The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans has reached a record-high in the past 25 years, a latest report by the United States government said.

The record-high 20 percent suicide rate among U.S. residents aged 45 to 54 has been reached between 1999 and 2004, ABC News said, quoting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In the last two years, more than 218,000 people across India committed suicide mainly due to poverty, family feud, strained relationship with loved ones, dowry harassment and health problems.

In a research by the Indian National Crime Records Bureau, it was noted that suicide cases in the country were registered at 118,112 and over 100,000, in 2005 and 2006, respectively

The Japanese administration said Friday that employers and local authorities need to coordinate with the government to help tackle the country's disturbingly high rate of suicide cases. In 2006, 32,155 people committed suicide in Japan.

Though the figure decreased by 397 from the previous year, the country's suicide rate stays on the ninth rank among the other parts of the world, the Cabinet Office report confirmed, referring to World Health Organization (WHO) data

A study by the University of Michigan and the Department of Veteran Affairs revealed that although veterans diagnosed with depression are not more likely to commit suicide than other civilian patients, there is a significant difference in the suicide rate for younger war veterans.

Recoding more than 800,000 veterans, the study has been identified as the largest and most comprehensive, as well as the first to include in its participants veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the New York Times

Four deaths are linked to improper use of a painkiller, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are warning doctors about it.

In a letter from the drug manufacturer, Cephalon Inc., the company said the deaths were the result of improper dosing of its drug called Fentora