Quite a few young people have from mental health problems which, when not solved, can trigger an aggressive behavior. Due to the fact that the stigma around mental health issue is still very real, most teens are ashamed to talk about what they experience.  

A report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness shows that 1 in every 5 teens lives with a mental health issue. Some experience anxiety due to high stress, while others suffer from depression or trauma. These can be caused by school shootings or various other traumatic events.  

 

Mental Health Problems Should be Discussed More Openly

 

While it is essential to know the basic rules of CPR, it is also necessary to know more about mental health in order to notice if someone has a problem. This is why more schools and non-profit organizations should focus on mental health. One such program is held by the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls.  

Since July 2017, they have been holding a workshop where people can learn more about such issues. This workshop is held every month. The director of therapeutic resources, Karen Rice mentioned that this was organized especially for those who want to help people, especially the young, with mental health problems.  

“This class will really help adults who need to reach out and want to reach out to young people, whether it’s families or neighbors.” 

The workshop is free, and it is composed of eight-hour sessions. Most of these focus on recovery and how to cope with these issues without being ashamed.

Experts mentioned that the most important thing is to support people that have such conditions and to tell them that you are there for them. Having somebody who looks after you can make it easier to deal with a mental health problem.  

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A recent study shows that childhood brain injuries can increase the risk of ADHD. The researchers found that this condition develops over time in several years. Moreover, traumatic brain injury (TBI) was linked to the development of ADHD later in life. Young kids who experienced a brain injury were 3.6 times more likely to develop ADHD, compared to the kids in the control group.

New Information on ADHD

On average, these kids developed ADHD 6.8 years after they suffered the TBI. The researchers who conducted this study mentioned that their work is unique because they monitored the children starting with almost 10 years after the TBI. Previous studies on this topic only followed the children for 2 or 3 years.

This is how the team of researchers observed that the ADHD doesn’t develop right away. It takes several years after the childhood brain injuries for the condition to develop. Previous studies have shown that secondary ADHD is very common in children who suffered a TBI. However, more than 20% of the kids in this study had developed it. This is a far greater percentage than was expected.

How Did They Do It?

To conduct this new research, scientists monitored 187 kids aged between 3 and 7 who were in the hospital for orthopedic injuries (control group – 106 kids) or TBI (81 kids). These kids were hospitalized at 4 hospitals between January 2003 and June 2008. None of them had ADHD at the beginning of the study. The kids from the control group had bone fracture but no sign of brain injuries.

From these 187 kids, 25.7% of them developed secondary ADHD. Those who suffered brain injuries were more likely to develop the condition. In fact, most kids developed ADHD up to 18 months after the brain injury, while some of them developed it after 6.8 years. This only shows that more research needs to be done on this topic. Also, it is important to see some long-term studies to assess the topic correctly.

America is no longer a country of immigrants, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The Homeland Security component changed its official mission statement on Thursday.

USCIS, which is responsible for granting visas and US citizenship, is now describing itself as an organization that “administers the nation’s lawful immigration system”. More so, the updated mission statement forgoes the term “customers” when referring to visa applicants.

According to a letter to his employees, USCIS director, L. Francis Cissna, explained that the changes were a “straightforward statement that clearly defines the agency’s role in our country’s lawful immigration system and the commitment we have to the American people.”

Cissna also explained why the new mission statement no longer refers to visa applicants as “customer”. According to the director, using this term would lead to the “erroneous” notion that applicants and petitioners for US citizenship are the parties for which the agency serves rather than “the American people”.

There was no specific explanation as to why USCIS stopped describing America as a nation of immigrants.

Cissna became USCIS’s director in October 2017, after President Trump’s election. Trump has been pushing for harder immigration rules, as to prevent illegal aliens or other undesirables from reaching the US. He intends to admit only 45 thousand refugees this year. President Obama had originally set 2017’s cap at 110 admissions, however, Trump lowered that to about 50 thousand.

According to State Department data, over 6 thousand refugees have been admitted in the US this year, currently.

Eleanor Aces, director of refugee protection at Human Rights First, said that removing the language that refers to America as a nation of immigrants does not eliminate the country’s identity. Aces criticised President Trump and immigration extremists for their attempts to “dehumanize” immigrants and refugees.

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President Donald Trump reportedly asked the White House counsel, Donald McGahn, to call on the Department of Justice and convince then-FBI director, James Comey, to publicly exonerate the president in the Russia probe.

According to several news sources, McGahn then called then- Deputy Acting Attorney General, Dana Boente, and asked him to persuade Comey to clear president Trump of any wrongdoings. That request was reportedly not followed through.

Aside from Trump’s alleged pleas to the Justice Department, the president also personally attempted to convince Comey to exonerate him. President Trump also tried to convince Comey to drop the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, on numerous occasions in early 2017.

While Comey claims to have told Trump that he wasn’t under investigation privately, he did not do so publicly as to keep the right to amend or retract his statement in the future. After Comey declined to drop the Flynn investigation or exonerate president Trump, he was fired.

The latest news comes amid special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which looks into possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 election. One of the probe’s key interests is whether president Trump sought to obstruct justice when he fired Comey last May. This revelation will most likely contribute to the Mueller’s case against Trump.

According to the White House, Comey’s firing was due to his poor handling of the FBI’s investigation into former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who had used a private email server to conduct government business. However, Trump would later add that another factor in Comey’s departure was “this Russia thing”.

Trump also reportedly told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, that Comey was a “nut job” and that firing him had taken “great pressure” off of him.

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Toy and board game company, Hasbro Inc, reported low sales in its fourth quarter. The sudden decline was linked to low interest in Star Wars-related toys, a first for the franchise which hopped back in cinemas in 2015.

Hasbro reported a 2 percent sales decline during the holiday quarter, failing to meet their forecast for sales growth of between 4 percent and 7 percent.

In addition to the disappointing Star Wars sales, the company’s Chief Executive, Brian Goldner, blamed the decline on low interest in Europe and disruption from the Toys R Us bankruptcy.

However, the Monopoly maker said that it has contingency plans for Toys R Us’ bankruptcy filing. The company is confident it can rebound by mid-2018. Toys R Us was one of the primary means of distribution for Hasbro, and the toy store chain’s latest announcement would cut said distribution significantly. Toys R Us will reportedly shut down 180 stores, about one-fifth of Hasbro’s store fleet.

Goldner did not believe suggestions that fans were getting fed up with Star Wars products, remaining confident that the series will continue to provide a steady source of annual revenue.

“I don’t see it as Star Wars fatigue. I feel like there’s great vitality in Star Wars.” Mr. Goldner said.

According to Goldner, consumer demand was at an all-time high once Star Wars returned to cinemas in 2015, providing the company with a long window ahead of the movie’s release to sell toys. However, because The Last Jedi premiered on Dec. 15, toy sales couldn’t pick up until then.

Despite the low sales, Hasbro shares spiked more than 7 percent Wednesday. More so, the company’s revenue in 2017 managed to surpass that of rival Mattel Inc. for the first time in more than 20 years. Hasbro reported its sales rose 4 percent to 5.21 billion for the full year, topping Mattel’s annual financial earnings of $4.88 billion.

The Nerf Gun maker revealed a fourth-quarter loss of $5.3 million, or 4 cents a share, significantly lower than their $192.7 profit or $1.52 a share, a year earlier.

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Japanese multinational photography company, Fujifilm, will acquire Xerox Corp in a $6.1 billion deal. As part of the purchase, Fujifilm will incorporate the US company into their existing joint venture in an attempt to offset lackluster printing revenue.

Xerox Corp had been scouting the market for a potential buyer as it struggled to reinvent itself in an industry where office printing has little room to grow. Fujifilm’s acquisition is also an attempt for them to expand and streamline its copier business focusing this time around on document solution services.

According to the two companies, the new Fuji Xerox joint venture would deliver an estimated $1.7 billion in total cost savings by 2022.

The deal offers Fujifilm a 75 percent stake in Fuji Xerox, a joint venture that has been active for more than fifty years. Fuji Xerox offers a wide range of photocopying products and services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Fujifilm and Xerox Corp said that Fuji Xerox will buy back Fujifilm’s stake for around $6.1 billion, a purchase which will be supported by bank debt. The money will be used to purchase 50.1 percent of new Xerox shares.

The companies announced the deal this Wednesday and the final steps of the acquisition will be completed around July-August.

The joint venture will still retain the Fuji Xerox name and become a subsidiary of Fujifilm. Its dual headquarters will be located in the United States and Japan, with a physical location listed in New York. Fuji Xerox will be managed by Xerox CEO, Jeff Jacobson, and Fujifilm CEO, Shigetaka Komori will fill in the role of chairman. Fuji Xerox reportedly makes up for nearly half of Fujifilm’s sales and operating profit.

Restructuring efforts have led to Fujifilm announcing that it will be cutting 10 thousand jobs at Fuji Xerox, which is more than a fifth of its workforce in the Asia Pacific region.

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Actor, Kevin Spacey, fell to the mounting weight of sexual accusations which ultimately led to his firing for the Netflix hit show, House of Cards. The streaming company reported that it had to pay $39 million at the end of 2017 as it interrupted several projects involving Spacey.

Netflix’s charge was disclosed in its fourth-quarter earnings report and it relates to “unreleased content we’ve decided not to move forward with”.

Ever since disgraced mogul, Harvey Weinstein, opened the floodgates for women to come forward with their sexual harassment stories, careers have seemingly ended overnight. Spacey was an A-list actor in Hollywood, with a successful career in film, television, and theatre. Once he was accused by a series of male actors of unwanted advances and overall inappropriate behavior, Spacey tried to deflect the accusations by coming out as a gay man. This announcement was dismissed by many as an attempt to keep his career intact and was criticised. More than thirty men accused Spacey of sexual misconduct.

Spacey was written out of Netflix’s political drama, House of Cards, where the actor starred as U.S. President Frank Underwood. The streaming company had to suspend production of its sixth and final season in November of last year following the allegations against Spacey.

Netflix is one of the first companies to publicise their financial costs following allegations of sexual misconduct against an individual. A source familiar with the matter said that the charge was directly related to Spacey’s projects.

Aside from House of Cards, the Oscar-winning actor would have starred in an upcoming movie about late writer and public intellectual, Gore Vidal. Additional costs would have also been required to re-shoot a significant portion of All The Money In The World, where Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer.

Kevin Spacey is not the only actor who has been accused of sexual misconduct and had ties with Netflix. The company scrapped an upcoming stand-up special with comedian, Louis C.K., in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.

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The U.S. wants Democrats to lead once again, or so a poll suggests. Following the recent tax bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, more and more people have been steering clear of the GOP and opting for the Democratic Party.

Quinnipiac University released a survey in which it showed the political alignment of U.S. citizens. Survey respondents were asked which party would they choose to take control of the White House in 2018. 52 percent of participants chose Democrats, 35 percent sided with the Republicans while 13 percent opted not to choose a party.

When it came to who should control the Senate, 36 percent said they want to see Republicans take over as opposed to the 53 percent who opted for the Democrats.

The Republican tax bill proved to be the feather that broke the camel’s back, as 52 percent of respondents disapproved of the tax reform while 32 percent approved. 41 percent of white voters approved the plan and 28 percent were not keen on the Republican decision. GOP voters were still on board with the tax bill, as 76 percent of respondents voted for its approval while 7 percent were on the other side of the spectrum.

According to the survey, many voters are worried that the tax plan will increase their taxes. 33 percent voted in favor of the tax rise while 24 percent thought the taxes will go down. However, 66 percent of respondents overall argued that the plan will benefit the rich more than the middle class. President Trump called the Republican tax bill a “gift” to the middle class, a comment that did not convince many people.

The poll also showed how many people were interested in voting in the next election, with Democrats outnumbering the Republicans.

A memo from a liberal-leaning advocacy group released earlier this week claimed that Democrats are wary of a negative outcome in the 2018 midterm elections if the DACA programme comes to an end. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) ensured that children who were brought to the U.S. by undocumented immigrants were given immunity against deportation. The Quinnipiac poll seemingly confirmed this fact.

“Support for allowing Dreamers to stay and apply for citizenship ranges from 64 percent among Republicans to 92 percent among Democrats,” noted the poll.

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President Trump’s former White House Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, expressed regret over his comments on Donald Trump Jr.’s  alleged meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election. Bannon issued a statement on Sunday in which he called Trump’s eldest son a “patriot” and a “good man”.

Bannon apologized for not responding sooner to his comments that were published in journalist’s Michael Wolff’s bombshell book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House”. The Breitbart executive chairman believes his delayed response to the “inaccurate reporting” has diverted attention to Trump’s accomplishments in the first year of his presidency.

A source close to Bannon said his recent statement comes after the President told his friends and allies to pick a side between the two. In addition, Bannon’s comments have also stirred conflict among Breitbart’s leadership, where Bannon currently holds the position of executive chairman, according to the source.

The highly controversial book includes several quotes from Bannon, saying that Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in New York to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Bannon called the meeting “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”. In addition, the former Chief Strategist also criticised the President in Wolff’s book.

Steve Bannon clarified his comments by saying that the accusations were not aimed at Trump Jr. but rather Manafort, who exhibited a lack of professionalism when he chose to meet with Russian officials.

“He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends,” Bannon said.

After hearing of Bannon’s previous claims, Trump took to social media denouncing his former Chief Strategist and downplaying his role within the administration.

During his Sirius XM radio show, Bannon commended Trump for his presidential efforts and called him a “great man”. The President was seemingly not impressed with Bannon’s change of heart, saying the next day that he “changed his tune pretty quick”.

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Donald Trump Jr. met with the House Intelligence committee on Wednesday, where he was questioned for eight hours about his potential contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump’s eldest son was reportedly subjected to a series of questions about a June 2016 meeting he had with a Russian lawyer, after being told she had incriminating information about Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. The businessman later met with President Trump to discuss what he had learned from the Russian lawyer. Trump Jr refused to provide information on the matter, citing client privilege.

Representative, Adam Schiff, believes Trump Jr.’s deflection to not have any weight, stating that no attorney-client privilege can protect a discussion between father and son.

“He acknowledged having discussed the June 9 meeting and the emails that went into establishing that meeting after those emails became public,” said Schiff on Wednesday after the closed-door meeting.

The US lawmaker added that the details of this discussion could be crucial to assessing Trump’s possible collusion with Russia during last year’s election.

During the meeting, Donald Trump Jr. was also asked about his contact with Wikileaks which occurred in October 2016. It was at that time when the famous whistleblowers released hacked Democratic emails.

According to people familiar with the matter, the former reality television star told the committee he had not talked to the president about his meeting with the Russian lawyer. He also said that he hadn’t informed Trump about the Wikileaks Twitter exchange.

The 8-hour interview came amid mounting investigations into Russia’s possible interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump Jr. told the committee he did not speak to his father directly in July 2017 but instead, he talked to the president’s communications director Hope Hicks. He sought Hick’s advice on how to deal with the upcoming New York Times expose detailing Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer.

The 39-year-old businessman reportedly came into contact at least two times with Russian officials who had shown interest in Trump’s campaign. While having no official position in his father’s campaign, Trump Jr. served as an influential surrogate for the mogul.

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