PM briefing: Four new Zika cases in Florida

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke to medical professionals while visiting the Borinquen Health Care Centre, in Miami to see how they are combatting Zika. Photo / AP

1 Florida pleads for help
Florida has four new cases of people likely infected with Zika through mosquito bites in Miami, Governor Rick Scott says, as he urges Congress to reconvene and approve additional money to combat the virus. The additional cases are all in a 2.5 sq km area in Miami-Dade County that includes Miami's Wynwood district, Scott said, bringing the total of locally transmitted cases in the state to 21. "Every day that passes that Congress and the president fail to come to an agreement hinders our national response to Zika," Scott said. "The federal Government must stop playing politics and Congress needs to immediately come back to session to resolve this."

2 Duke dies
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the sixth Duke of Westminster and one of Britain's wealthiest landowners, has died at the age of 64. Grosvenor's family said he died at the Royal Preston Hospital in northwest England after becoming ill at his nearby Abbeystead Estate. The Duke's Grosvenor Estate owns 121ha in some of London's wealthiest areas. His ancestor, Sir Thomas Grosvenor, married heiress Mary Davies and acquired what was then marshland in 1677. Over the generations the family developed the land into two of London's most affluent neighbourhoods, Mayfair and Belgravia. The 2016 Sunday Times Rich List estimated the Duke's wealth at £9.35 billion.

3 Skydivers named
Authorities have released the name of the skydiving instructor killed over the weekend during a tandem jump in Northern California. The instructor, 25-year-old Yong Kwon, was found at the weekend with his hand on the lever for a backup parachute. Also killed was 18-year-old Tyler Turner. Turner made the jump with three friends who landed safely. Their bodies were found in a Lodi-area vineyard after someone reported that the skydivers hit the ground without an open parachute. It appeared the parachute did not deploy until after impact.

4 Streets like rivers
Streets looked like rivers and water swallowed cars as a major storm moved through Tucson, Arizona, and then north today. The storm caused heavy flooding and the closure of several streets. Tucson's tram, which travels around downtown and the university area, was out of service all morning because of floods. There didn't appear to be any fatalities as a result of the weather. In Phoenix, a dust storm engulfed parts of the metro area.

Tucson, Arizona, firefighters with Ladder 9 attend to a stranded motorist as heavy rains flood an intersection. Photo / AP

5 Fishy cargo
An international drug ring that used containers labelled "sea cucumbers" to send millions of dollars' worth of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl to western New York via California and Mexico has been busted, US federal authorities announced. US Attorney William Hochul said 17 people have been indicted on federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges as part of the investigation dubbed "Operation Lockjaw". The Drug Enforcement Administration said the sting netted more than US$2.5 million worth of illegal drugs.

6 Death after party
A young black man shot to death while leaving a house party - allegedly by the host's white neighbour - was described by his mother as loving, funny, and so careful that his family called him "Safety 101". Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas was killed on Monday when a man living two doors down from the party in Raleigh, North Carolina called police to complain of "hoodlums" in his neighbourhood, and then fired a shotgun out of his garage, according to authorities and emergency service tapes. The suspect, Chad Cameron Copley, has been charged with murder.