High rate of Joblessness in Ireland, youths suffer mental issues

Posted on December 31, 2010 by JNN.NEWS

JNN 31 Dec 2010 : Unemployment is tipped as the main cause behind increased mental health problems, including panic attack, self-harm, and depression in Northern Ireland, a new study says.

According to the study carried out by the Prince’s Trust, joblessness triggers mental health problems among almost half of the unemployed youths aged between 16 and 25, the daily Belfast Telegraph reported.

More than one fifth of the Northern Ireland youths have admitted to self-harming, one in three suffered from insomnia and one fifth of those interviewed said they had panic attacks, the study found.

The Macquarie Youth Index, which interviewed 2,170 people across the UK, found that 15 percent of youths in Northern Ireland feel depressed ‘all’ or ‘most’ of the time, while 63 percent of those working said their job was an important part of their identity.

“I was in the depths of despair and depression. It’s very isolating not to have work. You have no reason to get up in the morning and you feel like you have no purpose in life,” said Claire Conway from Omagh, who suffered from depression when she lost her job in 2002 at the age of 22.

“You block yourself off from friends, especially the people who are working,” she added.

This was the third annual report to be published by the Prince’s Trust and it recorded the most significant decline in young people’s emotional health.

“Unemployment presents a very real and frightening mental health problem for young people in Northern Ireland – and the longer they are out of work, the greater the risk,” said Ian Jeffers, director of the trust in Northern Ireland

Another bomb rocks Greek capital

Posted on December 31, 2010 by JNN.NEWS

JNN 31 Dec 2010 Athens : Greek police say a powerful blast outside a closed nightclub in Athens is the second attack in the past two days linked to criminal extortion groups.

The blast, which caused no injuries, occurred before 4 a.m. Friday near Athens City Center.

The explosion was so huge that it was heard across southern Athens and severely damaged the club’s frontage, AP reported.

Police say extortionists, who have carried out several similar attacks in recent years, are responsible for the attack.

On Thursday morning, another bomb exploded outside a court in Athens City Center after an anonymous phone threat gave police the chance to evacuate the area.

The blast, which occurred 40 minutes after a warning to a newspaper and private TV station, gave authorities time to evacuate nearby buildings.

According to reports, the explosive device had been placed on a motorbike in front of the building.

The blast damaged two administrative court buildings in central Athens, shattered windows and damaged cars and sent up a cloud of smoke that was visible across the city.

Number of homeless to double in Britain

Posted on December 31, 2010 by JNN.NEWS

JNN 31 Dec 2010 : A coalition of charities has warned that homelessness will soar across Britain after the coalition government enforced housing benefit cuts.

Seventeen charities said the government’s cuts to housing benefits could double the number of people sleeping on the streets within a year, British media reported.

The government announced, as part of its public spending review plan, it will no longer pay for 25-34 year-olds from 2012 to live in a one-bedroom flat, but it could instead only cover the costs of a room in a shared property.

According to the government’s own figures, the reform will see 88,000 people lose an average of £47 a week with many whose benefits will be halved.

The coalition of charities said in a statement last month that the number of the “visibly homeless people” could surge unless the government reverses its plan to cut welfare.

“Vulnerable people who have been homeless, are leaving care or prison … sharing is often inappropriate and can be particularly detrimental to well being”, said the statement.

“We have about 8,000 rough sleepers in the country and the government’s reforms could easily put another 8,000 on the streets,” said Howard Sinclair, the chief executive of the homeless charity Broadway and a signatory to the letter.

The problem is that local authorities have no legal duty to help house young single people. “They do not have family, no real social networks … they are outsiders and they will have nowhere but the streets to go,” he said.

London, where roughly half of the country’s rough sleepers live, has seen a rise in homelessness in recent years as the financial crisis hit.

Benefit cuts: 750,000 risk losing homes in south-east, associations warn (guardian.co.uk)
Homelessness fears as cuts bite (bbc.co.uk)

'Most Americans oppose Afghan war'

Posted on December 31, 2010 by JNN.NEWS

JNN 31 Dec 2010 : A new opinion poll has found that opposition to the Afghan war is at an all-time high in the US as security situation continues to worsen in Afghanistan.

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll (PDF) released on Thursday shows that more than sixty percent Americans are now opposed to the war in Afghanistan.

There is also a growing pessimism in the American public about the way things are going for the US in the war, the poll suggests.

In response to a question on how “things are going” in the warzone 56 percent responded with “moderately badly” or “very badly.”

The US President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of 30,000 additional soldiers in Afghanistan about a year ago.

However, security situation continued to deteriorate across the war-ravaged country in 2010 — the deadliest year for foreign presence in Afghanistan.

The total death toll of US-led troops has surpassed the 700 milestone, with the Americans accounting for most of the casualties.

In the review of his war strategy in Afghanistan this month, Obama declared that the war “continues to be a very difficult endeavor” and the achievements made there are “fragile and reversible.”

Obama had pledged a major drawdown from Afghanistan by July 2011. However, Washington later announced that American troops will remain in the war-torn country for at least four more years.

The 2001 US-led invasion was launched with the objective of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan.

After nine years and despite the presence of over 150,000 US-led troops across Afghanistan, the country’s security remains very fragile.

Moreover, according to the United Nations, the death toll of Afghan civilians this year is 20 percent higher than in 2009, with over 2,400 civilians killed in the country from January to September.

Scores of Afghans hold anti-US rally (jafrianews.com)

‘Most Americans oppose Afghan war’