Wikinews:Briefs/May 23, 2008
Tornado kills one and injures 100 in northern Colorado
[edit]A tornado that has caused 28 miles (45 km) of destruction throughout Weld County, Colorado, has killed one and injured 100. The man killed was inside a vehicle that was destroyed in the storm, west of Greeley, which is about 60 miles (97 km) north of Denver.
A state trooper says that multiple car accidents occurred on highways throughout the county. U.S. Route 85 was closed after two semi-trailers were flipped over, though the drivers were not injured. Dozens of houses and vehicles were badly damaged by the tornado as it passed through. The town of Windsor had hundreds of homes and businesses damaged, including the town hall, in addition to trees down and electricity outages. In response to the disaster, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter declared a state of emergency and activated the Colorado National Guard.
Bomb explodes in Exeter, UK
[edit]Police in the United Kingdom are investigating after a bomb exploded in an Exeter restaurant at about 1250 BST. One person (believed by police to be the bomber) was injured, and a second device was found and made safe nearby. The suspect has been named as 22-year-old Nicky Reilly from Plymouth. He has been arrested and taken to hospital.
The centre of the city was evacuated by police until about 1900 Local Time (UTC+1).
The deputy chief constable of the police force said that the suspected bomber had been "preyed upon, radicalised and taken advantage of." Police say that Reilly recently converted to the Islamic faith.
Conservatives win Crewe and Nantwich by-election
[edit]The Conservative Party's Edward Timpson has won the Crewe and Nantwich by-election with a majority of 7,860 votes. This is the party's first by-election victory in 26 years and party leader David Cameron visited the constituency earlier.
Labour Party candidate Tamsin Dunwoody said that the 17.6% swing was a "mid-term blip" and that the people of Crewe and Nantwich will be "watching" Mr. Timpson. However David Cameron proclaimed the result "the end of New Labour" calling the Conservatives' overturning of the 7,000 Labour majority "the start of something different and something bigger". Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, defended his party's third-place result as "really rather robust" and said the people's votes were anti-Labour, not pro-Conservative.
Bangladesh reports first human case of H5N1 bird flu
[edit]Bangladesh reported its first human case of the H5N1 strain of Avian flu on Thursday. According to a representative of the Bangladesh health ministry, the 16-month old boy initially tested negative for the disease. His virus culture tested positive in tests performed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The boy is from the capital city of Dhaka in the Dhaka District.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the positive test results on Friday. This case in Bangladesh brings the total number of countries in the world with human infections from the disease up to 15.