US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is back in hospital, the Pentagon said on Sunday, and has transferred his duties to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. The Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said that Austin was taken to a military clinic near Washington “to be seen for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue” at around 2:20 pm (1920 GMT). Ryder said at about 4:55 pm, Austin “transferred the functions and duties of the office of the Secretary of Defense” to Hicks, who has assumed the functions and duties. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House, and Congre…