Oscar-nominated screenwriter Sarah Polley is bringing her storytelling talents to books.
The Canadian, who's also a director and actor, will make her publishing debut this March with the release of her first book, a collection of essays called “Run Towards the Danger.”
“Run Towards the Danger” is the first of two books by Polley that was acquired by Hamish Hamilton Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
The first book features five personal essays, the publisher said in a release, adding there were no details to share about the second book.
Toronto-born Polley made her feature length directorial debut with the drama film “Away from Her” in 2006, receiving an Oscar nomination for the screenplay, which she adapted from the Alice Munro story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain.”
She won the New York and L.A. critics prize as well as the National Board of Review prize for best documentary in 2012 for “Stories We Tell,” a documentary she wrote and directed that explored her family's secrets.
Her other film projects include “Take This Waltz” (2011), starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, which she wrote and directed. She also wrote the TV screenplays for Alias Grace, based on the Margaret Atwood novel, to critical acclaim in 2017.
Polley began her acting career as a child, starring in “Road to Avonlea” (1990-1996) and Terry Gilliam's film “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” (1988).
<em>This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2021.</em>
Oscar-nominated Canadian screenwriter Sarah Polley to release first book in March
Syria: Economic decline, rising hunger and surging humanitarian needs
Citing “disturbing new food security data” published by the World Food Programme (WFP), Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock stated that some 60 per cent of the population “do not have regular access to enough safe and nutritious food”.
“The increase may be shocking, but it cannot be said to be surprising”, he said via video link.
‘Desperate measures’
The UN official told the Council that average household expenses now exceed income by an estimated 20 per cent, leaving millions to resort to “desperate measures” to survive.
More than 70 per cent of Syrians say they have taken on new debt, and are forced to sell assets and livestock. Meanwhile, parents are eating less so they can feed their children, who are now working instead of studying.
“Those who have run out of options are simply going hungry”, he spelled out, flagging that more than half a million under-fives are suffering from the effects of stunting.
Looking north
While these problems are visible in many parts of the country, Mr. Lowcock drew attention to the northwest and northeast, where nutrition data show that up to one in three children in some areas, suffer from the irreversible development and learning impacts of stunting.
“A doctor at a pediatrics hospital told me that of his 80 in-patient beds, half are occupied by malnourished children”, five of whom had died due to their condition, he said.
Meanwhile, malnutrition has become so normal that parents cannot spot the signs in their own children, another doctor told the relief chief.
Cross-border assistance
Some physicians shared their concerns that cross-border aid into Syria’s northwest may be disrupted, prompting Mr. Lowcock to stress the importance of humanitarian access.
“All humanitarian assistance that enters northwest Syria is delivered cross-border” and supports 2.4 million people monthly, he said. Without it, “the situation would go from terrible to catastrophic”.
“When it comes to delivering life-saving aid to people in need, all channels should be made, and should be kept, available”, the UN official said, echoing the Secretary-General.
Should the Security Council fail to extend its authorization for cross-border assistance in the future, he warned that it would “trigger suffering and loss of life potentially on a very large scale”.
Turning to the northeast, Mr. Lowcock informed ambassadors that recent tensions have caused temporary disruptions in emergency assistance for hundreds of thousands of people.
While the UN has continued to scale up crossline medical deliveries there, expanding its reach is dependent on approvals, improved security conditions and adequate funding.
Protecting civilians
He painted a picture of a series of “horrific bombings” that killed dozens and injured many others, a humanitarian worker killed while helping COVID-19-affected people on 16 February, and a hospital damaged when a missile struck an adjoining building,
Every day, humanitarian workers in Syria deliver aid under the most difficult circumstances and at great personal risk, Mr. Lowcock said, spelling out: “They must be protected”.
He informed the Council that the third draft of UN Strategic Framework for 2021-2023, which covers the UN country team’s agreed operational activities, is moving forward and noted those activities are complementary to the Humanitarian Response Plan “to save lives, enhance protection, and increase resilience and access to services”.
“This is essential at a time when the economy continues to suffer severe decline, poverty and hunger are on the rise, and humanitarian needs are also increasing”, he concluded.
Sassoli on the pandemic: “There can be no return to how things were before” | News | European Parliament
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/eu-affairs/20210224STO98605/
Australian Church releases working document for Plenary Council – Vatican News
By Robin Gomes
The Catholic Church of Australia on Thursday released the working document for the Plenary Council, the first leg of which is scheduled for October this year.
Entitled, “Continuing the Journey”, the document, called ‘instrumentum laboris’ in Latin, draws heavily on the voices heard during the ‘Listening and Dialogue’ and ‘Listening and Discernment’ phases of the national Church event, but also from other key sources, according to a press release by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC).
Discernment
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth, president of the Plenary Council, said the role of a working document is “to offer an account of what the People of God have expressed as an invitation for ongoing discernment”. “This,” he said, “is an exciting step forward and we take it together, amidst a time of great change.”
The 5th Plenary Council, an important national ecclesial event representing every sector of the Church, is taking place in two phases. The First Assembly was originally slated to take place in Adelaide, October 2020, and the second in Sydney in July 2021. However, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they have been re-scheduled.
Assembly 1 will be now held in Adelaide from October 2 to 10, 2021 and Assembly 2 will be held in Sydney, July 4-9, 2022. Because of the pandemic, the October Assembly will be held through a mix of online and in-person events across Australia.
Archbishop Costelloe pointed out that more 220,000 people participated in the first stages of Listening and Dialogue, and “those voices can be heard clearly in the working document”. He said it provides a catalyst for the Church to renew the journey of prayer and discernment toward the First Assembly.
National ecclesial event
A Plenary Council is the highest formal gathering of all local churches in a country. The purpose of the Australian Church’s Plenary Council is to facilitate dialogue regarding the future of the Catholic Church in the country.
There are several reasons behind the Plenary Council of Australia’s Catholic Church. Pope Francis has invited the local Church to dialogue. Australia’s contemporary society has also changed significantly since the Church’s last Plenary Council held 80 years ago in 1937, 28 years before the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965.
But most importantly, the 2017 final report of the Royal Commission into the Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia has called for a deep consideration and response from the Church.
Voices and issues
Explaining the content of the 76-page working document, Archbishop Costelloe said it draws “inspiration from Scripture, writings and teachings of the Church including the documents of the Second Vatican Council, encyclicals and papal exhortations, Australian bishops’ pastoral letters and more”.
He said a working document “seeks to offer an account of what the People of God have expressed as an invitation for ongoing discernment”. In this regard, the document highlights several issues, such as co-responsibility in mission and governance, a response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Church’s solidarity with First Australians and those on the margins of society and promoting an integral ecology of life for all our common home, the Earth.
The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) formally announced the Plenary Council in May 2016, a decision which Pope Francis ratified in March 2018. However, the entire Australian Church had been preparing for the national ecclesial event even before that. Its journey of discernment which began with the Listening and Dialogue Phase was followed by the Listening and Discernment Phase.
Tourism MEPs advocate common criteria for safe and clean travel | News | European Parliament
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210219IPR98210/
Buddhist Times News – Imran Khan invites Sri Lankan Buddhists to visit Pakistan
By — Shyamal Sinha
Visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has proclaimed his Muslim-majority nation a choice destination for religious tourism by Sri Lankans, most of whom are Buddhists.
Millions of people around the world embark annually on spiritual journeys to soothe their souls. Global religious tourism is one of the fastest growing segments in travel today. According to the UNWTO, 300-330 million tourists visit the globe’s most important religious sights every year.
Pakistan, with many important historical Buddhist sites, is noticeably trending in “religious tourism” due to its extensive heritage of Gandhara and Emperor Ashoka the Great.
Siddhartha Gautama, later revered as the Buddha, spread his teachings on the Indian subcontinent as long ago as 2600 years. Buddhism spread around Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. In what is today modern-day Pakistan and other areas, the famous Buddhist ruler Ashoka the Great (304 to 232 BCE) spread Buddhism and Buddhist monuments and art throughout the region. (Gandhara Civilization 1500 BCE to 515 CE.)
Although, Buddhists who live in Pakistan only amount to a few thousand, more and more Buddhist tourists arrive each year. The most popular country for Buddhist tourists from Japan, China, Korea, and Thailand are Buddhist sites in India.
In talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday, Khan highlighted Buddhist heritage sites in Pakistan and stressed the building of cultural ties, the Pakistan Embassy said in a statement.
“Pakistan probably has one of the greatest Buddhist heritages in the world and we invite people from Sri Lanka to visit them,” Khan said a day earlier after meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Khan is making a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka which began Tuesday.
Buddhists account for more than 70% of Sri Lanka’s 22 million people. Ethnic minority Tamils, who are mainly Hindu, comprise about 15% and 9% are Muslims.
Khan said northern Pakistan is the center of the ancient Buddhist Gandhara civilization and that a 40-foot (12-meter) sleeping Buddha statue was recently discovered there.
Gandhāra was one of the so-called great regions (mahjanapada) of ancient India (a geographical concept that included many other parts of modern South Asia). Under the Mauryan empire (ca. 300–185 BCE), its capital was the city of Taxila. The center of ancient Gandhāra was the Peshawar basin in northwestern Pakistan which extends westward into Afghanistan along the Kabul River. This region exerted cultural and linguistic influence on what has been called “Greater Gandhāra” which encompasses the surrounding areas eastwards across the Indus River (such as Taxila), north towards the Swat Valley and Upper Indus, west towards Bamiyan and across the Hindu Kush into Bactria and the Oxus river valley.
The Indian emperor Ashoka (ca. 268–233 BCE) erected edicts in the region, some of which use the Gāndhārī language and the Kharosthi script later used by Gandhāran Buddhists. These edicts confirm the existence of Buddhism in Gandhāra during his reign. Kharosthi inscriptions have been found as far West as Wardak along the Kabul river, Uzbekistan (Termez) and Tajikistan (Anzhina-Tepe) and as far south as Mohenjo-Daro and Baluchista
“We are planning a Buddhist trail … with all the Buddhist great shrines and Buddhist places,” he said.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is the older brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Pakistan may be the next big thing in Buddhist historical-site tourism, although for years it was held back by a bureaucratic visa system as well as the unstable security situation. With a renewed focus on Buddhist Tourism, this is changing, with a new streamlined visa process, the improved security situation, as well as the introduction of online visas.
This hidden potential for Pakistan, however, is extraordinary, since Buddhism one of the world’s largest spiritual paths, with over 520 million followers. Most Buddhists live in Asia and are relatively close in proximity to the country. Pakistan’s neighbour, China, has around 244 million Buddhist followers.
source – AP
WHO/Europe calls for action on post-COVID conditions/“long COVID”
Press statement by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe
25 February 2021
Good morning,
To date, close to 38 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the WHO European Region, as well as 850 000 deaths.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to spread at very high rates across Europe, with 2 variants of concern continuing to displace other variants, increasing their reach and challenging us to continue to do more.
For the second consecutive week, fewer than 1 million new cases were reported as transmission continues to slow across the Region. The decrease in new cases in the past month is driven by countries that have implemented new measures to slow transmission.
New reported cases have declined by almost half since the end of 2020. However, to put that into perspective, the number of new cases in the Region now is 10 times higher than in May last year. And it is still the case that across the Region, most countries have very high or high levels of community transmission.
I know that many of you are eagerly awaiting a return to a new normal, where we are no longer restricted by measures limiting our freedom and the transmission of a deadly virus.
Others, a significant proportion of those who have survived COVID-19, are asking when and whether their health will be fully restored. These are the many thousands who are experiencing post-COVID conditions, also referred to as long COVID or post-COVID syndrome.
Today, we shed light on the fact that in some patients, the disability following SARS-CoV-2 infection lingers for months, with severe social, economic, health and occupational consequences.
The burden is real and it is significant: about 1 in 10 COVID-19 sufferers remains unwell after 12 weeks, and many for much longer.
As with any new disease, so much was and remains unknown. As the pandemic has evolved, professionals and patients alike have mapped a path in the dark through their experiences. Yet stories of those who should have recovered but whose lives were still affected by debilitating symptoms soon emerged.
Regrettably, some were met with disbelief or lack of understanding.
We need to listen and we need to understand. The sufferers of post-COVID conditions need to be heard if we are to understand the long-term consequences and recovery from COVID-19. It’s a clear priority for WHO, and of the utmost importance. It should be for every health authority.
We don’t have all the answers. We don’t yet know what percentage of patients have these longer-term effects. But we’re learning fast.
Earlier this month, WHO hosted a consultation on post COVID-19 conditions, focusing on recognition, research and rehabilitation. As we learn more, we need to make sure that patients who have had suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and who have persistent symptoms – new or changing – should have access to follow-up care. This is where primary health care has a particularly strong role to play.
Today we complement guidance we have published with a new resource for decision-makers on what we know about the condition and available responses and policies. Professor Martin McKee will shortly speak on this.
I am calling upon you, countries and institutions in the European Region, to come together as part of an integrated research agenda using harmonized data-collection tools and study protocols. This will be key to maximizing the impact of treatment and improving longer-term outcomes for patients.
As a next step, I will be convening the chief medical officers of all 53 countries in the European Region to set out a regional strategy to meet this goal.
A crucial part of this is listening to those who are experiencing post-COVID conditions. With us today, speaking from the United Kingdom, is Richard Roels, who had COVID-19 in March last year. Richard, thanks for joining us.
European Parliament Press Kit for the European Council of 25-26 February 2021 | News | European Parliament
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210222BKG98332/
EU Bishops address the President of the Parliament on the recent Resolution on abortion in Poland
The Presidency of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) addresses a letter to David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, with regard to the European Parliament Resolution of 26 November 2020 on abortion in Poland.
In their letter, the EU Bishops emphasize once again that the Catholic Church, which seeks to support women in life situations arising from difficult or unwanted pregnancies, calls for the protection and care of all unborn life.
“From a legal perspective – the Bishops underline – neither European Union legislation nor the European Convention on Human Rights provide for a right to abortion. This matter is left up to the legal systems of the Member States”.
A fundamental principle of the European Union is the principle of conferral, under which the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties. “Strict observance of this principle is – reads the letter – a requirement of the rule of law, one of the fundamental values of the Union”.
While endorsing the Parliament’s Resolution emphasis on the respect for the rule of law, COMECE stresses that “the rule of law also requires respect for the competences of the Member States and the choices made by them in the exercise of their exclusive competences”.
In their letter, the Bishops of the EU also express concern on the questioning by the EP Resolution of the fundamental right to conscientious objection, which is an emanation of freedom of conscience. “This is particularly worrying – the letter continues – considering that in the healthcare sector conscientious objectors are in many cases subject to discrimination”.
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New WHO expert group to identify gaps and solutions to the mental health impacts of COVID-19
“At the beginning of the pandemic, I struggled a lot. I had to start taking antidepressants. I didn’t see anyone because I was scared, even if I was only going to the supermarket … I started seeing people again slowly but it is still hard sometimes because I feel as if I am locked between four walls and cannot go anywhere. And that causes me a lot of anxiety. Having my friends close by helps me cope.”
This experience, voiced by a 26-year-old living in Belgium, was just one of many perspectives which mental health experts brought to the table for the first meeting of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on the mental health impacts of COVID-19 in the WHO European Region. The participants, drawn from across the Region, represent scientific experts in the field of COVID-19 and mental health, service providers and managers on the front line, mental health service users, family advocates, and COVID-19 survivors.
The group, tasked with reviewing evidence, identifying gaps and exploring solutions, will inform and support countries’ efforts in addressing mental health needs within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mental health conditions exacerbated by the pandemic
Mental health conditions, one of the leading causes of suffering and disability in the European Region, have burgeoned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Everyone’s mental health has been affected in some way, whether as a result of the worry about becoming infected, or the stress brought about by measures such as lockdown, self-isolation and quarantine, or linked with foregone employment, income, education or social participation.
At the level of the overall population, a clear increase in levels of anxiety and stress has been observed, with several surveys showing that around a third of adults is reporting levels of distress. Among younger people, that figure goes up to as much as 1 in every 2 people.
Specific groups in the population that have been put at particular risk as a result of impeded access to mental health services, diminished social connectedness or restricted economic activity include migrant and refugee populations, people experiencing homelessness, children and adolescents out of school, newly unemployed workers, older adults confined to their place of residence, as well as people with pre-existing mental health conditions and psychosocial, cognitive or intellectual disabilities.
As the pandemic continues, health and social care workers’ prolonged exposure to extremely stressful and potentially traumatic situations renders them particularly vulnerable to experiencing reduced mental and physical well-being and burnout.
Identifying needs and strengthening mental health services
Over the coming months, the Technical Advisory Group will review and synthesize available evidence from the population level, the policy and service level as well as the individual level, and highlight emergent needs and implications for the development of mental health services in the WHO European Region.
The Group’s recommendations will feed into a mental health framework for action, which is to be presented to the WHO Regional Committee for Europe – WHO’s decision-making body in the Region – in September 2021.
European Programme of Work
Mental health was already identified as a key priority for WHO’s Regional Office for Europe, through the European Programme of Work, 2020–2025 “United Action for Better Health”. This strategic workplan was unanimously endorsed by WHO Member States in 2020, and it is the ambition of WHO/Europe to use the lessons of the past year to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to long-standing problems faced by mental health services and systems.
Additionally, the launch of a mental health coalition later in 2021 will bring together countries of the European Region, as well as service users, providers and innovators, to mobilize investment in mental health and advocate for the reforms that are needed.
