Seven Tamil Tigers killed

COLOMBO: Seven Tamil Tigers were shot dead by attackers in eastern Sri Lanka where the guerrilla outfit earlier this month crushed a mutiny, the rebels said on Monday. A statement said the cadres were gunned down overnight in the Batticaloa district. — AFP

2 miners killed in China

SHANGHAI: Two miners were killed and five remained trapped after water from an old mine shaft flooded the tunnel in northern China where they were working, the government said on Monday. The accident occurred on Sunday at a coal mine in Shuangyashan city, the Xinhua News Agency reported. — AP

Lanka monks seek safety

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s influential Buddhist monks on Monday called for police protection from a spate of attacks against temples and monks after an all-clergy party defeated the government’s candidate for speaker. The all-monk National Heritage Party said seven of its supporters were hospitalised after being thrashed on Monday by activists of a Marxist party which is part of the ruling Freedom Alliance coalition. “We are getting death threats,” said a monk. — AFP

Twin dies after surgery

DHAKA: Bangladeshi surgeons said on Monday that one of the baby twins they separated in an operation the day before had died. Doctors separated the girls named Maria and Halima, who were joined at the navel, 11 days after they were born but Maria died on Monday. “Maria passed away at 1805 GMT on Sunday and Halima is still not out of danger,” a doctor said. — AFP

Thai mission warned

BANGKOK: The Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur received a letter over a week ago threatening a “plot of some sort” against its missions and envoys in Malaysia and Singapore, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday. The letter arrived at the embassy 10 days ago. — AP

Teacher eyes world record

MUMBAI: Tenses in 30 seconds, punctuation in just over a minute and the entire English grammar in less than an hour may sound like a child’s fantasy, but a grammarian claims to do exactly this. Sanjay Kumar Sinha, who has been certified as the fastest grammar teacher in the country by Mumbai University, is aiming to get his name listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s fastest grammarian. He has devised quick learning techniques and recently gave a demonstration of the technique in front of over 600 school students. — HNS