NEWS FROM PORTUGAL

Popular gay TV celeb found castrated in hotel

A celebrity TV journalist from Portugal has been found castrated and bludgeoned to death in a hotel in New York City.

His companion, a male model, was arrested hours later after he sought medical attention at a hospital not far from the InterContinental New York Times Square hotel.

The journalist, 65-year-old Carlos Castro, arrived in the US last month with Renato Seabra, 21, to see some Broadway shows and spend New Year's Eve in Times Square, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The two had been dating each other for a few months.

But it was reported there was some friction between the two around the end of the trip.
A guest at the hotel in which the men were staying is said to have heard the two arguing in their room.

Castro and Seabra had planned to meet a friend's daughter for dinner last Friday but only Seabra showed up at the lobby and told the woman that 'Carlos will never leave the hotel again'.

The distraught woman fetched the hotel manager, who got the security guards to open the room, where they found Castro's body at about 7pm Friday local time.

Seabra had by then left the hotel but was soon apprehended by police.

No charges have yet been filed against Seabra, who was a contestant last year on a Portuguese TV show, which hunts for modelling talent.

Castro was admired in Portugal for his bravery in coming out as a gay man. He was also a high-profile public figure as a TV personality.

 

European study

Released last month are preliminary results from the largest ever international study of the sexual health of gay and bisexual men.

When the Gay Men’s Sex Survey was conducted in the UK in 2010, the same internet-based questionnaire was made available in 25 languages across Europe.

The researchers were taken aback by the high level of response, with a total of 180,988 men completing the survey. 

The response rate was particularly high in Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia and Austria. 

It was lowest in Turkey, Moldova and Russia.

Levels of basic HIV knowledge were generally very high, with 93% already knowing five key facts about HIV.

Overall, around 35% had taken an HIV test in the previous twelve months. 

Testing for HIV in the last year was most common in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and France. 

It was least common in Lithuania, Finland, Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey. 

The researchers say that in some countries, such as Poland and Russia, the proportion of gay and bisexual men who are HIV-positive is considerably higher than in previous estimates.

Full results will be published in the autumn of 2011.