Zuma offers 4,500 dollars to HIV positive S/Africans to have genitals tattooed.

Jacob Zuma

HIV positive South Africans that volunteer to be marked near their genital area with a  tattoo depicting their status will be paid an equivalent of 4,500 dollars or 840, 000 naira (50 000 Rands) each, according to a  bill newly signed by President Jacob Zuma.

The bill, according to a report by Radio City, a local South  African radio station, is widely regarded as one of the greatest steps in the history of combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country which has the highest HIV prevalence in Africa.

Zuma who is reported to to have volunteered to be the first South African citizen to get hisHIV status tatted near his genitals, however  announced that only the first 10 million people (who already tested positive) to volunteer to have their HIV statuses tattooed on their genitals would be given the money in form of a funeral expense voucher.

After signing the bill, Zuma was quoted as saying: “The mark is to protect those who can’t say no to sex. I mean if you can’t read between the lines you should read between the legs because that’s where the status would be tatted.

“The choice to be HIV positive is now in your hands or your genitals for that matter…. We also encourage those who had been living with the virus to go to the nearest public hospitals to get their status tatted in,” he noted.

South Africa has the world’s highest HIV caseload and premature deaths of 300,000 people. The government is distributing life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs to people infected with the virus.

Particularly, HIV-positive infants and children  under one year obtain free ARVs, while pregnant women and patients with  tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS with CD4 cell counts below 350 are treated free.

In 2006, Zuma faced charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend, and was ridiculed for testifying that he took a shower after sex to lower the risk of infection with HIV. His determination to help millions South Africans infected with HIV and around 60,000 babies born HIV infected each year.

“Let there be no more shame, no more blame, no more discrimination and no more stigm. Let the politicisation and endless debates about HIV and AIDS stop,” Zuma noted.

Many factors contribute to the wide spread of HIV in the country. These include: poverty; inequality and social instability; high levels of sexually transmitted infections; the low status of women; sexual violence; high mobility (particularly migrant labour); limited and uneven access to quality medical care; and a history of poor leadership in the response to the epidemic.

HIV and AIDS estimates by UNAIDS (2013), show that the number of people living with HIV in South Africa averages 6.3 million. Adults aged 15 to 49 have average prevalence rate of 19.1 percent while youths aged 15 and above living with HIV number 5.9 million.

Women aged 15 and above living with HIV number  3. 5 million while children aged 0 to 14 living with the virus are 3.6 million in number.

Total deaths due to AIDS range between 170,000 – 220,000, while an estimated 2.4 million orphans aged 0 to 17 months due to AIDS are on record.

Culled from Vanguard

 

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  Francis Sokari He is HIV positive shame on zuma. he was not able to cob xenophobia against my nigerian brodas and africans at large .....here comes another stupid idea of his. what a pity

  Like · Reply · May 31 at 3:46pm

  
  
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  Israel Lawrence Adedotun for the president mehn! It is a supprise!

  Like · Reply · May 31 at 11:36pm

  
  
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Australian on death row weds fiancée in prison few hours to his execution

 Chan married his fiancé (right ) of less than three months inside the prison today, where coffins were seen arriving earlier this evening.

An Australian drug smuggler, Andrew Chan who is expected to be executed by firing squad in Indonesia tomorrow evening has married his fiancé of less than three months inside the prison today, as family paid what will be one of their last visits.

Their wedding was held just months after the drugs ringleader proposed to his girlfriend at Kerobokan Prison.

The shooting is set to go ahead despite Indonesia's Constitutional Court agreeing to hear a legal challenge brought by the duo and setting a hearing date of May 12.

Chan and another convicted drug smuggler, Myuran Sukumaran, are part of the Bali Nine who were convicted in 2005 over a plot to smuggle around 18.2lbs of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.

The pair, as well as other death row inmates, have remained defiant in their final hours inside the prison on Indonesia's 'death island', where coffins were seen arriving earlier this evening.

Leonard Arpan, lawyer for the two men, said he had lodged an appeal against the death sentences, but Indonesia's attorney general  Muhammad Prasetyo said it would not stop the executions taking place.

Families of both of the men visited them today and were told they will have to say their final goodbyes tomorrow. 

Chan's mother was in tears as she boarded a ferry to the island with the pair's Australian lawyer Julian McMahon.

Sukumaran was denied the opportunity to hug his mother goodbye after guards refused to remove his handcuffs, according to the Daily Telegraph. 

Michael Chan (left), the brother of Andrew Chan, and Chinthu Sukumaran (right), the brother of Myuran Sukumaran, have pleaded once again for their clemency 

The date of the executions became official when a local funeral director was instructed to inscribe the names of those to be shot by firing squad and the date of their deaths.

Chan and Sukumaran both refused to sign their execution warrants during official proceedings on Saturday, saying they believed it would be unjust to kill them. 

The latter's brother, Chinthu Sukumaran, said: 'He's found peace with what may happen but he and we all feel that this is a grave injustice and it did not have to be this way and it still doesn't have to be this way.' 

He also called on Indonesia President Joko Widodo to give clemency to the men

'Please, please show mercy,' he said. 'There are nine people with families that love them.

'That's mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.

'We ask the president to please use his powers to intervene and save their lives.' 

The Australian men are expected to be led from their isolated cells in Batu prison and through tropical forest.

The condemned pair will be given white clothing to wear, which symbolises the afterlife, before beginning their fatal trek. 

They will be given the option to be blindfolded with a piece of fabric before facing the firing squad, who will be lined up anywhere from five to 10 metres in front of them.

The death row inmates will be allowed to stand, sit or kneel before a cross is placed over their hearts, acting as a target for the 12 riflemen - of which nine will have blanks and only three will have live rounds.

If necessary their hands or feet will be tied to a three-metre high pole or a wooden execution chair.

Michael Chan said his brother's only wish would be to go to church with his family in his last days.

'The two boys are still holding up pretty well considering they feel this is injust (unjust) to what has happened over the last ten years with their whole case,' he said.

'Somewhere in the legal system for Indonesia there's got to be mercy and the president needs to show that now.

'He's the only one that can stop it and it's not too late to do so.' 

Culled from Daily mail

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Prisoners 'brutalize' transgender woman for performing sex acts on self

A Brazilian transgender woman has accused police of brutally beating her, shaving her head and stripping her of her clothes. But an official police statement claimed Bolina was attacked by prisoners when she was seen performing a sex act on herself in her cell and that officers were forced to intervene.

It added that the injuries were the result of a struggle in which, police claim, she bit an officer on the ear.

Veronica Bolina, 25,  was arrested on April 12, accused of assaulting an elderly neighbor and attempted murder.

When photos of Bolina with her face disfigured appeared on social media in subsequent days, officials opened an investigation.

There are pictures of Bolina, allegedly during her arrest, with her shirt ripped off, her hands handcuffed behind her back and her feet chained together. There are also closeups of her face, allegedly taken at a later date, with both eyes swollen shut and her mouth swollen.

Veronica Bolina (left) amid reports police 'pulverized' her face leaving her with horrific injuries (right)

Veronica Bolina

Images show Veronica Bolina lying partially naked on the floor in front of a group of officers and other prisoners in the capital Sao Paulo

Pictures appearing to show her ordeal were leaked online and have sparked outrage across Brazil

The photos of her badly swollen eyes and mouth have been widely shared on the internet with outraged supporters setting up campaign groups on the internet demanding the right for LGBT people to be treated fairly.

One supporter, Susane Montalvo Sarabia, said: 'It is just sickening that in this day and age such things as this still happen.

'They have pulverised that poor woman's face and are now trying to cover it up. Whether she is innocent, guilty, transgender or straight doesn't matter.

'The police should not be allowed to do this to anyone.'

Authorities in Sao Paulo say they are now investigating the matter.

A spokesman for the prosecutors office said she had been moved to a detention centre where she has an individual cell until the court case.

Culled from CNN  and  Daily mail

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Co-Pilot 'Deliberately' crashed Germanwings A320 plane, killing 150 passengers

Andreas Lubitz (Right)

The co-pilot of Germanwings flight A320 is believed to have deliberately crashed a plane carrying 150 people into the French Alps.

There were no survivors when the Airbus suddenly plummeted near Digne on a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf on Tuesday morning.

At a press conference on Thursday, Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin revealed chilling details of what he had heard on the audio from one of the retrieved black box recorders.

Brice Robin addressing the media in France

He confirmed earlier reports that the pilot had been locked out of the cockpit after excusing himself momentarily, possibly to visit the bathroom.

The conversation between the two previously had been "normal" and "courteous".

While the co-pilot was alone he locked the door and engaged a flight-monitoring system which began the descent of the plane, Robin said.

Identifying the co-pilot as a German national, Andreas Lubitz, aged 28, he added: “This can only be done voluntarily, not automatically.

"We hear several cries from the captain asking to get in. Through the intercom system he identifies himself - but there is no answer. He knocks on the door and asks for it to be opened - but there is no answer."Lubitz “didn’t say a single” word while he was alone and could be heard breathing "normally" during the descent, he said.

Robin added: "It wasn't the breath of someone who was struggling. He didn't say a single word, it was total silence.

"We hear the breathing inside the cockpit and we hear it until the moment of impact. "I think the victims only realised at the last moment because on the recording you only hear the screams on the last moment."

He added that there was no answer from the cockpit to communication with ground controllers or from other aircraft in the area.

At this point alarm systems were sounding on the plane informing those onboard of the aircraft's proximity to the ground.

When asked if Lubitz had committed suicide, Robin replied: "No, I'm not even going to mention this word because I don't know."

When pressed on Lubitz's religion, Brice said: "I don't think this is where this lies. I don't think we will get any answers there.

"He is not listed as a terrorist, if that is what you are insinuating."

Libutz was a member of a flying club called LSC Westerwald.

Culled from Huff post

Two friends who met as girls set to become man and wife after one has a sex change surgery

Two former schoolgirl friends are getting married after one of them had a sex change to become a man - and they are now expecting a child.

Toni Harper, 22, met Sean Horton, 25, through friends when they were aged 12 and 15 and he was a blonde girl called Sian.

They became good friends and Sean 'came out' to Toni after years of torment about his gender and sexuality.

Sean started hormone treatment and the pair fell in love as his voice lowered and he grew facial hair.

Trainee mechanic Sean is just one operation away from the end of his treatment and the couple will tie the knot next month after winning a wedding in a competition.The pair are also about to start a family thanks to a sperm donor and Toni is due to give birth four weeks after their wedding.

Sean, from Knowle, Bristol, said: 'When I was younger I always wanted to wear boys' clothes. My mum just thought I was a Tomboy until I told her the truth.

'Now I just can't wait to be a dad. I can't wait to hear him call me 'daddy'.'The couple became friends while at school and grew so close that Toni was the first person Sean told that he wanted to be a man.

He then later revealed his feelings to his mother Heather, 51, who fully supported her son.

Sean always had the support of his mother, Heather, and the couple are now looking forward to becoming parents themselves thanks to a sperm donor

The engaged couple had artificial insemination treatment with donor sperm in a bid to get pregnant, spending £8,000 at a private clinic on three unsuccessful attempts.

The pair also planned a wedding but put it on hold after Sean's father Martin was diagnosed with cancer.

In a cruel twist of fate they got the news they could have further insemination treatment on the NHS the day Mr Horton passed away from cancer.

Toni then became pregnant with the baby boy, which due on Mr and Mrs Horton's wedding anniversary.

The couple are getting married next month after they won a £12,000 wedding through local paper, The Bristol Post.

Excited groom Sean said: 'I believe this is fate falling on us. He wanted his first grandson as bad as we did, but when he was here we had three failed attempts.

'Then, after he passed away, we managed to get pregnant on the first attempt. We couldn't believe it. Toni said she will never forget my face when I found out.'

Toni added: 'It was the longest two weeks of our life after the insemination.

'We had tried before. It had been so hard and so disappointing. But we were so relieved in the end.'

Sean says he always knew he was a man and is now eagerly looking forward to becoming a father

Culled from Daily mail