IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Iraq

Series of blasts kills at least 23

Iraqi officials say a series of car bombs has killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens in Shiite areas of Baghdad. The attacks on Sunday, the start of the local workweek, mostly targeted outdoor markets. Police and hospital officials provided the death toll, saying nearly 70 people were wounded in the blasts.

China

Naval squad to take part in drill

The 14th Chinese naval squad heading for Somali waters will take part in a multinational exercise in Pakistan in March, military sources said on Sunday. The "Exercise Aman-13" is scheduled to start in the North Arabian Sea on March 4. The fleet, sent by the Chinese People's Liberation Army navy, departed on Saturday from a port in Qingdao of east China's Shandong province to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for escort missions.

Greece

2 magnitude-5 quakes reported

Seismologists say two earthquakes have struck southwestern Greece, both with preliminary magnitudes 5 but with different epicenters. No injuries or damage were immediately reported. The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the first quake struck at 5:12 am local time on Sunday.

Australia

UK tourist found in outback

A British teenage backpacker drank contact lens fluid and his own urine to survive three days lost in Australian outback scrubland in oppressive summer heat, his mother said on Saturday. Claire Derry reached the bedside of her 18-year-old son, Sam Derry-Woodhead, on Saturday at Longreach Hospital in northeast Australia.

Philippines

Fatal cargo ship accident

A China-bound Myanmar ship carrying 24 crews and a cargo of coal has sunk off the northwestern Philippines, leaving one dead and 14 others missing, Filipino coast guard officials said on Sunday. Philippine coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said nine crewmen, including two who were injured, were rescued aboard two lifeboats by a passing Chinese ship after the ship sank late on Saturday off Pangasinan province.

Singapore

Former leader discharged

Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew has been discharged from hospital after being confined due to an irregular heartbeat, the government said on Sunday. A statement from the office of his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the 89-year-old former leader was resting at home.

AP-AFP-Xinhua

(China Daily 02/18/2013 page12)