LAS VEGAS

Tiger attacks illusionist Roy during ‘Siegfried & Roy’ show

A tiger attacked magician Roy Horn of duo “Siegfried & Roy” during a Friday night performance, leaving the superstar illusionist in critical condition, authorities said.

An audience member at The Mirage hotel-casino said the tiger lunged at Horn, 59, who tried to beat him off with a microphone.

“The tiger went for his neck, then drug him offstage,” said Andy Cushman, a 23-year-old reporter from New Jersey. “He looked like a rag doll.”

Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said Horn “sustained a serious injury to the left side of his neck.” Feldman said Horn was in surgery late Friday.

Horn, the dark-haired member of the duo, was taken to University Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition, said hospital spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger.

Pakistan

Nation test-fires nuclear-capable missile

Pakistan shot off a surface-to-surface, nuclear-capable rocket Friday in its first test in months, but it denied the launch had anything to do with stalled peace talks with India.

The army announced the early-morning launch of the short-range Hatf-3 Ghaznavi missile, and promised “a series” of tests in coming days. The missile can carry conventional and nonconventional weapons, and its range of 180 miles means it can hit several important targets in India.

“We have successfully test-fired the Hatf-3,” said army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan. He declined to say where exactly the test was conducted. The army later released a statement saying that India and other neighboring countries were informed before the test.

LONDON

British deaths rose by 2,000 during August heat wave

About 2,000 more people than normal died during August’s heat wave in England and Wales, the government reported Friday. Experts said the soaring temperatures most likely accelerated deaths that would have happened soon anyway.

The estimates released Friday by the Office for National Statistics do not prove that the extra deaths were caused by the unusually hot weather; they identify a suspicious correlation.

However, research has shown that heat waves do result in more deaths in the immediate aftermath.

“There’s a very convincing story that in fact the climate did cause excess deaths for a short period,” said Dr. David Pencheon of the Institute of Public Health at Cambridge University in England.