Suicide

20 September 2007 -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released alarming statistics that show the suicide rate for American children and teenagers was up between 2003 to 2004. That is the most recent period of death records compiled in the United States. The CDC says the rate among young girls that year was especially high.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young Americans ages 10 to 24.    » read more »

Sept. 17, 2007 -- Following several youth suicides in Beltrami County in 2004, the Minnesota Department of Health was asked to compare the suicide rate in the county with the rest of Minnesota.

The department’s analysis shows that between 1990 and 2005, Beltrami County had the highest rates of suicide in the state among people ages 5 through 34: the county’s rate was 21 per 100,000 population as compared with 9 per 100,000 for the state as a whole.    » read more »

29 August 2007, Washington (By Ray McDonald) -- Owen Wilson has pulled out of his upcoming movie with Ben Stiller while he recovers from a reported suicide attempt.

Variety reports the 38-year-old actor has dropped out of Tropic Thunder, a DreamWorks comedy he was set to begin shooting in two to three weeks. The trade paper states Wilson's role would require a week's worth of filming. Stiller, who is producing and starring in the film, began shooting six weeks ago in Hawaii.    » read more »

08/16/2007 -- WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator John Kerry today made the following statement in response to the military report on suicide rates of those serving in the United States Army to be released today. The report said that soldiers in the Army committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and also said that more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.    » read more »

16 August 2007 -- The U.S. military says the number of suicides among Army members has increased to its highest level since the first Gulf War.

In a report issued Thursday, the Army confirmed there were 99 suicides in 2006, compared to 87 such deaths in 2005. The figure for 2006 does not include two deaths being investigated as possible suicides.

Last year's suicides amount to a rate of 17.3 per 100,000 Army service members. About 30 percent of those suicides were of soldiers deployed to war zones.    » read more »

01 August 2007 (By VOA News) -- Iraqi police say at least 50 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a fuel tanker near a gas station in western Baghdad.

The attack also wounded 60 people Wednesday in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood. Earlier, a car bomb blast in central Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 30 others.

In political developments, Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc has announced its withdrawal from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition government, saying he has failed to meet the bloc's demands.    » read more »

Nicholson: A Call for Help Needs Immediate Response

July 2, 2007 -- WASHINGTON – To ensure veterans with mental health crises have immediate access to trained coordinators, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will establish a 24-hour, national suicide prevention hot line.

“This is another significant step to ensure that veterans, particularly the newest generation of combat vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive accessible and compassionate care for their mental health concerns,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.    » read more »