Chinese people are taking their own lives in record numbers. More than a quarter of a million people a year are killing themselves - 685 a day And 3.5 million make unsuccessful attempts. Suicide is now the primary cause of death among Chinese aged 20 to 35. Ms Wang and her 17 colleagues at China's only suicide hotline get 10 calls for every one they can answer."The phones are always ringing," says Marlys Bueber, a nurse from South Dakota who trains hotline operators such as Ms Wang.The service gets 22,000 calls a month. It's a grey, depressing morning and Wang Cui Ling knows she is facing another busy day.
Taking her seat at a tiny cubicle in the bowels of Beijing's Suicide Research and Prevention Centre, the 37-year-old former psychiatric nurse will for the next eight hours be on the front line of a harrowing national epidemic. The talks, which began in August 2003, include China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas.. "This is the most important result since the six-party talks started more than two years ago," said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Beijing's envoy. North Korea has also refused to totally disarm without getting concessions along the way, while Washington has said it wants to see the weapons programs totally dismantled before granting rewards. The statement, however, says the sides agreed to take steps to implement the agreement "in a phased manner in line with the principle of 'commitment for commitment, action for action."' The other countries at the talks said they were willing give energy assistance to the North, including a South Korean plan to deliver electricity across the heavily armed border dividing the peninsula. North Korea had also demanded that it be given a light-water nuclear reactor at the latest talks a type less easily diverted for weapons use but Washington had said it and other countries at the talks wouldn't meet that request.
Putting aside the question for now, the joint statement said: "the other parties expressed their respect and agreed to discuss at an appropriate time the subject of the provision of light-water reactor" to North Korea. The negotiations had been deadlocked over North Korea's demand that it retain the right to civilian nuclear programs after it disarms, and the statement acknowledges the North has made such an assertion but doesn't go beyond that. The main US envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, has warned that could still be a long process. In return, that statement said that "the United States affirmed that it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade (North Korea) with nuclear or conventional weapons." North Korea and United States also pledged in the agreement to respect each other's sovereignty and right to peaceful coexistence, and also to take steps to normalise relations. The statement added: "The six parties unanimously reaffirmed that the goal of the six-party talks is the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner." Negotiators agreed to further talks in November, where they were expected to move on to concrete discussions about implementing the broad principles outlined in Monday's agreement. Two dozen bodies of murder victims were found in the Tigris..
North Korea pledged today to drop its nuclear weapons development and rejoin international arms treaties. The announcement came after a unanimous agreement with other countries at arms talks in Beijing, in the first-ever joint statement in more than two years of negotiations. According to the agreement by the six countries at the talks, North Korea "committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date" to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. This means Pyongyang has agreed to inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog. A British and a US soldier were killed in bomb attacks.* MONDAY 12 SEPTEMBERGunmen killed nine civilians and two policemen in Baghdad and a roadside bomb killed six Iraqi soldiers in Fallujah.* TUESDAY 13 SEPTEMBERA car bomb killed five people and gunmen killed another four in the Mansour district of Baghdad Two civilians were killed by a suicide bomber on a bus in Hilla.* WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBERAt least 167 people were killed and 570 wounded in 14 bombings in Baghdad.* THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBERThree suicide car bombers killed 28 policemen and eight civilians and gunmen killed four more people Baghdad.* FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBERTwo suicide car bombers killed 13 people, and gunmen shot dead eight more in Baghdad, including a local mayor in Iskanariya district and an imam in Sadr City.* SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBERAt least 52 people were killed or found dead throughout the country.* SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBERAt least three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb and an Iraqi MP and four others were shot dead by gunmen. Auditors have had difficulty working out with whom Iraq has a contract in Pakistan.Authorities in Baghdad have issued an arrest warrant for Mr Cattan. Neither he nor Mr Shalaan, both believed to be in Jordan, could be reached for further comment. Mr Bremer says he has never heard of Mr Cattan.A week of violence in Iraq* SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBERGunmen killed a senior Iraqi judge, his brother and a Major General in the Iraq army.