India tells OPEC Don’t be passive spectator
Jeddah, June 22 Smarting under oil-inspired runaway inflation, India today asked oil producing nations not to remain a “passive spectator of speculation” and called for adopting a “price band mechanism” to cool down prices.	Finance minister P. Chidambaram in Jeddah on Sunday. — PTI

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait ready to pump more oil
Jeddah, June 22
Top exporter Saudi Arabia is ready to pump more oil for the rest of the year, although that is unlikely to tame record prices, Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi said on Sunday. “I am convinced that the supply and demand balances and crude oil production levels are not the primary drivers of the current market situation and that markets are already well-supplied,” Naimi said in a speech.

No change in output till Sept: OPEC

Tragedy in Philippines
845 missing as ferry capsizes
Cebu, June 22
Around 845 people were missing on Sunday after a ferry in Philippines — MV Princess of Stars — capsized in a typhoon that has killed scores and left a trail of destruction. Princess of Stars sank three kilometres off the Sibuyan Island in the centre of the archipelago.

Typhoon claims 229 lives

Four LeT ultras killed in J&K

Srinagar, June 22 Four Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants and a CRPF jawan were killed in two separate encounters today. Another CRPF jawan and two policemen were injured. The first encounter took place in Shopribagh village on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Jawans during an encounter in Shopribagh village on the outskirts of Srinagar on Sunday. — Tribune photo by Mohd Amin War

Bangalore erupts on Dera chief’s arrival
Bangalore, June 22
With Sikh groups hot on the trail of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the beleaguered baba is weighing heavy on the police in Karnataka where he has taken refuge after leaving Mumbai. Gurmeet Singh was taken to Mysore yesterday amidst heavy security after he landed at the Bangalore airport from Pune.

Darjeeling bandh relaxed by 72 hours
Kolkata/ Siliguri, June 22
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), spearheading an agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state, relaxed its indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling hills for 72 hours beginning this evening even as it decided to send two teams to talk to the West Bengal government as well as the Centre.

Bhagirathi project Activist faces wrath of locals Dehra Dun, June 22 Noted environmentalist G.D. Agarwal, who has been on a fast unto death since June 13 on the banks of Bhagirathi river at Uttarkashi, faced the ire of local residents forcing him to shift to the safety of a guesthouse last evening. Local leaders of Uttarkashi belonging to all political parties today came out openly against the fast undertaken by Agarwal and did not allowed anti-dam activists to hold their proposed meeting to be addressed by Rajinder Singh also known as ‘water man’.