Free Republic

A deadly germ untreatable by most antibiotics has killed a seventh person at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland.

A potentially lethal germ resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics is spreading fast in Chicago health-care facilities, new research suggests. This latest “superbug” is formed when common bacteria produce an enzyme called Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase, or KPC, that makes them resistant to a class of antibiotics used as a last resort when other treatments fail. The number of Chicago hospitals and long-term care facilities reporting infections with these KPC-producing bacteria has increased 42 percent, from 26 to 37, between this year and last. In addition, the average number of patients who tested positive for KPC infections at each of...

PRISTINA, Kosovo -- Kosovo armed forces took over security duties on Wednesday, less than a year after the territory declared independence from Serbia, officials said. The Kosovo Protection Force replaces a 3,000-strong civilian emergency organization formed out of the disbanded ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army that fought Serbia in the 1998-99 war. New commander Lt. Gen. Sylejman Selimi, a former rebel fighter, said the 2,500 lightly armed troops would fulfill security duties in the fledgling nation, but would remain under the supervision of NATO's 15,000 peacekeepers in charge of overall security. It will be trained by British NATO officers, wear...

A member of Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) was gunned down in ambush near the village of Grabavica, some 60 kilometers west of Pristina, the local media reported. According to a statement released by Kosovo Protection Corps, Shaqir Krasnici was ambushed near the village of Grabavica. He worked at the Public Relations Office at the KPC Headquarters. Krasniqi was gunned down by unknown assailants. His mother, who was aboard the vehicle when the shooting took place, had been reportedly injured. Krasniqi was a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during 1999 armed clashes in Kosovo.

Seventeen Kosovars have been killed in the worst outbreak of ethnic violence in that province since NATO forces arrived in 1999, NATO officials said. A company of U.S. soldiers now assigned to the stabilization force in Bosnia is moving to Kosovo to beef up NATO forces in the area. Another two companies are standing by, said a NATO spokesman. Six people were killed in Mitrovica, three in Lipljan, three in Caglavica, two in Urosevac, one in Pec, one in Gnjilane and one in the Kosovar capital of Pristina. The rioting reportedly began in Mitrovica, when ethnic Albanians gathered to protest...

NO SERBS INVOLVED IN DROWNING: UNMIK PRISTINA -- Wednesday – UNMIK spokesman Derek Chappell said tonight that the survivor of yesterday’s Ibar River drowning has told his parents that he and three friends entered the river alone and were immediately caught up in the heavy current. The boy managed to reach the opposite bank of the river, but his three companions were swept away. The incident happened at about 4.30 p.m. and police began a search of the river about an hour and a half later. Two bodies have been found so far. Today’s violent incidents around Kosovo were sparked...

Norwegian soldiers serving with NATO peacekeeping forces in Kosovo were among those injured in one of the bloodiest days of unrest since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999. Twenty Norwegians were hurt in rioting and violence that left at least 10 dead and hundreds injured. Fighting broke out in every major city in the province between Serbs and Albanians. Ethnic Albanians blamed Serbs for the drownings of two children, and set Serb homes, churches and cars on fire. Norwegian soldiers took part in the fighting Wednesday night. Officer Nils Hanheide told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that one local man...

PRISTINA -- Tuesday – The Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) has drafted a “Military Strategy” in response to the threat of Serb forces returning to the province and the danger posed by the creation of Serb enclaves, Pristina daily Zeri reports. Quoted by Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, Zeri reports that the document has been submitted to the United Nations mission, KFOR international peacekeeping force and other international offices in Pristina. It warns that the “enclavisation” of the Serb minority represents a security threat to the province, as does the continuing influence of the regime in Belgrade and its refusal to accept...