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5 Things to Know

5 things you need to know this weekend

Editors
USA TODAY
A man stands among damaged buildings after a strong earthquake hit central Italy in Amatrice on Aug. 24.

Italian towns begin burying their dead

Since this week's earthquake left no structures intact large enough to hold a funeral, residents of the small Italian village of Arquata del Tronto will travel 20 miles to a town not hit as hard to hold the first funerals for those who died Wednesday. At least 268 people died in the magnitude-6.2 quake that caused about $11 billion in damage. The towns of Amatrice, Accumoli di Rieti and Pescara del Tronto will hold their first funerals over the weekend, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi declared Saturday a national day of mourning.  Sunday, the nation's public museums will donate their proceedings to the rebuilding effort.

Burning Man kicks off in Nevada desert

In a cloud of dust and lots of stuff, Burning Man officially begins Saturday. Colorful “Burners” in loaded-up SUVs and RVs began the annual pilgrimage to the week-long gathering of 70,000 people in the northern Nevada desert. As many as 17,000 people have passed through the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, making the days before and after the festival the airport's busiest. Chief among the requirements for attending Burning Man is self-sufficiency, which means big business for Reno stores. The event — which is part festival, part music show — tends to draw a wealthy crowd, so much of the gear they buy will be discarded at week’s end, either donated to charity or dumped in the trash.

Election threatens five decades of one family’s rule in African country

After five decades of controlling the Gabonese government, one family’s reign could come to end after Saturday’s presidential election in the west-central African country. Ali Bongo Ondimba seeks a second term as the president after his father, Omar Bongo, ruled the country before him for 42 years. Jean Ping, Bongo’s main challenger and leader of the Gabonese Progress Party, hopes to oust the family after spending years as a critic of the Bongos’ wealth since he left Omar Bongo’s government in 2008. Ping hopes to bring wide changes to the country and lift people out of poverty, but he fears  Ali Bongo may attempt to rig the election.

Beyonce, Britney highlight 33rd annual VMAs

Beyonce leads the way with 11 nominations for the 2016 MTV VMA's, but it's Britney Spears' performance that we're waiting for. (Remember her infamous and disastrous "comeback" performance in 2007?) Oh, and Kanye has four minutes onstage to himself. What could go wrong? The show airs live Sunday at 9 p.m. ET from New York City's Madison Square Garden. Before the show, take a look at the stars on the red carpet from last year’s VMAs:

Researchers find comfort as year-long Mars simulation ends

Six researchers who have been shut inside an isolation dome on a Hawaiian mountain for nearly a year will emerge on Sunday, wrapping up a NASA-funded simulation of what life would be like on Mars. While living in the dome, the scientists could go outside in spacesuits to conduct research and were forced to communicate with the outside world on a 20-minute delay, the length it would take to relay messages from Mars. The end of the simulation will come with fruit and other foods the researchers missed, and a dip in the ocean.  A cold beer may be in order as well.

The interior of HI-SEAS habitat on the northern slope of Mauna Loa in Hawaii on April 9, 2015. Six people shut themselves inside a dome in Hawaii for a year, in the longest U.S. isolation experiment yet aimed at helping NASA prepare for a pioneering journey to Mars.

And the essentials:

Be inspired: Wedding flowers are being reused for pure happiness.

Weekend TV: Wondering what to watch this weekend? TV critic Robert Bianco looks at Summer of Dreams, the MTV Video Music Awards and The Night Of.

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