IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Iraq

Bombings claim 50 in Baghdad

A series of bombings occurred in markets in Shi'ite neighborhoods across Baghdad on Monday, killing more than 50 people, police and health officials said. The blasts came during an unusually intense wave of bloodshed. At least 11 blasts tore into busy markets and shopping areas in districts across the capital, including twin bombs just several hundred meters apart that killed at least 13 people in Sadr City.

Australia

Man pleads guilty to deadly arson

A man accused of deliberately lighting a blaze that ripped through a Sydney nursing home in 2011, killing 11 elderly residents, pleaded guilty to murder on Monday. Roger Dean, 37, who was a nurse at the facility, entered 11 guilty pleas to murder on the first day of his trial in the Supreme Court.

Cambodia

Police clash with garment workers

At least 23 workers were hurt in Cambodia on Monday when police using stun batons moved in to end a protest over pay at a factory that makes clothing for US sportswear company Nike, a worker and a trade union representative said. Police with riot gear were deployed to move about 3,000 mostly female workers who had blocked a road outside their factory.

South Africa

Shops guarded after looting

South African police guarded foreign-owned shops in an impoverished Johannesburg township on Monday after a mob looted stores overnight amid simmering anger at immigrants. Foreign shop owners packed their wares in trucks as armored police vehicles patrolled the dusty Diepsloot township north of Johannesburg, an AFP reporter said.

India

Bus plunges into river, kills 19

At least 19 people were killed early on Monday when a bus plunged into a canal in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an official said. Twenty-three others were rescued and taken to hospital with injuries after the accident in Etah district, 265 km from the state capital Lucknow, a local administrator said.

Spain

Body of Dutch sport star found

Spanish police have found two bodies they believe to be those of a missing former Dutch national volleyball star and her partner. A Spanish national has been arrested. Interior Ministry delegate for the region Joaquin Bascunana said on Monday "all signs indicated" the bodies found in a lemon grove are those of Ingrid Visser, 35, and her partner, Lodewijk Severein, 57.

AFP-Reuters-AP

(China Daily 05/28/2013 page12)