Toddler dies from enterovirus D68

Toddler dies from enterovirus D68

DETROIT

A 21-month-old girl is the first person in Michigan to die from the virus that has caused severe respiratory illness across the country, state health officials said Saturday.

Madeline Reid died Friday afternoon from enterovirus D68, according to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. Its chief medical officer, Dr. Rudolph Valentini, said in a statement that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the illness after the Clinton Township girl’s arrival, but did not specify which day she arrived.

“It is never easy to lose a child, and our entire health care team at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan is deeply saddened by this family’s loss and mourns with them during this very difficult time,” Valentini said.

London terror threat

LONDON

British counterterrorism forces are monitoring “thousands” of potential extremists in the capital’s metropolitan area, London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a newspaper interview published Saturday, as police continue to question five men arrested on suspicion of terrorist offenses.

His comments came as police chiefs warned police officers throughout Britain to use extra care because of an increased threat to their personal safety.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted Johnson as saying the security forces in the London area are involved in “thousands of operations” every day. He said the number of people being watched is in the low thousands.

US Airways has 2 emergency landings

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

A US Airways flight from New York safely made an emergency landing Saturday evening at its destination in Charlotte after oxygen masks deployed in the final minutes amid indications of a pressurization issue, a spokesman said, adding one of its regional flights also made a safe emergency landing in Charlotte soon afterward.

US Airways spokesman Matt Miller told The Associated Press by telephone that none of the 146 passengers and five crew aboard US Airways flight 745 from LaGuardia airport in New York was hurt. He said the crew of the Airbus A320 was already below cruising altitude and “well into” its descent into Charlotte Douglas International Airport when the issue arose before 7 p.m. Saturday.

Suspected US drone strike kills 2

KABUL, Afghanistan

A suspected U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan near its border with Pakistan killed two people, Pakistani intelligence said Saturday, as a Taliban suicide bomber killed a police officer in the country’s south.

The drone strike struck near Margha, across the border from Pakistan’s Datta Khel, a town in the North Waziristan tribal area where the U.S. has carried out previous drone attacks targeting militants, the officials said.

Obama wraps up fundraising trip

SAN FRANCISCO

President Barack Obama on Saturday wrapped up a week that saw him raise campaign money for Democrats on both coasts.

Obama attended a “round table” discussion at the home of Democratic donor and Zynga founder Mark Pincus and his wife, Ali, with about 25 supporters who paid up to $32,400 for the privilege, according to Democratic officials.

It was Obama’s fourth California fundraiser in three days and was closed to media coverage.

Associated Press