VA study finds more veterans committing suicide

Every day about 22 veterans in the United States kill themselves, a rate that is about 20 percent higher than the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2007 estimate, according to a two-year study by a VA researcher.

The VA study indicates that more than two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are 50 or older, suggesting that the increase in veterans’ suicides is not primarily driven by those returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands. I don’t think that is true,” said Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist with the VA who did the study. “The rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.” The number of suicides overall in the United States increased by nearly 11 percent between 2007 and 2010, the study says.

As a result, the percentage of veterans who die by suicide has decreased slightly since 1999, even though the total number of veterans who kill themselves has gone up, the study says.

VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said his agency would continue to strengthen suicide prevention efforts. “The mental health and well-being of our courageous men and women who have served the nation is the highest priority for VA, and even one suicide is one too many,” he said in a statement.

The study follows long-standing criticism that the agency has moved far too slowly even to figure out how many veterans kill themselves. “If the VA wants to get its arms around this problem, why does it have such a small number of people working on it?” asked retired Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a former Army psychiatrist. “This is a start, but it is a faint start. It is not enough.”

Bossarte said much work remains to be done to understand the data, especially concerning the suicide risk among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. They constitute a minority of an overall veteran population that skews older, but recent studies have suggested that those who served in recent conflicts are 30 percent to 200 percent more likely to commit suicide than their ­non-veteran peers.

An earlier VA estimate of 18 veterans’ suicides a day, which was disclosed during a 2008 lawsuit, has long been cited by lawmakers and the department’s critics as evidence of the agency’s failings. A federal appeals court pointed to it as evidence of the VA’s “unchecked incompetence.” The VA countered that the number, based on old and incomplete data, was not reliable.

To calculate the veterans’ suicide rate, Bossarte and his sole assistant spent more than two years, starting in October 2010, cajoling state governments to turn over death certificates for the more than 400,000 Americans who have killed themselves since 1999. Forty-two states have provided data or agreed to do so; the study is based on information from 21 that has been assembled into a database.

Bossarte said that men in their 50s — a group that includes a large percentage of the veteran population— have been especially hard-hit by the national increase in suicide. The veterans’ suicide rate is about three times the overall national rate, but about the same percentage of male veterans in their 50s kill themselves as do non-veteran men of that age, according to the VA data.

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Football: Beckham's arrival creates headache for PSG coach

PARIS: The unveiling of David Beckham as a Paris Saint-Germain player was undoubtedly a major media event and marketing ploy but what can the Englishman, now 37, actually offer on the pitch?

The fact that Beckham has signed only a five-month contract indicates that football is not the priority, especially as the French season finishes in mid-May and the player has admitted that he will need "a few weeks" before he is fully fit.

But even when he does take to the field, it will not be the Beckham of his peak.

After all, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player left Europe for the MLS in 2007 -- although he has had two loan spells at AC Milan since then -- and last played for England in 2009.

"Physically I feel good, as if I were 21. I've not lost much pace because I never really had any," Beckham joked on Thursday.

However, some remain to be convinced.

Christian Gourcuff, the veteran coach of Ligue 1 club Lorient, told AFP he was far from thrilled at a signing which had "nothing to do with sport", pointing out that Ligue 1 makes "distinctive physical demands" on players.

"I am no MLS specialist but when I see the players who do well there, I think the level is some way below that of the leading European leagues," he said.

Reynald Denoueix, who won the French title as a coach with Nantes in 2001 and later coached Real Sociedad in Spain, is less sceptical and believes Beckham can still offer something, as long as he is in good shape physically.

"His qualities are his passing ability and the work he does for the team," he said. "It is very good for PSG but he needs to be in a physical condition that allows him to find space on the field and make himself available for a pass.

"If he does not have what it takes in terms of fitness, it will be enough of a problem for him just to get the ball.

"Just because he is 37 it doesn't mean that he can't be competitive. Others have proved that it is possible. But you need to have exceptional aptitudes."

Questions remain as to where coach Carlo Ancelotti will use Beckham and how high up the pecking order he will stand in a stellar squad.

"I don't know where he will be but, when you look at the course his career has taken in recent seasons, I think it will be very difficult for him to have much of an impact," Gourcuff assessed.

It seems highly unlikely that he will be given the chance to play on the right of midfield, where he first made his name at Manchester United.

Beckham remains a fantastic crosser and his ability to strike a dead ball will be an immense asset but he has never been great at beating his man and is unlikely to start now.

Besides, the 4-4-2 formation that Ancelotti has used, largely successfully, in the last couple of months, requires wide players of a very different profile.

Jeremy Menez, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Lucas Moura are all speed merchants who like to take on their man.

In other words, the exact opposite of the "Spice Boy."

As a result, the only remaining possibility looks like playing him in a deeper, central role, where he enjoyed success during his four-year spell at Real Madrid, and where his vision and precision passing may be most useful.

"But in that case, there is still a problem of how well he complements those around him. You need to be able to defend too," said Gourcuff, imagining the possibility of a partnership with the tireless Blaise Matuidi.

The idea of a three-man midfield in which the duties are more evenly shared is a possibility and would probably be the best solution for Beckham's ageing legs.

But Ancelotti abandoned such a formation when PSG's form dipped in November.

Another factor against Beckham is that his mooted move to Paris last year collapsed partly because Ancelotti could not guarantee him a minimum amount of playing time.

- AFP/ir

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Suicide bomber kills guard at U.S. embassy in Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, blowing the door off a side entrance and sending smoke and debris flying into the street.

Ankara Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said the attacker was inside U.S. property when the explosives were detonated. The blast sent masonry spewing out of the wall of the side entrance, but there did not appear to be any more significant structural damage.

The bomber was also killed.

U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the building, which is surrounded by high walls, shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.

"We are very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate," Ricciardone he said, thanking the Turkish authorities for a prompt response.

A Reuters witness saw one wounded person being lifted into an ambulance as police armed with assault rifles cordoned off the area.

"It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground," said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.

One witness said the blast was audible a mile away.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The British Consulate-General to Turkey said the blast a "suspected terrorist attack".

Islamist radicals, far-left groups, far-right groups and Kurdish separatist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.

The main domestic security threat comes from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey, but the PKK has focused its campaign largely on domestic targets.

Turkey has led calls for international intervention in neighboring Syria and is hosting hundreds of NATO soldiers from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands who are operating a Patriot missile defense system along its border with Syria, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital.

The U.S. Patriots were expected to go active in the coming days.

The most serious attacks of this kind in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146. Authorities said the attack bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

Part of the HSBC Bank headquarters was destroyed and the British consulate was damaged in two more explosions that killed a further 32 people a week later.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall and Daren Butler; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Sinkhole Swallows Buildings in China

Photograph from AFP/Getty Images

The sinkhole that formed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou (pictured) is, unfortunately, not a new occurrence for the country.

Many areas of the world are susceptible to these sudden formations, including the U.S. Florida is especially prone, but Guatemala, Mexico, and the area surrounding the Dead Sea in the Middle East are also known for their impressive sinkholes. (See pictures of a sinkhole in Beijing that swallowed a truck.)

Published January 31, 2013

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Police: Suicide Bombing Strikes US Embassy

A suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosive Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, killing himself and a guard at the entrance gate, officials said.

U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardione told reporters that a Turkish citizen was also wounded in the 1:15 p.m. blast in the Turkish capital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but both Kurdish rebels and Islamic militants are active in Turkey.

The bomb appeared to have exploded inside the security checkpoint at the side entrance to the embassy, but did not damage the inside of the embassy itself.

TV footage showed the embassy door blown off its hinges. The windows of nearby businesses were also shattered by the power of the blast, and debris littered the ground and across the road.

Police swarmed the area and immediately cordoned it off and several ambulances were dispatched.

An AP journalist saw one woman who appeared to be seriously injured being carried into an ambulance but a hospital official said she was "not in critical condition." On its website, the Hurriyet newspaper identified the woman as Didem Tuncay, a television journalist who it said was at the embassy to get a U.S. visa.

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The embassy building is heavily protected and located near several other embassies, including that of Germany and France. Hurriyet newspaper said staff at the embassy took shelter in "safe room" inside the compound soon after the explosion.

Phones were not being answered at the embassy later Friday.

Police examined security cameras around the embassy and identified two people who could have been the suicide bomber, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy thanked Turkey for "its solidarity and outrage over the incident."

Kurdish rebels who are fighting for autonomy in the Kurdish-dominated southeast have dramatically stepped up attacks in Turkey over the last year. The United States considers the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a terrorist organization and has helped Turkey in its battle against the group. But the group has not attacked U.S. targets in its nearly 30-year insurgency.

Homegrown Islamic militants tied to al-Qaida have carried out suicide bombings in Istanbul, Turkey's bustling commercial center. In a 2003 attack on the British consulate, a suspected Islamic militant rammed an explosive-laden pickup truck into the main gate, killing 58 people, including the British consul-general.

In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead.

Turkey is also being deeply affected by the brutal civil war in neighboring Syria, and has become a harsh critic of President Bashar Assad's regime there. The war has left at least 60,000 people dead so far, according to the U.N., and Turkey is sheltering tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.

The first of six Patriot missile batteries being deployed to Turkey to protect the country against attack from Syria was just declared operational and placed under NATO command. Others are expected to become operational in the coming days.

——

Associated Press writer Ezgi Akin contributed to the report.

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VA study finds more veterans committing suicide

Every day about 22 veterans in the United States kill themselves, a rate that is about 20 percent higher than the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2007 estimate, according to a two-year study by a VA researcher.

The VA study indicates that more than two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are 50 or older, suggesting that the increase in veterans’ suicides is not primarily driven by those returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands. I don’t think that is true,” said Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist with the VA who did the study. “The rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.” The number of suicides overall in the United States increased by nearly 11 percent between 2007 and 2010, the study says.

As a result, the percentage of veterans who die by suicide has decreased slightly since 1999, even though the total number of veterans who kill themselves has gone up, the study says.

VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said his agency would continue to strengthen suicide prevention efforts. “The mental health and well-being of our courageous men and women who have served the nation is the highest priority for VA, and even one suicide is one too many,” he said in a statement.

The study follows long-standing criticism that the agency has moved far too slowly even to figure out how many veterans kill themselves. “If the VA wants to get its arms around this problem, why does it have such a small number of people working on it?” asked retired Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a former Army psychiatrist. “This is a start, but it is a faint start. It is not enough.”

Bossarte said much work remains to be done to understand the data, especially concerning the suicide risk among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. They constitute a minority of an overall veteran population that skews older, but recent studies have suggested that those who served in recent conflicts are 30 percent to 200 percent more likely to commit suicide than their ­non-veteran peers.

An earlier VA estimate of 18 veterans’ suicides a day, which was disclosed during a 2008 lawsuit, has long been cited by lawmakers and the department’s critics as evidence of the agency’s failings. A federal appeals court pointed to it as evidence of the VA’s “unchecked incompetence.” The VA countered that the number, based on old and incomplete data, was not reliable.

To calculate the veterans’ suicide rate, Bossarte and his sole assistant spent more than two years, starting in October 2010, cajoling state governments to turn over death certificates for the more than 400,000 Americans who have killed themselves since 1999. Forty-two states have provided data or agreed to do so; the study is based on information from 21 that has been assembled into a database.

Bossarte said that men in their 50s — a group that includes a large percentage of the veteran population— have been especially hard-hit by the national increase in suicide. The veterans’ suicide rate is about three times the overall national rate, but about the same percentage of male veterans in their 50s kill themselves as do non-veteran men of that age, according to the VA data.

Read More..

Starbucks opens first store in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY: Starbucks opened its first store in coffee-loving Vietnam on Friday, seeking to compete with local rivals in a country known for its strong cafe culture.

Vietnam - the world's second-largest coffee producer - has dozens of local chains as well as small coffee shops on nearly every street corner, presenting a major challenge for Starbucks to break into the crowded market.

Around 100 people queued up in southern Ho Chi Minh City for the opening, but the US giant's coffee was not to everybody's taste.

"I prefer Vietnamese coffee, which is stronger than Starbucks. As a Vietnamese, I love local coffee," said Nguyen Tien Tam, 35.

Vietnamese coffee is traditionally prepared in individual metal drip filters, producing a very strong, thick liquid that can be mixed with condensed milk or served black over ice.

Starbucks said in a statement that its store would "embrace distinctive Vietnam traditions and strong heritage of coffee passion".

"We have deep respect for Vietnam's long coffee traditions," it added.

Vietnamese farmers mostly produce the low-grade robusta variety used for instant coffee or other blends.

An increasing number, however, are switching to arabica beans, which command higher prices, and Starbucks has said it aims to buy more of this type from local suppliers.

Starbucks has been targeting growth outside of the stagnant US market, opening thousands of stores in China and across the Asia-Pacific region over the past few years.

It plans to have almost 4,000 stores in the Asia-Pacific by the end of 2013.

- AFP/de

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