20 Tamils killed

Twenty Tamil militants were killed when security forces swooped on a rebel stronghold in Sri Lanka’s eastern Trincomalee district, the Defence Ministry said. A spokesman said 85 militants surrendered during the joint operation by the army and the police commandos. One soldier was injured in the battle at the Nilaveli beach resort which had been under the control of the rebels, he said.

SC orders meeting

The Supreme Court directed the Union Health Ministry to convene immediately a meeting of deans of faculty of medicine of all universities and representatives of state governments to finalise the scheme for the all-India entrance examinations for medical colleges. The meeting shall be convened within a month and the “detailed and comprehensive scheme” shall be submitted to the court by October 30, according to the order passed by Chief Justice P N Bhagwati, Justice A N Sen and Justice Ranganath Misra. The meeting will consider the scheme put forward by the Medical Council of India and suggest modifications and put forward a scheme which will cause the least amount of hardship to the students.