IN BRIEF (Page 11)

BANGLADESH

Hindu priest shot, hacked to death

Unidentified bike-riding assailants shot and hacked a Hindu priest to death on Tuesday in southwestern Bangladesh amid a spate of similar attacks allegedly by radical Islamist groups since last year. Local police chief Hasan Hafizur Rahman said three men intercepted 70-year-old Anando Gopal Ganguly while riding his bicycle to a temple in Jhenaidah district. Rahman said the three men on a motorbike first shot Ganguly and then slashed him with sharp weapons before they fled the scene. Police had no immediate clues about who was behind the latest killing but they suspect Islamist militant groups.

UNITED STATES

Astronauts enter inflatable habitat

Space station astronauts opened the world's first inflatable space habitat on Monday and floated inside. NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams swung open the door to the newly expanded chamber and was the first to enter. He said it was pristine but cold inside. The room - called the Bigelow Activity Activity Module, or BEAM - arrived at the International Space Station in April, packed in the trunk of a capsule loaded with supplies. It was inflated just over a week ago.

ITALY

Ex-PM Berlusconi is hospitalized

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalized in Milan for a heart problem but his condition is not life threatening, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The 79-year-old was prime minister four times. San Raffaele hospital said the hospitalization was necessary after what it called a "cardiac deficiency".

Berlusconi, who had a pacemaker implanted in a US hospital when he was 70, would undergo tests "in the next few days" to determine the proper therapy, the hospital said.

SAUDI ARABIA

Hajj stampede 'still under review'

Saudi authorities are still reviewing a deadly stampede which struck last year's hajj pilgrimage, the minister of hajj and umra said on Tuesday. It was a rare comment by a senior Saudi official about the tragedy on September 24. More than 2,000 pilgrims died in the stampede, the worst disaster to ever strike the annual ritual. "We already studied that and we are continuing to study this and, God willing, we'll have many preventive measures and procedures that ... will not repeat what happened last time," said the minister, Mohammed Bentin.

RUSSIA

Wildfires continue to burn out of control

Wildfires have destroyed 437 hectares of firs and pine trees in five areas in Russia's Far East over the past 24 hours, local forestry department said on Tuesday. Magadan area suffered the most, with 423 hectares caught in raging flames, it said, adding that wildfires were also reported in Yakutsk, Amur, Khabarovsk, and Kamchatka. "A total of 102 people, 10 pieces of equipment and six aircraft were involved in the firefighting efforts," the department said.

AUSTRALIA

First online election debate to be held

Australia's prime minister and opposition leader have agreed to hold the country's first online election campaign leaders' debate. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday that he had reached an agreement with Facebook and News Corp Australia to stream the debate early next week in a bid to reach more voters. Opposition leader Bill Shorten later agreed to participate.

(China Daily 06/08/2016 page11)