Thursday, 09. February 2012

:: Home > Panorama > Pink 'not invited' to Life Ball

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
30	31	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	1	2	3	4

Add your event FREE

Today

Polls

15. 03. 10. - 14:00

Pink 'not invited' to Life Ball

Pop star Pink will not attend the this year's Life Ball, organisers of the Vienna AIDS charity event said today (Mon), dismissing claims made by newspaper �sterreich.

Gery Keszler, head organiser of the 17 July bash, said: "It pains me that four months before the Life Ball society reporting is reducing the importance of our most important fund-raising tool rather than supporting our work in the fight against HIV and Aids."

The Life Ball, which took place for the 17th time last May, began as a small Austrian charity initiative in 1993 that tried to create more respect for homosexuals in the community and has become one of the biggest Aids charity events in the world.

It is also the only Aids event in the world to take place in a political building - Vienna City Hall.

Singer Katy Perry, former US President Bill Clinton and actress Eva Longoria were the star guests last year, while singer Elton John has attended the Life Ball several times.

Meanwhile, organisers of the International AIDS Conference to be held in Vienna later this year said the event�s focus would be on marginalised groups with the disease like drug addicts in Eastern Europe (EE).

Michel Sidibe, head of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, said recently that the conference would be held "for people without a voice".

Thousands of experts and people suffering from AIDS and HIV are expected to come to the city for the event set to take place from 18 to 23 July. "AIDS 2010" will kick off with the Life Ball at Vienna City Hall on 17 July.

Sidibe said: "AIDS 2010� will put a spotlight on rapidly growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in Eastern Europe fuelled primarily by unsafe injecting of drugs."

Organisers of the summit, which takes place every other year, said they had decided to hold the conference in Vienna to highlight the bad situation in EE. The Austrian capital is regarded as a "gateway" to the region.

Statistics from 2007 showed that an estimated 33.2 million people were living with HIV around the world.

Austrian authorities, meanwhile, have announced that 300 of the 520 people infected with the virus last year in Austria were Vienna residents.

See www.aids2010.org for more information on the conference.

Austrian Times

Write your comment to this article here

Tag cloud:
charity held Austrian voice Nations Vienna Sidibe Aids Michel President Hall star organisers Europe Singer AIDS event Ball Conference drug

Latest News

Set up tax on financial transactions soon, says Katzian
The head of the Association of Private Employees (GPA-djp) has called for a quick introduction of a tax on financial transactions.

P�hringer rejects U-turn on rightist ball
Young Social Democrats (SP�) have appealed to Upper Austrian Governor Josef P�hringer not to attend the Burschenbundball in Linz this Saturday.

FP� under fire after trip to Grozny
The Freedom Party (FP�) has been harshly criticised for meeting with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

WKO boss wants pension age hike incentives
Federal Economy Chamber (WKO) President Christoph Leitl has identified attempts to raise the average retirement age as the key issue regarding Austria�s budget.

Woman and child run over in Vienna
A woman and child have died in a road accident in Vienna, Austria. The lorry driver was making a right turn when he drove into a group of pedestrians leaving a 59-year-old and a 12-year-old dead. The mother of the school girl was left with serious injuries.

Schlecker says Austrian jobs are safe
The son of Schlecker founder Anton Schlecker has claimed that the company has no plans to sell its Austrian affiliate.

SP� sees smaller parliament as key signal
The general secretary of the Social Democrats (SP�) has argued his support for a reduction of the size of the parliament.

Austrian food to feature in organic trade fair
Austria is expected to be well represented at next week�s BioFach 2012 international organic trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany. Some 90 companies and organisations from the Austrian organic good sector will feature at the fair from 15 to 18 February.

Brothel for the homeless in Vienna
Homeless people are queueing up for free rooms in an Austrian brothel after owner Peter Laskaris said it would be unfair not to do everything he could during the current cold spell.

Deep-freeze snacks for orangutans in Sch�nbrunn
The lucky orangutans who take up residence in Europe�s oldest zoo have been indulging in a twice weekly take-away. Despite the trees in Sch�nbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria now being completely bare the fury friends have fresh branches and leaves delivered twice a week.