Navy conducts live-fire drill en route to Baltic

sea, the PLA Navy said, adding that it includes two stages — the first in the Baltic Sea in late July and the second in the seas of Japan and Okhotsk in mid-September.

In addition to the flotilla led by the Hefei, another Chinese naval flotilla — the CNS Changchun, a Type 052C guided-missile destroyer; CNS Jinza Type 054A frigate; and the CNS

a Type 903A replenishment ship — is also in the Mediterranean Sea, making visits to various nations.

The flotilla left Shanghai on April 23, the date marking the 68th anniversary of the founding of the PLA Navy, and is in the middle of a goodwill voyage to more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania.

The ships entered the Mediterranean on Thursday through the Suez Canal following a four-day call in Djibouti that ended on July 1. They will visit Italy next.

HE PENGLEI / CHINA NEWS SERVICE Young Living Buddhas walk on the campus of The Buddhist Academy of Tibet in Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region, after seven classmates graduated from their three-year tailor-made elementary school program.