8 dangerous HIV myths debunked by the experts

HIV/AIDS is one of the highest profile diseases of our times, but many of us are still ignorant about key aspects of the illness, how it works and how to live with it.

HIV has killed an estimated 39 million people to date, but making it more dangerous are the misunderstandings and stigmas that surround it. We asked experts to debunk some of the most prevalent and damaging myths about HIV. This is what they said.

Myth: If you are infected with HIV, you'll know about it.

It can take many years for symptoms of HIV to show up, which means you could be carrying the disease for a long time without experiencing any warning signs.

"In the average adult it takes between eight to 10 years for someone who is HIV positive to show signs that they're infected and ill, so it's almost impossible for people to tell if someone has HIV early on," says Owen Ryan, executive director of the International AIDS Society.

Woman told she was 'too ugly to love' because of birthmark ditches makeup in candid photographs

Brave: Lexxie Harford, has stopped hiding behind makeup

A woman told her large facial birthmark made her 'too ugly to love' has decided she will no longer hide it behind makeup.

Lexxie Harford, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, has gained more than 100,000 likes after posting photographs revealing the red mark, which covers the right hand side of her face, on social media site Imgur .

The 23-year-old wrote that she wanted to start an open discussion to help debunk myths surrounding birthmarks.

The graphic designer and illustrator said it wasn't until she was nine years old that she released she was 'different' and as a teenager, she would cover her birthmark with makeup.

However, she said that one day she decided that she wasn't prepared to mask her face any more, and says "it's never bothered me since".

What does the world's most expensive meat taste like?

"Would you prefer the 2000 or 2003 vintage?"

A standard question if you're deciding on wine in a fine restaurant -- but unheard of if it's beef you're ordering.

That's because only one butcher in the world, Frenchman Alexandre Polmard, offers (arguably) the ultimate in unique -- and expensive -- meat.

The young farmer, breeder and butcher is the sixth generation to work in the eponymous family business, which was founded in 1846.

The business truly distinguished itself in the 1990s when Polmard's grandfather and father investigated and ultimately introduced a meat treatment called "hibernation."

UK Parliament to vote on Syria bombing

MPs will decide later whether to back UK air trikes in Syria directed against militants from so-called Islamic State.

A 10-hour House of Commons debate will culminate in a vote on whether the UK should join the US, France, Russia and others bombing targets in Raqqa, the group’s stronghold, and other areas.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron says IS is a threat to Britain’s security.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn opposes bombing but has given MPs a free vote amid divisions within his own ranks.

With up to 50 Labour MPs likely to back the government, and both the Democratic Unionist Party and the Liberal Democrats also giving their backing, Mr Cameron is expected to win parliamentary approval for the UK to intervene militarily in the four-year conflict in Syria.

The prime minister caused controversy on the eve of the vote by urging Tory MPs not to “sit on their hands” or “walk through the lobbies” with Corbyn and others he described as “a bunch of terrorist sympathisers”.

Gigi Hadid, Lily Aldridge, and Joan Smalls pose nude for Stuart Weitzman campaign

Victoria's Secret fashion show supermodel Gigi Hadid, 20, wore nothing but a pair of strappy sandals for shoe designer Stuart Weitzman's new campaign, posing skin-to-skin with her fellow Fashion Show stars Lily Aldridge, 30, and Joan Smalls, 27.

She said: So excited to be a part of the @StuartWeitzman SS16 campaign- shot by @mariotestino.
Best shoes, best team, best day - clearly NOTHING else is needed ;) xx #inourshoes

Oma releases Christmas jam - I Wanna Wish You! @loritosan

The Inspirational Artist and One Nation Crooner is certainly not resting on his oars; he’s back with a melodious and groovy Christmas song infused with contemporary feel. The song titled ‘I wanna wish you” relives the Classic Christmas songs, his distinct and powerful voice will keep you dancing all day!  We love Christmas! Listen here 

The top cop of Illinois wants the federal government to investigate the Chicago Police Department

The Department of Justice may be investigating Chicago PD, thanks to a pair of fresh scandals that have again placed the embattled police department under federal scrutiny.

Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Mandigan, is asking US Attorney General Loretta Lynch to look into the Chicago Police Department's practices — including use of deadly force, amid the continuing fallout from the shooting death of a teenager.

Police officer Jason Van Dyke is facing murder charges on accusations that he shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times during an encounter in October last year.

Teenager lived with massive brain tumour for SIX YEARS - and didn't know about it

A brave teenager who was left unable to open her eye after suffering from a massive brain tumour lived for six years without knowing about her disease.

Allana Prosser was just 11 years old when she first started having daily headaches in 2009.

But it wasn't until earlier this year that it was finally discovered that she had a tumour called a Craniopharynigioma.

The growth was pushing on Allana's optic nerves and for some time the 17-year-oldfrom Bedworth near Coventry was unable to even open her right eye

killer bully boyfriend jailed for breaking 32 bones in gf's 6 month old baby

A brutal bully, 22 year old James Laidlaw, was jailed for 19 years after leaving his girlfriend's six-month-old son with 32 broken bones. He abused the defenceless tot over a three-month period.
Warwick Crown Court in the UK heard he broke both of the baby's legs and arms and nearly every rib in his body.

Nurses said the boy went 'wide-eyed with fear' whenever there was a loud noise or someone approached him.
The baby is now in the care of the govt.
The infant was taken to University Hospital Coventry by his mother Tiffany Hilton in May last year when he was five months old.

Erdogan has a trump card against Putin that would transform the Syrian war

Following the downing of a Russian warplane last week by Turkey, Russia has shown no signs of letting up on its military operations near the Turkish-Syrian border.

Prior to the incident, Moscow ignored calls by Ankara to put an "immediate end" to its airstrikes on Turkmen rebel brigades operating along the border.

The tension culminated in Turkey's decision to down the Su-24 fighter jet, which had been bombing units of Liwa Jabal al-Turkman — an ethnic Turkish group backed by Turkey — at the time it was downed.

Russia insisted the plane had been bombing "terrorists" in the area.

Kim K Kendall Jenner and Angelina Jolie to look battered and bruised for anti violence campaign

An artist jacked photos of Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner to use them for a worthy cause -- the #StopViolenceAgainstWomen campaign.
The photos depict Kim and her sis with horrific cuts and bruises with the caption:

"No woman is immune from domestic abuse." It's a powerful image and message, but we're told neither Kim nor Kendall signed off to join the fight. 

Sources say that the sisters weren't contacted before their photos were used for the campaign and now their attorneys are reaching out to the artist responsible to issue a warning.

The photoshopped images are actually photos from last year's Valentino fashion show in Paris.

Sources say Kim and Kendall happen to back the cause, but also think the artist should have contacted them first and gotten them involved before using their photos.

Mark Zuckerberg says he's giving away 99% of his Facebook shares — worth $45 billion today

Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that he's giving away 99% of his Facebook shares — valued at $45 billion today —during his lifetime.

The Facebook CEO announced the news in a letter to his newborn daughter, Max.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, created the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Its mission mimics much of what Zuckerberg and Chan's donations have focused on in the past: personalized learning, curing diseases, and connecting people.

Obama warns Putin on intervening in Syria's civil war

President Barack Obama warned his Russian counterpart Tuesday against intervening in Syria's civil war, suggesting that Vladimir Putin is aware of the dangers his country faces by entering the bloody conflict.

"I think Mr. Putin understands that ... with Afghanistan fresh in the memory, for him to simply get bogged down in an inconclusive and paralyzing civil conflict is not the outcome that he's looking for," Obama said at a news conference in Paris.

Obama said he does not disagree with Putin -- with whom he met on Monday -- on the necessity of a political resolution to Syria's conflict. But he said there remains discord over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the United States insists must leave power as part of a political transition. But he said the reality on the ground in Syria could change Putin's calculus.

6-year-old boy dies after he was allegedly raped

The six-year-old boy whose name has been withheld, died on Saturday at the Dong Nai Children's Hospital, Vietnam. Although Police in the southern province of Dong Nai,on Monday, November 30, said the little boy died after being inside a car for too long, his parents insists their child was sexually abused before his death. 

 

"Our autopsy has found that the cause of death was suffocation," Colonel Nguyen Van Tho, spokesperson of the provincial police department, told local media.

Pro-Biafra protest in Onitsha this morning

Photos of the protest going on right now at the Onitsha bridgehead. Soldiers placed barricade on the road, disrupting the agitators from crossing the bridge. The River Niger bridge is totally blocked. Vehicles coming from Onitsha and Asaba axes are on stand still also. More photos after the cut...