Report: Russia Test Fires New Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles To Counter US Missile Shield

KUNA – “Russian military announced Thursday they have successfully test-fired a new version of the Topol-M series codenamed RS-12M.

The rocket, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), was fired from a military base in southeast Russia, Interfax news agency quoted military sources as saying.

The missile hit its target in Kazakhstan republic in central Asia precisely.

The new generation of the Topol-M family aims to counter the US-developed missile shield system being destroyed in Western countries. It will be the maintay of the Russian Strategic Missile Troops, according to the report.” Source – Kuna.net.

China Faces ‘Serious’ Epidemic Of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

AFP – “China faces a ‘serious epidemic’ of drug-resistant tuberculosis according to the first-ever nationwide estimate of the size of the problem there, said a new US-published study.

‘In 2007, one third of the patients with new cases of tuberculosis and one half of the patients with previously treated tuberculosis had drug-resistant disease,’ said the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Even more, the prevalence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB in new cases (5.7 percent) was nearly twice the global average, said the study.

Using World Health Organization figures as a basis for comparison, ‘China has the highest annual number of cases of MDR tuberculosis in the world — a quarter of the cases worldwide,’ it added.

‘China has a serious epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis.’

The data came from a survey of more than 4,600 Chinese people who were recently diagnosed or treated for TB.

Patients for the study were treated at local TB clinics, not hospitals, and the survey was conducted by the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (NTRL) of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control.

According to an accompanying editorial by Johns Hopkins University infectious disease specialist Richard Chaisson, the growth of drug-resistant TB presents an ‘enormous challenge.’

Even more concerning was the finding that most of the 110,000 drug-resistant cases were in people newly diagnosed with the disease, suggesting that the virulent bacteria are being transmitted from person to person and not developing solely as a result of a person prematurely stopping treatment.” Read more.

Flashback: India: New, Deadlier Form of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Strikes Mumbai and Ratnagiri – “The TB menace in India is likely to grow worse with the new, deadlier form of virus detected in Mumbai. 12 tuberculosis patients at Hinduja Hospital in Mahim, Mumbai have been found to have a virus which has been termed Totally Drug Resistant (TDR) – TB. The viruses were isolated in the fluid samples of the patients. This virus has the latest and most severe form of drug resistance in TB viruses after the Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR-TB), and Extremely Drug-Resistant (EDR-TB) varieties diagnosed a while back.” Read more.

UK: Mystery Surrounds Death Of 5,000 Fish, ‘This Is Catastrophic’

The Sentinel – “THOUSANDS of fish have died after the lake they were in was contaminated.

Residents discovered the dead fish at Madeley Pool yesterday morning and spent the rest of the day trying to oxygenate the water to save other fish which were still alive.

Buckets, paddling pools and even a baby bath were brought in to house the rescued fish.

It is not yet known what caused the death of the others.

The pool has been closed to fishing and upcoming matches will be cancelled.

Ralph Parsons, chairman of Madeley Pool Angling Club, which manages the pool, said: ‘We normally have between 7,000 and 10,000 fish in the pool. At least 5,000 of them must have died.

‘The whole pool looked like a carpet with fish on the surface struggling to breathe.

‘It is a close-knit community and we are a local club so everyone has pulled their finger out to try to do what they can.

‘We have tried to take out as many alive fish as we can, but there is only so long they will last in paddling pools.

‘They have been dying by the minute but we can’t take them anywhere in case they contaminate other fish.’

Representatives from the Environmental Agency and Newcastle Borough Council were contacted.

Tests are being carried out to determine the cause, but the results have not yet come back…

‘Loads of us went out to try to catch the ones which were still alive. Even little kids were out with their fishing nets. We put them into boxes, containers and even paddling pools to try to keep them alive, but they’ll be lucky if they survive. It’s awful.’

Parish councillor Ann Spilsbury said: ‘This is catastrophic. It is a well-stocked pool and a lot of cost, time and effort goes into looking after it.'” Read more.