IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Australia

Two lose lives as bushfire strikes

Two people have died and more than a hundred homes have been destroyed in a huge bushfire, Australian authorities said on Sunday, as firefighters battled to tame the blaze. The inferno - which has razed about 71,000 hectares in Western Australia state - is the most recent in a series of bushfires that have kicked off a hot summer season, with the latest deaths lifting the national toll to eight.