World Briefs

Storm Isaias set to hit Florida's east coast

MIAMI • Isaias, which has been downgraded from a hurricane but is still a powerful tropical storm, churned close to Florida yesterday and was set to brush the US state's east coast with strong winds and potential flooding.

By 5am, Tropical Storm Isaias was about 75km south-east of West Palm Beach, heading north-west with top sustained winds of 100kmh, the National Hurricane Centre said.

On its current path, Isaias was set to move near or along Florida's east coast yesterday, the Miami-based centre said. Today and tomorrow, the storm's centre would move from offshore of the coast of Georgia into the southern mid-Atlantic states.

REUTERS


Red onions linked to US salmonella cases

NEW YORK • Red onions grown in California have been traced as the potential source of a salmonella outbreak that has infected more than 500 people in the United States and Canada, health officials said.

Confirmed cases have surfaced in 34 states.

Those most affected as of last Saturday included Oregon (71); Utah (61) and California (49), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada reported that the country had 114 cases of salmonella and that at least 16 people had been hospitalised.

In the US, 396 illnesses and 59 hospitalisations have been reported, the FDA said, adding that it was able to identify produce supplier Thomson International in California as a likely source of the contaminated red onions.

NYTIMES


Thai PM orders probe into witness' death

BANGKOK • Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered a second autopsy to be conducted after the death of a key witness in a deadly hit-and-run case linked to the heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune, amid public anger that the charges were dropped.

Mr Jaruchart Mardthong, 40, died in what the police said looked like a motorcycle accident last Thursday, amid public suspicion about the exact cause of his death. Results of an initial autopsy have not yet been released.

REUTERS

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 03, 2020, with the headline World Briefs. Subscribe