Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror. She had every reason to be proud. In the space of a year, she had lost an incredible 17 stone. Her weight dropped from 37st 1lbs to 19st 7lbs, and she slipped into a dress before gazing at her newly svelte figure. With her smokey eye makeup and black skater dress, she could have been glamming up for a night on the tiles with her girlfriends. Instead, it was Halloween, 2013, and Ava was hiding a huge secret. Born a boy named William, it was the first time she had ever dressed as a girl – and everything fell into place.
It's incredible to think anyone could live in such horrendous squalor - yet two men have been prosecuted for keeping their homes in such revolting conditions that it was no longer fit for their animals .
AT first glance these images could easily be mistaken for photographs, but they are in-fact real life drawings created using nothing but coloured pencils .
A cheeky owl fancies a game of hide and seek as it peeps out from behind a tree .
A host of websites that are almost twenty years old are collecting a cult following thanks to their retro appeal .
A proud gorilla mum welcomes her newborn baby western lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species .
TOMORROW (Saturday) marks the 28th anniversary of the nuclear disaster that left the city of Chernobyl devastated .
THROWING himself off 1,100ft bridges in a wheelchair, this is the PARALYSED base jumper who knows no fear .
BURSTING from the water, a beautiful but deadly Sumatran tiger jumps for food in an Indonesian zoo .
THIS RING of fire in the sky is the annular solar eclipse that wowed our cousins down-under .
WEARING tiny Christmas accessories, these adorable babies get into the spirit of the season .
HOTSPOT MEDIA - WAVE-ING GOODBYE TO RUSH HOUR: WHILE most workers endure commuting chaos by road or rail everyday, one entrepreneur has come up with a novel way to get to the office - by KAYAK .
Clinging on to their furry backs, mischievous monkeys appeared to enjoy the free transport as they rode around on a perturbed Capybara .