psychiatric society told afp
india has one of the highest suicide rates in the world the number of people
taking their own lives grew massive percent in the decade to
according to the latest available government statistics
in people killed themselves the equivalent of about every
day most were under with family problems cited as the main reason
five people committed suicide every day after failing exams unable to cope with
the stigma of failure or to face their families who often stand to gain from
having an successful child in society where social status is key
despite high suicide rate kumawat said public awareness of warning signs was
alarmingly low
neha father for example told reporters that his daughter had shown no signs
of stress when she was told she should concentrate more on her studies than
dancing
newspaper reports have said medical student bajanjit kaur had written on her
bedroom walls have to achieve my goal by securing good marks and want to
secure more than per cent marks
kumawat said recent changes in society had made indians no strangers to
hardship in country long hit by poverty inequality and natural disaster
less resilient
twenty to years ago people could tolerate stress and adversity quite well
whether in academic social personal or family life tolerance thresholds have
gone down that why frustration comes he said
possible reasons include the erosion of support structures as more people shun
the traditional joint family model where parents and in laws live together
and all play role in child upbringing he suggested
busy parents who may both be out at work now have less time to spend with and
talk to their children who are often also sent to tutors to coach them for
success in the country fact heavy exam based education system he said
communication is now quite bad he added
kumawat predecessor yusuf matcheswalla who runs counselling clinics in the
city said india recent economic growth has brought benefits like better
standard of living and disposable income
but there were also downsides as people in fast paced cities especially
concentrate more on work and consumption than family friends and well being
clinical depression is becoming an epidemic he said citing world health
organization who research that the condition will be the world second
leading cause of illness by
most depression goes unrecognised and untreated particularly in children it
very difficult to pick up
an adult can articulate what is happening and be given medicine and treatment
with childhood depression the child is not able to vocalise what going on
leading to misunderstandings among parents and teachers
japan and china have faced this problem we re facing it now he said of
children taking their own lives
these things are going to happen more and more as we become richer country
more diabetes psychological problems high blood pressure and heart attacks
clinton to visit australia new zealand png
washington jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton will leave next week on visit to
australia new zealand and papua new guinea that will touch on international
security issues development and the environment
the chief us diplomat will be joined in australia by defense secretary robert
gates for annual consultations with their counterparts on building relations
between the longtime pacific allies officials said
australia is one of our closest and most supportive allies in the world said
state department spokesman who asked not to be named
and our annual meetings are an important anchor of our regional security issues
as well as global challenges such as non proliferation and climate change he
told afp in an email exchange
clinton will also visit honolulu hawaii where she will deliver policy speech
on multilateral engagement with the asia pacific region and meet with the us
military pacific command the department said in statement earlier
the january visit marks clinton first trip to the countries since the
inauguration year ago of president barack obama who has developed close
relationship with australian prime minister kevin rudd
clinton will arrive on january in canberra where she and gates will hold the
th australia united states ministerial consultations with their counterparts
foreign minister stephen smith and defense minister john faulkner
they will discuss key global and regional security challenges the state
department said
she will also stop in melbourne it said
clinton will meet in new zealand with prime minister john key conservative
elected in and meet with veterans from the two countries at the auckland
war memorial museum officials said
the visit to the memorial is to honor new zealand soldiers who have fought with
the united states shoulder to shoulder from world war ii to afghanistan the
state department spokesman said
both australia and new zealand have contributed troops to afghanistan though
there was no sign that either country will add more of its own forces to the us
troop surge in the central asian country
obama last month pledged an extra us troops to bolster the already
in afghanistan fighting taliban led insurgency that has become more virulent
and deadly over the past year
following the pledge there were commitments of nearly additional troops
that us nato allies and other partners announced at meetings in brussels
australian defence minister john faulkner welcomed obama announcement of
reinforcements for afghanistan but stood firm on his government refusal to go
beyond the already committed
but faulkner added that police training and civilian assistance would be
increased and that the shape of australia contingent is always under
review
seventy one troops from new zealand special air service sas went to
afghanistan in september the first such deployment since it has another
or so soldiers primarily involved in reconstruction in bamiyan province
clinton will head on january to papua new guinea for meetings with government
officials along with civil society it will be the first visit there by
secretary of state since
the secretary will convey our commitment to working with the pacific islands on
climate change environment and conservation renewable energy sustainable
fishing hiv aids and women empowerment the spokesman said
australia to probe whaling clash
sydney jan afp
australia deputy prime minister announced an investigation thursday after
high tech anti whaling boat was badly damaged in collision with japanese
ship calling it miraculous that no one died
julia gillard ordered the australian maritime safety authority to probe the
incident alongside separate new zealand investigation after watching footage
of wednesday dramatic clash
it clear that emotions are running high and that lives are at risk in fact
it seems miraculous to me having seen the video that lives were not lost
during this incident gillard told reporters
video of the incident shows the japanese security boat ploughing over the bow of
the futuristic new zealand registered ady gil slicing off its front section
as it sprays its scrambling crew with water cannons
the anti whaling activists and the japanese both blamed each other for the
incident which followed tense confrontation and left one of the ady gil six
crew with broken ribs
gillard said the encounter in an area off antarctica commonwealth bay
appeared to have taken place outside australian economic waters but within the
zone where it has responsibility for search and rescue operations
the southern ocean is remote inhospitable region where the risk of adverse
incidents is high and likelihood of successful search and rescue is low she
said
in these circumstances calling for calm heads calm judgements and
greater understanding of the facts
she said officials were also probing claims that australian planes had been
chartered to spy on the protest boats and pledged to prosecute any breaches of
international law
japan kills hundreds of whales each year despite international
moratorium using loophole which allows lethal research
new zealand trade deficit falls to seven year low
wellington jan afp
new zealand annual trade deficit fell to its lowest level in more than seven
years in the months to november as drop in imports outstripped export
declines official figures showed thursday
the new zealand economy was in recession for five straight quarters from the
start of and growth has been weak since
this slowdown was reflected in deficit of million dollars million us
for the year to november according to statistics new zealand
this was the lowest annual deficit since september and compared with
deficit of billion dollars in the year to october
for the month of november the trade deficit was million dollars well down
on economists expectations of around million dollars
exports in the month were valued at billion dollars fall of percent
from year earlier while imports were down percent at million dollars
statistics new zealand said
imports in november were down for the eighth consecutive month in year on year
terms and exports were down for the sixth straight month
however asb economist jane turner said as the economy began to recover this
year import demand would likely to pick up and limit further declines in the
trade deficit
un envoy warns of afghan mission failure
united nations jan afp
the outgoing un special envoy to afghanistan warned wednesday that the
international mission in the country would fail if the strategy is not changed
kai eide told the security council that he was deeply worried about negative
trends in afghanistan warning they could become unmanageable if not reversed
soon
his statements come despite notable achievements by the world body in the areas
of education health and institution building since us led forces ousted the
taliban in
am worried about growing impatience in public opinion in donor and troop
contributing countries about the frustration in the afghan public over what they
see as failure to meet their expectations he said
eide who is to relinquish his post in march also alluded to the difficulties
nato led and afghan troops were having in confronting the emboldened insurgency
if these negative trends are not soon reversed then there is risk that they
will become unmanageable he added
the envoy also urged peace and reconciliation between the kabul government and
the insurgents
peace and reconciliation process must be launched and become an integral part
of the political agenda he noted it must be based on the constitution and
must be afghan led and afghan owned
if the insurgency agrees to join peace process then this will significantly
enhance the prospects of foreign troop withdrawals he added
but eide stressed that the afghan rebels must distance themselves from the past
and embrace the future as well as the progress that has been achieved in
afghanistan
the world body was ready to promote such reconciliation he added
eide also appealed for new transition strategy which can allow afghans to be
in charge of their own future based on systematic buildup of civilian
institutions to enable the government to deliver services and the development of
the afghan economy
if we do not take these civilian components of the transition strategy as
seriously as the military component then we will fail he added
eide said the london conference on afghanistan scheduled for january must
agree on politically driven strategy where afghan ownership and capacity
stand at the center of our activities
he warned that the ongoing military surge by the nato led international security
assistance force isaf must not lead to an accelerated pressure for quick
results in governance and economic development efforts which could divert
resources from long term approach to civilian institution building and
economic development
eide is to step down as un envoy after being criticized over his handling of the
fraud marred election in afghanistan in august
his tenure has seen the taliban insurgency reach its deadliest since us led
troops ousted their regime in spurring international efforts to build
democracy and develop the impoverished nation
nato and the united states have troops in the country fighting the
taliban insurgents who have spread their footprint over the previously peaceful
north and east inflicting record western military casualties
up to more us and nato troops are to arrive over the course of
backed by thousands of civilians as the war strategy turns from battleground
tactics to development and aid
us officials awaited nigerian plotter to land report
los angeles jan afp
us border security officials were aware that an alleged extremist was on
detroit bound flight on christmas day and were ready to question him on landing
the los angeles times said late wednesday in its online edition
officials discovered umar farouk abdulmutallab name on the customs and border
protection database after he boarded his northwest flight in amsterdam and were
waiting to question him upon landing in detroit senior law enforcement
officials told the daily
the disclosure appears to show us intelligence was close to uncovering the
terrorist plot despite the barrage of criticism it has come under since
abdulmutallab failed to detonate bomb aboard northwest airliner on
christmas day
the window in detecting passenger as potential threat before boarding is
limited senior homeland security official said adding that in depth vetting
only begins once the flight manifest has been generated few hours before
takeoff
if the intelligence on abdulmutallab had been discovered sooner the officials
said he could have been interrogated before boarding the flight
the people in detroit were prepared to look at him in secondary inspection
said senior law enforcement official quoted by the times the decision had
been made
the database had picked up the state department concern about this guy that
this guy may have been involved with extremist elements in yemen they could
have made decision on whether to stop him from getting on the plane he said
none of the officials quoted in the los angeles times provided their identities
because of the ongoing investigation into the bomb plot
abdulmutallab was indicted wednesday by grand jury for attempted murder and
trying to use weapon of mass destruction aboard us plane and could face life
imprisonment
president barack obama tuesday sharply rebuked intelligence and security
services for missing series of red flags that could have unmasked the plot
earlier
that not acceptable and will not tolerate it he said in an unusual
public dressing down of the intelligence services
the white house will thursday release an unclassified version of report into
the intelligence failures
yen lower in asia over new finance minister
tokyo jan afp
the yen was lower in asian trade thursday as traders bet that japan new
finance minister will be less tolerant of stronger currency than his
predecessor dealers said
the dollar rose to yen in tokyo morning trade from yen in new york
late on wednesday the euro gained to dollars after and to
yen against
market players were closely watching what new finance minister naoto kan would
say about his views on foreign exchange policy
outgoing hirohisa fujii who is stepping down for health reasons has repeatedly
said that in principle tokyo should refrain from market intervention to weaken
the yen and protect exporters remarks that boosted the currency
compared to his predecessor who had tolerated higher yen kan has said that
he wanted to avoid strong currency said hideaki inoue chief forex manager
at mitsubishi ufj trust and banking corp
his appointment has weighed on the yen so far he said
while japan has not intervened in the currency market since march allowing
the yen to find its own level against the dollar the finance minister
comments on currencies can have big impact on trading
mr kan is bit of contrast to fujii who had in our view adopted benign
neglect stance toward yen strength until december barclays capital analysts
wrote in research note
by contrast mr kan has been expressing his preference for weaker yen thus
the government stance to prevent renewed yen strength has become clearer
the dollar gains however were limited after the release of minutes from last
month meeting of the federal open market committee dampened expectations for
higher us interest rates
investors now believe that the fed will maintain the low rate policy for the
time being inoue said
traders were turning their focus to friday key monthly jobs data which are
likely to set the tone for the greenback
strong jobs report could bolster the dollar because it would increase
speculation that the fed might hike interest rates sooner than expected from
their current record lows dealers said
but it might also spur demand for higher yielding currencies seen as well placed
to benefit from global economic recovery they added
iceland president says defends icesave veto
london jan afp
iceland president defended as democratic his decision to veto compensation
deal to cover the icesave bank collapse amid anger in britain and the
netherlands
president olafur ragnar grimsson also said iceland would honour its obligations
over icesave after refusing to sign bill on compensation for the british and
dutch governments
the view being put forward that we will not honour our obligations is
completely wrong he told the bbc newsnight programme late wednesday
the only thing that have decided is to allow the icelandic people to have the
final say in referendum which is in accordance with our fundamental democratic
principles he said
grimsson on tuesday referred the issue to referendum following public
opposition to the bill sparking political and economic storm with doubts
growing over iceland recovery and eu membership bid
all over europe there are countries that trust the people with the referendum
what decided to do was simply to follow an honoured european tradition of
allowing the people to make the final decision
grimsson decision sparked anger in britain and the netherlands where officials
urged reykjavik to meet its international obligations after they had to
compensate local savers who lost their money in icesave
on tuesday fitch credit rating agency downgraded iceland long term debt
rating to junk status from bbb to bb citing renewed wave of domestic
political economic and financial uncertainty
grimsson played down the move saying this credit rating by fitch has really no
practical consequences
he also appeared to play down warnings from britain and the european commission
that no vote at the referendum could jeopardise iceland bid to join the
european union
the discussion with the european union will take place in the coming years he
told the bbc
the icesave bill narrowly approved by the icelandic parliament on december
calls for billion euros billion dollars to be paid to the british and
dutch governments who had to compensate more than british and dutch
savers who lost money in the collapse of the icelandic bank
grimsson said the bill is based on the agreement that we have made with britain
and the netherlands where iceland acknowledges its obligations
asian shares flat after weak wall street lead
hong kong jan afp
asian shares traded in tight ranges thursday following weak lead from wall
street overnight as unemployment fears resurfaced in the united states
in tokyo the nikkei was flat by midday as hong kong pared early gains in
morning trade sydney and singapore were both flat while chinese shares were
percent lower
uninspired investors mulled mixed showing on wall street after disappointing
report on private sector jobs and federal reserve minutes that noted
unemployment would remain elevated for quite some time
however energy and resources stocks gained as crude continued its recent run
amid severe winter in the northern hemisphere
japanese stocks were helped by easing concerns over the yen recent strength
which is bad for exporters
while japan new finance minister naoto kan is seen as less tolerant of
stronger yen than outgoing hirohisa fujii the appointment has not had major
impact on the stock market dealers said
lot of investors are looking at the situation calmly now yutaka miura
senior technical analyst at mizuho securities told dow jones newswires
the nikkei is expected to see another rally thanks to the weaker yen but gains
may be limited as us markets were mixed overnight miura said
the dow jones industrial average edged points higher to close at
ahead of key labor department jobs report friday payrolls firm adp said the
nonfarm private sector shed higher than expected jobs in december
crude oil continued to gain overnight new york main futures contract light
sweet crude for delivery in february jumped dollars to settle at
dollars month high
london brent north sea crude for february advanced dollars to close at
in asian trade the dollar rose to yen in tokyo morning trade from
yen in new york late on wednesday the euro gained to dollars after
and to yen against
the dollar gains however were limited after the release of minutes from last
month meeting of the federal open market committee dampened expectations for
higher us interest rates
in hong kong gold opened higher thursday at us dollars an
ounce up from wednesday close of dollars
golf woods absence chance for some ogilvy
kapalua hawaii jan afp
australian geoff ogilvy who defends his title in the us pga tour sbs
championship starting thursday says tiger woods indefinite break from golf is
an opportunity for his rivals
think it an interesting time ogilvy said obviously number one in the
world might be up for realistic grabs this year depending on how it all takes
shape
phil mickelson played fantastic at the end of last year phil years have
always started unbelievably and have often petered out last year he actually
got better which is good for him
ogilvy is the only player in the season opening event who has won before at
kapalua the field which is limited to winners from the previous season has
only players
superstar woods who last played kapalua said in december he would take
an indefinite break from the game to focus on trying to rebuild his family after
revelations of his marital infidelity
steve stricker said he expected woods would be back and would come back strong
have feeling tiger will be back stricker said he doesn need many
events to get back to the top spot whether it be in the fedex cup or money list
or whatever you never know he could be out the whole year hope that he
back sooner than later but it does have that feel to start the season that it
wide open
pat perez however said woods typical limited schedule meant his absence
wouldn make that much difference at least in the number of titles his rivals
had in their sights
he wins six times he plays tournaments perez said there what
events so there always lot up for grabs hope the people can see there is
more to the tour than just tiger
we know how great he is perez added no one is questioning that maybe
people will have chance to say we are not watching tiger all the time we
have to watch somebody else now while tiger cleans up this mess and there are
some really good guys out there
new zealand to investigate whaling protest collision
wellington jan afp
new zealand said thursday it would investigate japanese whaling ship alleged
ramming in antarctic waters of protest boat as activists claimed only luck
prevented someone from being killed
new zealand foreign minister murray mccully also urged protesters from the
militant sea shepherd anti whaling organisation and the japanese whalers to stop
risking human lives in the isolated southern ocean
the country maritime authorities have responsibility for the new zealand
registered ady gil hi tech trimaran which had its bow demolished in
collision with japanese whaling vessel shonan maru no on wednesday
the whalers and sea shepherd protesters blame each other for the collision
which ended with the six crew members on the ady gil being rescued by another
protest vessel
the responsibility for an investigation will rest with maritime new zealand
mccully told radio new zealand adding australian authorities would also be
involved
urge all those involved to do what they ve failed to do so far which is put
greater premium on human life in such harsh environment mccully said
the new zealand government is totally opposed to japanese whaling taking place
in the southern ocean but we re also opposed to killing human beings down there
as well
skipper of the ady gil pete bethune said the blame for the collision lay
squarely with the japanese ship and he said it was lucky there were no
fatalities
it was on the port side which meant he didn have right of way and we were
stationary it totally absurd what the japanese whalers have done bethune
told radio new zealand
they have deliberately gone in and tried to run us over
we were lucky there was no one in the sleeping quarters or someone would have
died he said
think what was demonstrated yesterday was the japanese whalers are just
bunch of thugs they are just people down here making money
but glenn inwood new zealand based spokesman for the japanese institute of
cetacean research which conducts the whaling said the protesters were to blame
for the collision
he said video evidence from the whaling ship showed the ady gil was stationary
but then put the hammer down as the ship neared
think really the skipper was trying to cut the shona maru off or try to move
in front of it and miscalculated inwood told afp
referring to calls by australia and new zealand for an easing of the
confrontation inwood said the whaling vessels were already acting with
restraint
the japanese vessels are protecting themselves from campaign of violent
harassment he said
the responsibility for this accident lies with sea shepard and it lies with the
skipper of the ady gil
asked if the whalers would cooperate fully with the investigation inwood said
that would be an issue between the japanese and new zealand governments
australia said wednesday it had no plans to send vessel to monitor the
escalating confrontation some nautical miles south of hobart
an international moratorium on commercial whaling was imposed in but japan
kills hundreds of the animals each year using loophole that allows lethal
research on whales
us spy agencies face information overload experts
washington jan afp
us intelligence officials under pressure to better track terrorist threats are
hampered by their own vast bureaucracy and an overwhelming flow of information
analysts say
president barack obama has now discovered that he inherited an intelligence
community in the united states which is bloated bureaucratic and even with the
best of intentions has become so large it finds it very hard to put together the
pieces bruce riedel former cia officer told afp
an angry obama took the spy agencies to task this week after an attempt to blow
up us airliner on christmas day was narrowly averted saying the services
overlooked key clues
although top security and military officials acknowledged failures and vowed to
improve making the agencies with an army of employees more efficient
and nimble remained daunting task riedel said
news photos of obama meeting room full of top intelligence officials
illustrated the problem said riedel fellow at the brookings institution
there are two dozen people in that room why are that many people trying to run
the show why doesn he have an intelligence senior official who he goes to who
is in charge of everything he said
in the intelligence business bigger is not necessarily better
reforms introduced after the attacks of september created new
director of national intelligence that was supposed to harness the bureaucracy
but the position was never empowered with enough authority riedel said
the botched handling of the attempted christmas day plot carried an eerie echo
of failures prior to said two former members of the commission that
investigated the september attacks
with its many jurisdictional boundaries and its persistent bureaucratic fault
lines our current system although greatly improved since affords too
many opportunities to let information slip too many occasions for human frailty
to assert itself thomas kean and john farmer wrote in the new york times on
wednesday
the spy agencies now share information in way they did not before but
still struggle to sort through massive and growing array of data about
potential terrorist plots and suspects experts said
the problem is that the system is clogged with information one former cia
officer told the washington post
huge numbers of names and details on possible suspects are overwhelming the
agencies said the officer most of it isn of interest but people are afraid
not to put it in
the task is akin to giant and confusing jigsaw puzzle in which the americans
have only fraction of the pieces needed riedel said
and every few minutes you get another piece that may or may not be relevant to
the puzzle you re working on
dennis blair the director of national intelligence acknowledged the spy
services shortcomings after obama unusual public rebuke
the intelligence community received the president message today we got it
and we are moving forward to meet the new challenges blair said in statement
on tuesday
the white house on thursday planned to release an unclassified version of
report into failures relating to terrorist watch lists which was expected to
pile more pressure on the embattled intelligence community
the details of exactly how the spy services failed in the run up to the
christmas day plot remained unclear but the agency charged with analyzing
intelligence on terror threats the national counter terrorism center was
expected to face tough questions
the nctc had the responsibility to bring together all the bits and pieces and
try to put them together riedel said
if any part of the us intelligence community is likely to come under more
scrutiny it the nctc
