrimination law."

The parade has lost sponsors and faces increased liability-insurance premiums. Worst of all, however, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) has caused thousands of canceled hotel reservations for Pride weekend, suggesting attendance could plummet.

Toronto has more SARS cases than any city outside of Asia, and has seen a resurgence of infections and quarantines in recent weeks.

Federal, provincial and city governments will infuse about $250,000 (US$182,500) to keep the parade afloat, the Web site said.

The parade is believed to attract more than a million people to the city's gay village.

Ads for the Sandals chain state that the resorts are for "mixed sex couples only."

London Underground took action after Mayor Ken Livingstone denounced the ads as discriminatory.

"I am pleased to say London Underground agreed that it is not acceptable for a company with such an openly discriminatory policy to advertise on public transport in this city," he said.

A Tube spokeswoman said the ads were "not appropriate" because they contravened the system's "social-inclusion policies."

Twelve Sandals properties in Antigua, Barbados, Cuba, Jamaica and St. Lucia allow only heterosexual couples. The company operates seven other resorts in Cuba, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands that are open to "singles, families, groups -- everyone."