With fewer than 100 days to go, preparations for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid are heating up and organizers are promising a “fiesta,” adding a Spanish flavor to the traditional opportunities for prayer, friendship, music and religious education.

As of May 7, organizers reported 347,965 youths had registered for the Aug. 16-21 event, which Pope Benedict XVI will attend. The figure included 22,488 young people from the United States and 5,439 from Canada. The Italians, always a big contingent at World Youth Day, were leading the pack with 65,196 registrants, outpacing even the Spaniards by more than 10,000.

While registering has benefits, including priority seating at papal events, young people seem to know they won’t be turned away, so an earlier estimate of 1.5 million participants seems to be right on track.

Father Eric Jacquinet, the official in charge of the youth section at the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the official sponsor of World Youth Day, said, “We can’t predict how many will register at the last minute.” At WYD Paris in 1997, he said, 300,000 young people pre-registered, and there were 1.2 million people at the closing vigil and closing Mass with Pope John Paul II.

The staff of WYD Madrid has rallied interest and is helping prepare all those young people with a major presence on the Internet, especially through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Photos of the preparation phase are posted on Flickr and videos produced by or about WYD 2011 are collected on a special YouTube channel.

Organizers announced May 10 that the Madrid event will be the first World Youth Day with its own radio station and with a web-TV site.
Erika Rivera Palma, a spokeswoman for WYD ’11, said the organization looked for 20,000 volunteers to help during the event. More than 30,000 people applied, and the staff is still sifting through the applications to settle on 22,400 volunteers.

As of May 12, she said, the World Youth Day staff was 500 strong, and 80% of those workers were volunteers. Some were already in Madrid, but many were working from home on the website and Facebook pages.

That WYD Madrid has a strong presence in cyberspace, a very interactive universe where comments are posted with ease, may have something to do with the amount of criticism that has surrounded the official hymn for the Madrid gathering.

The anthem, with words by Auxiliary Bishop Cesar Franco of Madrid, was released in November. But when WYD organizers started feeling the burn of the online commentators, they opened a worldwide contest, soliciting songs — not to replace the bishop’s hymn, but to play alongside it.

Some 270 songs were submitted and just more than 130 were deemed eligible, said Rivera. The public was being asked to go to a website (www.madridmeencanta.org) and vote for their favorites by May 31. A WYD panel was to take the top 25 vote-getters and choose five of them to feature in Madrid.

Hundreds of bands, choirs and soloists applied for an official performance slot at World Youth Day, vying for an international stage, but no pay. Organizers chose 255 of them.

The first three afternoons, evenings and nights — “evening” in Madrid would be considered “night” in many other parts of the world — have been set aside for cultural activities, including the music and museum visits.

The mornings will be dedicated to religious education sessions, which take place in hundreds of locations and in dozens of languages. The teachers of the sessions are 250 bishops, who almost always leave plenty of time to dialogue with the youths.

Father Jacquinet said the pontifical council chooses the 250 bishops, usually based on those who have told the council they will attend WYD and are available. The final choice, he said, is based on language and country of origin: “For example, we want to make sure the German speakers come not only from Germany, but also from Austria and Switzerland.”

The council, he said, also takes into account that some bishops “have a special charisma” in addition to their teaching charism.

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NEWS now travels almost at the speed of light. This was not the case not too long ago, especially in the developing world. In Nigeria, for instance, newspapers as late as the 1990s published the results of league matches several days after they were played. The situation is now completely and positively different. The amazing advances in technology have made it possible for news to be disseminated and removed as an event is taking place.

THE media has reached new frontiers, but it is not lord of all it surveys. The media stands in a clearing, but there is still a forest that restricts its vision and freedom. This is the theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day — 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.

SOME countries restrict their citizens’ access to the Internet. Nigeria does not engage in this Big Brotherism, but most Nigerians do not have access to the Internet, the new information frontier. Computers are expensive and are beyond the financial reach of most Nigerians. Subscription to the Internet does not also come cheap.

THE barriers that Nigerians encounter in the new information age have more to do with purchasing power than a predatory policy like Decree 4, which the Buhari regime used to jail two journalists, though they had written a factual story.

THE press in Nigeria was not free under the military. But the press refused to be cowed, not even after a journalist was killed when he opened a parcel cowardly and cruelly rigged with a bomb. The murder has not been solved, and it was said that investigation was obstructed by very powerful people.

THE military closed down newspapers and set fire to printing presses. The Abacha regime sent some journalists to prison on the trumped-up charge that they were involved in a coup plot.

CHIEF Olusegun Obasanjo, who took over from the military, was barely tolerant of the press. Though he had handed over power as a military dictator 20 years before, Chief Obasanjo expected the press to show to his administration a batman’s servility. He insulted journalists, questioning their education and intelligence. He once said he did not read Nigerian newspapers.

CHIEF Obasanjo during his administration did not order a newspaper to stop publication, as he had done in the case of Newbreed magazine while military head of state. But he did not promote their financial health. It was revealed that there was a secret policy on advertisement and purchase of newspapers in government offices and it was not press-friendly.

SECURITY agents stopped the circulation of the entire print run of a magazine on one or two occasions, but the press was generally free during the Obasanjo administration. The press asserted its constitutionally guaranteed freedom.

THE press had played a leading role in the restoration of democracy. It was right to insist on its freedom, as it had courageously done under the vicious dictatorship of General Sani Abacha.

THE Nigerian press enjoys the freedom provided by the country’s constitution, but it is hampered by the high cost of materials. Almost everything needed for the production of a newspaper has to be imported. The price of newsprint is becoming intolerable. The newsprint company that the Federal Government established was crippled at birth by corruption.

THE then President Obasanjo refused to sign the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill. The debate on the bill began all over again and it has now been passed by the current National Assembly after it initially refused to do so. The passed bill was watered down to the point of meaninglessness.

RULERS try to curtail the freedom of the press, but they are not the only ones who do harmful things to the practice of journalism in the country. Newspapers have often been accused of being sensational. But this can be a matter of perspective and perspective is sometimes influenced by sentiment.

BUT there is no doubt that journalism needs to be practised with more professionalism in the country. Stories are sometimes not thoroughly investigated before they are published. A story has at least two sides, but only one side of a story is usually  published by some newspapers. This is inexcusable in the age of the mobile phone.

THERE is also the matter of integrity. A watchdog should not allow itself to be tempted, no matter the size of the bone.

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One month after artist Ai Weiwei was first imprisoned by Chinese authorities, fellow artist Kapoor is in Paris to launch his latest work Monumenta. In an attempt to raise awareness and encourage further action for the cause among fellow art enthusiasts, the British sculptor has dedicated his work ‘Leviathan’ to Weiwei. At the opening of the installation this morning, the sculptor said that not enough was being done to out pressure on Chinese authorities to give more information or release Talking to the BBC’s Today programme this morning the sculptor described the current situation, in which the international community have voiced concern but taken no real action, as “ridiculous”. He suggested that the art world is best-placed to make an urgent statement. “As artists we have a communal voice and it’s important that we stick together.”

He suggested that all the world’s museums close for a day in protest, and added that “some such campaign needs to form itself.” Kapoor's installation stands 37 metres high, with blood red monochrome interiors. The inside is lit up by sunlight which shines through the glass top of the Grand Palais which itself measures 13,500 cubic feet. Kapoor describes the work as an "attempt to turn the building inside out".
The artwork’s commissioner Jean de Loisy describes ‘Leviathan’ as a “labrynth” and says that visitors who enter the piece will “be swallowed by the monster which Anish Kapoor has created and bear witness to a spectacular destruction of architecture within the reflections created by the shadows of the glass roof.”
Ai Weiwei has two exhibitions of his work opening in London this week, at the Lisson Gallery and in the courtyard of Somerset House. Talking about Weiwei’s work, Kapoor said: “He’s made it clear that every life matters. And surely that’s the right thing to do, surely that’s what we all should believe in.”

 

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Speakers at a national round table conference on World Thalassaemia Day urged the federal government to declare a thalassaemia test compulsory prior to marriages in order to eradicate the deadly disease from country.

The speakers included health experts, intellectuals, religious scholars, writers, philanthropists, lawyers, opinion makers and think tanks from different walks of life.

The conference organised at a local hotel under the aegis of Omair Sana Foundation (OSF) concluded its 15-day thalassaemia prevention campaign on Sunday. Speakers also demanded of the government to incorporate a new clause in the marriage certificate to bring down the graph of disease.

It is pathetic to know that the lawmakers and public representatives vow every year on the world thalassaemia day to take the issue in assemblies; however, they tend to forget soon as the day passes, they lamented.

Pakistan languishes with 6,000 new thalassaemia suffering children every year while the total registered major cases have crossed 60,000 whereas the number of thalassaemia minor cases is in millions.

Speakers of the seminar included Provincial Special Health Secretary Dr Suresh Kumar, Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority Secretary Dr Zahid Ansari, National Institute of Blood Diseases (NIBD) Director Dr Tahir Shamsi, USF General Secretary Dr Saqib Ansari, Joint Secretary Ubaid Hashmi, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Former General Secretary Dr Qaisar Sajjad, Hussani Blood Bank’s Dr Sarfaraz Jafri, renowned religious scholars Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Qazi Ahmed Noorani, Mulana Saifullah, Burhani Blood Bank’s Dr Durya Ajaz, Kashif Iqbal Thalassaemia Centre’s Muhammad Iqbal and Father Thomas Gulfam.

They urged the government to pass a bill making pre-marital screening mandatory so that the society could be made thalassaemia-free. They also underscored the need to raise awareness about the hereditary blood disorder so that it could be effectively prevented.

The health experts informed thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder and can be simply stated as the inability of body to produce adequate amount of haemoglobin in the red blood cells resulting in severe anaemia development.

They said children suffering from this blood disorder require a blood transfusion every month besides treatment for iron overload due to the excessive number of transfusions.

The percentage of thalassaemia minor in a Thalassaemic family is 33 percent whereas five percent of the country’s total population is a carrier of this disease.

There is no cure for the disease, but it could be controlled through supportive therapy like blood transfusion. However, continuous transfusion of blood increases iron level in the body causing various complications and reducing the life tenure, they added.

There are high chances of cure through bone marrow transplantation in the early stage, but it is very expensive. Very few families can afford such a costly treatment for their children afflicted with thalassaemia, they maintained.

The health experts said two married thalassaemic minors increase the chances of producing a thalassaemic major patient who passes a painful life and needs blood transfusion throughout his life.

Sindh Special Health Secretary Dr Suresh Kumar speaking on the occasion announced to form a thalassaemia steering committee on the directives of Sindh Health Minister Dr Sageer Ahmed. The committee will comprise health experts and civil society representatives.

He also informed that the ambit of Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority has been extended which includes awareness and prevention of other blood diseases besides thalassaemia. Dr Zahid Ansari said eradication of thalassaemia is not mere responsibility of the government but collective role of the society is also needed in this regard.

Dr Saqib Ansari stressed the of voluntary blood donation to ease the trouble of patients suffering from blood diseases. He urged the government to ensure the provision of necessary medicines for the treatment of blood diseases particularly thalassaemia and to develop a website at the government level on thalassaemia.

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Mothers Day is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, the second Sunday of May being the most common. In Pakistan, the first week of May was dedicated for its celebration, but not a single event was organised in the capital city. A survey conducted by The Express Tribune, however, showed that media played a vital role in creating awareness about the day.

“Indeed it was a big day for me when I saw my four-year old daughter wishing me  ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ at the breakfast table, while carrying a rose and a card that she made herself,” said Kiran Usman, a housewife. When she asked her daughter how she got to know about the day, she replied, “TV!”. “Mother’s day should be everyday, one can never have enough words to express the love we have all at once. I thank my mom for bringing me into this beautiful, glorious world. May you always wake up smiling and stay happy and healthy,” said a designer, Zaiena Haider.

Mrs Faisal Mughal, a housewife and a mother of four, said she was not wished by her children on the day. “I love my children. I know they are all busy with their lives and couldn’t wish me on the day,” she said. “Their success and happiness is the biggest gift for me.” Mrs Mughal, who live alone in her house in Rawalpindi, said she was glad to see that in “this busy world” there are some children who take the time to wish their mothers on the day, as it was evident on various TV channels where people made calls or sent SMS to programme hosts to wish their mothers, she added.

A student, Aneela Fayyaz, who recently lost her mother in a car accident, said that children mostly take their mothers for granted. “I too did not realize my mother’s worth, her true love and care. But now when she is not in this world I feel empty and guilty for not acknowledging her sacrifices,” she said. “Very few people indeed appreciate the value their mothers have in their lives and celebrate the day,” said a local Raheel Jamshed, “I appreciate the media’s role for keeping this great day alive.”

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The main theme this year is “21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers”. Staying true to the theme, this Embassy is posting this message, and ones from the UK’s Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office Minister responsible for human rights on a wide range of new media including our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts, as well our Embassy and FCO websites.

The UK has a reputation for respecting and encouraging freedom of expression and press freedom – a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So this seems an appropriate opportunity to set out the UK’s position on this important issue:

* Freedom of expression is fundamental to building democracy. Citizens must be allowed to discuss and debate issues; challenge their governments; and make informed decisions.
* Journalists, bloggers, media organisations and individuals must be allowed to operate and to express themselves freely and safely and within international standards.
* Governments need to respond to legitimate aspirations with reform not repression. Encouraging an open and effective press serves to improve the environment for long-term social, political and economic stability.
* As highlighted in the British Foreign Office’s 2010 Human Rights Report, our missions around the world regularly raise general and specific concerns about harassment, intimidation and assassination of journalists; call for prompt and full investigation of individual cases; and support criminal justice mechanisms and judicial reform to deal with attacks on journalists.

As part of our continuing work to promote an unrestricted press and freedom of expression I am also happy to share with you that this Embassy will soon be working with the Excellence in Journalism Foundation in their efforts to recognise and encourage journalistic talent in the Hungarian media. Watch this space for more news on this soon.

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Chest physicians on Tuesday dispelled the impression, being deliberated created by sections with commercial interest, that any vaccine or group of vaccines could prevent or help control asthma.

Asthma is triggered by numerous allergens and not by any single factor, therefore, vaccination cannot desensitise the allergens people are exposed to, President Chest Society of Pakistan Prof Nadim Rizvi told APP.

He was supplemented by Associate Professor Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases Dr Shahina Qayyum who warned that vaccines actually trigger asthma if the patient is severely sensitive towards any of different allergens.

She mentioned that derivatives of the same virus or cause of infections are used in the vaccines to counter the ailment people are at risk to contract or may already be suffering from.

“In particular case of asthma, where several factors trigger the ailment administration of any single derivative could aggravate the condition of the person concerned,” she elaborated.

In reply to a question, Dr Qayyum further explained that pollen is also among the several contributory factors towards asthma and in case pollen derivative is used in the vaccine then people not yet exposed to pollen allergy hold every chance to get exposed to it.

Dr Nadim Rizvi, a senior pulmonologist and head of the Chest Medicine Department Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center said medication remained to be the only safe option for asthmatics.

“It is because of this reason we through the platform of Chest Society of Pakistan have been asking for easy availability of treatment at every government clinic, dispensary and hospital,” he said.

He said standardised treatment must be adopted, however, the problems is that inhaler being a mainstay in the strategy is not provided to the patients at any of the healthcare centres.

“Resource constraint is an issue, however, concerned authorities as well as people in general need to realize that application of drugs through inhalers enhances efficacy of the medicine,” said Prof Rizvi.

The drugs required to treat asthma contain steroids and their side effects are contained by almost 100% through application of inhalers as compared to oral intake.

Dr Rizvi and Dr Qayyum were of unanimous opinion that while drugs to treat asthma are toxic, like most of the allopathic medicines, yet these are well tolerated even by the children.

The senior chest physicians agreed that avoiding exposure to allergens that cause asthma could be the most effective strategy.

Dr Qayyum said deteriorating environmental conditions and luxurious life styles with rampant use of heavy upholstery, curtains, carpets and furniture have contributed to the increase in the incidence of the ailment.

“These hinder proper cleaning and dusting of the rooms and contribute to dust bite as well as cockroach drippings that trigger asthma among adults as well as children,” she said.

The two doctors said exposure to passive smoking has emerged to be the severest threat for seven percent to 15 percent of all children and five percent of adult population already suffering from the ailment in the country.

Smoking in general and passive smoking in particular besides exposure to pollen and fumes have emerged to be serious threats for the people.

In particular context of urban sectors, Dr Rizvi said indifference towards use of safety gadgets in factories, direct exposure to dust and un-checked emissions by rickety vehicles are also among the main contributory factors towards asthma.

Use of wood as main fuel, application of chemical in fields without any precaution, poor cleanliness and hygienic conditions have emerged to be triggering factors In the rural areas.

The scenario demands a comprehensive preventive approach coupled with pragmatic strategy to treat the condition registered among all age groups of people in the country, said the experts.

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He was one of the several journalists to voice their concern about the ethical standards in the Pakistani press ahead of World Press Freedom Day today.

“I hardly find any constructive debate on television channels and talk shows. These shows lack healthy arguments and have become rather judgmental,” he said. Munno Bhai said that some anchors tended to be ‘rude’ while communicating with guests. “The culture of the mass media has become a melting-pot. Journalists think they can only become successful in the media by letting media ethics go.

This is no less than a suicidal attack on the freedom of the press.”Dr Mehdi Hassan, educationist and media critic, pointed out that the lack of reporting deprived the people of the truth and their right to know.

“The press has been free since 1988, but the standard of investigative reporting has been very low. Most of the news material is based on speculation rather than fact,” he said. Dr Hassan said that news channels did not verify their reports in the race to be the first to break them. He said that the media had failed in their responsibility by doing this.

Dr Hassan criticised the role of the Urdu press and said that most of the articles published in Urdu newspapers revolved around the writers themselves and lacked intellectual reasoning.  “There is no free media if it is serving the interests of pressure groups,” he said.

Writer and historian Dr Mubarik Ali said that the government had failed to provide freedom to the media, but the society played an equal role by imposing self-censorship on media. Dr Ali said that in America, the media was more sophisticated and well-managed.

He said unlike Pakistani media, they avoided bringing such issues in the mainstream that were perceived by the establishment to be against the national interest and policy of the country.

“Noam Chomsky is never invited on BBC or CNN programmes. The Palestine issue is always presented in a way that portrays a positive image of Israel,” he said. “However, radio sometimes might tell the complete story.”

Muhammad Amin Yousaf, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) secretary general, said that media in Pakistan was not free, pointing especially at media in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The life of the journalists is at stake, especially those reporting in the tribal areas,” he regretted.

He said that the PFUJ had developed a code of ethics for journalists with the help of experts from international organisations. These codes will help journalists become more responsible and reliable, he added. Journalist Mubasher Lucman said that advertisers played a major role in curbing press freedom.

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So said famed baseball player and manager Gene Mauch. Our objective on World Malaria Day -- today, April 25 -- is to show that the second part of Mauch's statement no longer has the certainty of baseball. 2010 was the biggest year in malaria control history, capping off a decade of progress.

Increased malaria awareness and funding enabled the distribution of tens of millions of mosquito nets to families and individuals at risk around the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone -- the region that accounts for 90 percent of annual malaria deaths -- enough nets have been delivered to cover 76 percent of the population living in malaria endemic areas.

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This year's World Malaria Day program in Jakarta is scheduled to be officially opened by the health minister. April 25 is a day when nations across the globe work to increase awareness of Malaria and to improve efforts to eradicate the disease. Indonesia had been an active participate in World Malaria Day since 2008, working with other countries in an effort to reach zero malaria deaths by 2015.

Indonesia’s main World Malaria Day program takes place at Balai Kartini in South Jakarta, on Monday, with a seminar discussing Malaria and its treatment. The discussion will cover clinical symptoms of the disease; anti-malarial drugs, its resistance to medicines and cases among children, adults and pregnant women. The seminar commenced at 9 a.m., with Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih scheduled to officially launch the event later on Monday.

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