01/12/2012 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. Some 25,000 people in the UK are

unaware they are infected with HIV. Details have emerged from the

Health Protection Agency which says around 600 people are needlessly

dying from the condition each year. David Cameron says the message

should be spread about education, testing and early diagnosis.

Philippa Thomas reports. We have known for decades that the HIV

virus can infect and destroy our immune system. Left untreated, it

can develop over the years in AIDS or acquired immune deficiency

syndrome. The Health Protection Agency says not enough people are

being tested for HIV, adding to the spread of the virus.

And the Prime Minister has recorded a special video message to mark

World AIDS Day. Thanks to effective treatment and

the brilliant care of our NHS, an early diagnosis means that the

outlook for most people today with HIV in the UK is a good one, but

some 25,000 people in the UK do not know that they have had, are not

benefiting from the treatment and are increasing the risk of passing

the virus on. The HPA's latest report estimates

that about 96,000 people in the UK are living with HIV. With more

than,000 new diagnosis last year alone, but almost a quarter of

people with the virus don't know that they have it. AIDS and HIV

campaigners stress that the record numbers of people living with the

condition are proof that the treatment works.

Somebody who is diagnosed early, they will have maybe 35 to 40

years' life expectancy, a really strong argument to test regularly.

With.events being staged worldwide to mark the day, some campaigners

want the message to get out earlier, urging age-appropriate awareness

lessons at school. Police have charged an actor, who's

been in Coronation Street and The Bill, with historic child sex

offences. Andrew Lancel, from Gateacre in Liverpool, will appear

in court later this month to face five counts of indecent assault

against a child. Australia has become the first

country in the world to introduce unbranded packaging for cigarettes.

From today all logos and colours are being replaced by dark green

packaging with graphic pictures and warnings. The Australian Government

says it is a decisive blow against the ill effects of smoking, but the

tobacco industry says it infringes their legal rights. From Sydney,

Duncan Kennedy reports. Any colour as long as it is green. This is the

future for the smokers in Australia, plain packaging where one brand is

barely distinct wishable from another. The Australian smokers

will be deprived of favourite colour coded brands. There are

35,000 out let's across Australia with you can buy cigarettes, from

now on they will come in this plain, drab, green packaging. Gone are the

logos of the tobacco companies. Campaigners say that the plain

packaging stubs out remaining glamour.

Once you take the colour-coding and the imagery and the gold packaging,

and everything standardised you do de-glamourise a product and go as

far as de-normaliseing smoking. This is how cigarettes used to be

sold. Cigarette packs became the last advertising platform for the

tobacco companies. Why they fought hard against plain packaging in the

courts. We have said for a long time now

that there are serious, unintended consequences to flow on from plain

packaging, including the growth in the illegal tobacco market, the

reduction of legally tobacco prices, court cases, a whole range of

consequences to flow on from this. But as Australia packs away old

packets, other countries like Britain and India are gearing up

their campaigns to take on the tobacco companies in the battle of

the cigarette box. The former England cricketer Andrew

Flintoff has won his professional boxing debut. He beat the American

Richard Dawson on points, despite being knocked down in the second

round. Flintoff's first heavyweight bout came after months of training

with his coach, Barry McGuigan, and was filmed for a documentary. Olly

Foster was ringside. COMMENTATOR: Flintoff! When Andrew

Flintoff walked out into the boxing ring as a cricketer, he put fear

into the opposition, but this is a different world. He said he could

not have trained harder, four months for four two-minute rounds.

With the friends and family ringside, it was obvious he wanted

to make every second count against Richard Dawson, a novice from

Oklahoma. The American caught him in the second, the Manchester arena

held its breath. No training could prepare him for this. Could he take

a punch? He could. Andrew Flintoff did not hold back in the third and

the fourth rounds. He threw more punches and at the final bell, the

home crowd thought they knew who had won and so did he.

There are many people who wanted Andrew Flintoff to fail here

tonight, but he trained properly, he came here to fight and to prove

a few people wrong. He has done just that.

I got the full experience it was amazing, the people of Manchester

are friends and family it was like an out of body experience it was

unbelievable. To think that I could have the opportunity to do that

here. I think he did brilliant. He outboxed the American. He did well.

The watched the documentary, I thought he would be knocked out in

the first one and two, but he lasted throughout and out-boxed him.

I thought he did well. That lad was massive.