Compiled by IYLIA MARSYA ISKANDAR, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN

       A HINDU temple in Kulim, Kedah, has begun an effort to buy extra land to set up a pre-school and community library, Malaysia Nanban reported.

       Sri Annai Karumariamman Temple committee chairman R. Thamu Naidu said the 100-year-old house of worship was located on its own 0.73ha piece of land.

       The temple, which successfully built and operated a multi-purpose hall with a capacity for 1,500 people, had been trying to buy the 0.49ha land adjacent to it but the owner was not interested in selling.

       However, last month, the owner finally expressed an interest in selling and met temple officials to discuss the matter.

       Thamu said the temple committee intended to raise funds to buy the land and set up the nursery school along with the library which would greatly benefit the community.

       > The daily also reported that five doctors were admitted to the intensive care unit after they tried to save patients and other staff during a fire at a hospital in Tamil Nadu, India.

       The fire, which broke out at the Chennai Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital’s Hepatology Department, spread to other floors and raged for two hours before it was brought under control.

       The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.