Suicide

To the small population that tends to the affairs of American literary culture, Jonathan Franzen can't be ignored. His books, most notably the novels "The Corrections" and "Freedom," reliably garner either critical lamentation or reflex boosterism. Time magazine put Franzen on the cover. And everybody and their mother heard that he refused Oprah's desire to anoint "The Corrections" one of her book-club selections. This year already boasts two bouts of Franzy. First, he called Edith Wharton ugly.

SALEM, Ore. - Police were investigating the deaths of three Oregon children and their parents as an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday after authorities found the bodies of the children and their mother at a burned home and their father's in a car hours later. The deceased girls were identified as infant Sefi Lazukin, 1-year-old Zoe Lazukin, and 3-year-old Angelica Lazukin. Their mother was identified as 26-year-old Natalya Lazukin. A sixth person whose body was found on the street a quarter mile north of the house was identified Wednesday afternoon as 21-year-old Devin Matlock of Salem.

NEW YORK - In the abyss of financial ruin, faced with sure disgrace and possibly prison, some of the newly scandalized rich have taken desperate measures in these despairing times. The black hole of hopelessness can be overwhelming. A man who lost $1.4 billion to Bernie Madoff sits down in his Manhattan office and carefully writes a series of suicide letters to family and friends, then swallows a fatal dose of pills and conscientiously places a wastebasket under his bleeding arm, after slicing it with a box cutter.

Junior Seau's suicide is troubling NFL players. No one knows precisely why the 43-year-old Seau shot himself in the chest at his oceanfront home May 2, less than 2 ½ years after the end of his Pro Bowl career as a linebacker. What is clear — and cause for concern among other players — is that he reached some serious depths of despair. "To see a guy like that, in such a dark place, to take the action he did … makes you think about life after football and what it's like, and what you'll be going through, when that time comes, mentally," said Colts linebacker A.J. Edds,...

RE "CARDINAL rips suicide ballot effort" (Metro, Sept. 19): It is one thing for Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley to stress his religious doctrine against legal termination of life, but quite another to object to a referendum on the issue. As an 84-year-old with disabling spinal stenosis, and one not subject to the dogma of his church, I would welcome the choice to select a peaceful end to life and to hardship on my family, should that time come. It should be my option to have access to a ballot and vote.

HENDERSON, Texas - Sergeant Patrick Henderson, a strapping Iraq combat veteran, spent the last, miserable months of his life as an Army recruiter, cold-calling dozens of people a day from his strip-mall office and sitting in strangers' living rooms, trying to sign up their sons and daughters for an unpopular war. He put in 13-hour days, six days a week, often encountering abuse from young people or their parents. When he and other recruiters would gripe about the pressure to meet their quotas, their superiors would snarl that they ought to be grateful they were not in Iraq, according to his...

In Cammie McGovern’s suburban noir, fear and secrets are alive and well on Juniper Lane. There, in “Neighborhood Watch,’’ Betsy Treading attends a meeting to protect herself and her neighbors from outsiders, but it turns out the real danger lurks behind the facades of the perfect homes. The morning after the meeting, Betsy’s neighbor, bohemian divorcée Linda Sue, is found bludgeoned to death in her home. Gathering up laundry a few days later, Betsy discovers her own nightgown, soaked in blood.

Ben Speaks Louder Than Words, a nonprofit organization headed by a Medway resident that aims to raise awareness about preventing suicide and self-destructive behaviors, is holding its annual fund-raising concert Friday at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Newton, 848 Beacon St. in Newton Centre. The concert will feature several teen performers, a candle-lighting ceremony, and a slideshow on individuals being remembered. For details and to buy tickets, visit www.benspeaks.org. - Rachel Lebeaux

Pakistan ISLAMABAD - Helicopter gunships destroyed a training camp for suicide bombers in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat Valley, killing six Taliban fighters in an area the government had already declared clear of militants, an official said yesterday. The camp’s trainees were responsible for at least three attacks in recent weeks, an army spokesman said. Pakistan’s army says it is restoring security in Swat and nearby areas, but suicide attacks and skirmishes continue, with reports yesterday of scattered violence killing at least 12 more suspected militants.

HOUSTON — Prosecutors said yesterday that they will look into what led to the suicide of a 13-year-old Houston boy whose parents say was relentlessly bullied at his middle school for two years because of his religion and sexual orientation. Asher Brown’s parents, who allege that school officials ignored their pleas for help, said they hope “justice will be served’’ by the investigation by the Harris County district attorney’s office. “Once they find out what’s been hidden, we would want the people responsible to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,’’...

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military parade rehearsal Monday in Yemen's capital, killing at least 60 soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in years, according to the ministry of defense, officials and witnesses. The bombing appeared to be a failed assassination attempt against the Minister of Defense, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, who arrived at the city square for the parade just minutes before the blast ripped through the area. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it came as the country's new political leadership has been stepping up the...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military parade rehearsal Monday in Yemen's capital, killing 96 soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in years, officials said. The bombing appeared to be a failed assassination attempt against the Minister of Defense, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, who arrived at the heavily secured city square to greet the assembled troops just minutes before the blast ripped through the area. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it came as the country's new political leadership has been stepping...

KABUL - A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police checkpoint Saturday in a volatile area of eastern Afghanistan, killing 13 people, police said. The bomber walked up to a checkpoint in Ali Sher district in Khost Province and detonated his explosives-rigged vest, said provincial police chief General Sardar Mohammad Zazia. The policemen were searching motorists' vehicles at the time of the explosion, he said. In a statement, the governor's office in Khost province said 13 people died in the blast - 10 civilians, two Afghan policemen, and one Afghan border police officer.

A suicide vehicle bomb tore through the parking lot of a military compound in an eastern Syrian city on Saturday, killing nine people in the latest in a series of blasts in recent months targeting security installations, the country's state media reported. State TV showed footage of damaged buildings, smoldering cars, and trucks turned upside down. Debris filled a street that was stained with blood. Attacks such as the blast in Deir al-Zour, a former transit hub for militants heading to fight U.S. forces in nearby Iraq, have raised fears that al-Qaida-linked jihadis, possibly...

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police checkpoint Saturday in a volatile area of eastern Afghanistan, killing eight people, police said. The bomber walked up to a checkpoint in Ali Sher district along the Pakistan border in Khost province and detonated his explosives-rigged vest, said provincial police chief Gen. Sardar Mohammad Zazia. The policemen were searching motorists' vehicles at the time of the explosion, he said. Two Afghan policemen and six civilians were killed in the blast, he said.

Every family has its share of pain and triumph. And then there are the Kennedys. America's great political dynasty is grieving again after Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr., hanged herself Wednesday at the family's 10-acre estate in a New York City suburb. Her death, at age 52, came as a shock to some friends and family, even though the past two years had been undeniably tough ones. The couple was going through a divorce, and Mary had been charged twice with driving while intoxicated in 2010.

PROVIDENCE -- When Holly Charette enlisted in the Marine Corps after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, her family was uneasy about her decision -- and told her so. "We just said that it's dangerous, and things are getting crazier and crazier in the world," Edward Roberts recalled after his stepdaughter's death. But the blond former cheerleader wanted to join, motivated partly by a sense of patriotic duty and partly by a desire to make a difference. The 21-year-old Marine from Rhode Island was killed June 23 when her convoy was ambushed by a suicide car bombing...

The latest from Globe editorial cartoonist Dan Wasserman.

Law enforcement officers in Southern California searched in rugged mountain terrain for a second day on Sunday for a missing FBI agent who was said to be despondent and possibly suicidal. About 100 FBI agents, 40 sheriff's department rescuers and a dozen local police officers participated in the search for Los Angeles-based Special Agent Stephen Ivens. He was described as an avid hiker and runner. FBI Special Agent Steve Gomez said dogs had tracked Ivens' scent toward the Verdugo Mountains, east of Burbank, but searchers have fanned out throughout Los Angeles County.