Mixed bag of news today, but here's what happened through the day...

Kani excused from court appearance on May 12

Hang Koli soon: Nithari victim's mother

Rehman Malik: Dawood not in Pakistan

PepsiCo's Nooyi among highest paid CEOs

Gilani to visit China on May 17

William, Kate honeymoon in Seychelles

US, Pak agreed on kill Osama mission years ago

'No double standards dealing with 9/11 and 26/11'

Obama was willing to risk attack by Pak military

Pak allows US access to Osama's wives

Is he the dad? Tiwari DNA test on June 1

Al Arabiya says that Egypt's prosecution has extended the remand for Alaa and Gamal, sons of former President Hosni Mubarak by another 15 days.

This is the second time the sons' detention has been extended.Alaa and Gamal, along with their father, were detained on April 13 on charges of corruption and to determine their involvement in the shootings of protestors during the uprising in January that led to the ouster of Mubarak from the Egyptian presidency after more than 30 years in office.

The 82-year-old former president is still being treated in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh with plans to transfer him to a military hospital "as soon as his health condition stabilizes."

In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN' Deputy Foreign Editor Suhasini Haidar, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik talks about the US operation on Osama hideout in Pakistan, the 26/11 trial and of course, Dawood Ibrahim.

Excerpts on theDawood Ibrahim part of the interview...

"In Samjhauta blast the charges were pressed against Pakistan but the investigation later showed it was wrong. Should I say that it was an Indian intelligence failure that it could not be detected earlier by India.

What is important is the determination and what do you want to achieve. Pakistan has got resolve to act against terrorists.

I think marrying a lady in Pakistan does not give a certificate that Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan. But if you have any information we will be happy to have a look into it. If we get hold of him naturally we will look into it. But as far as our information is concerned he is not here."

Union Home Secretary GK Pillai responds to Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Mallik's interview with CNN IBN, where he says Dawood is not in Pakistan.

Pillai says if Mallik thinks Dawood is not in Pakistan, then he should tell us where he is, any information on his whereabouts is most welcome, we have nothing to suggest that he has moved to Dubai or another place.

Government sources also said that while everybody is agreed that Pakistan is a victim of terror, it is a sponsor as well. And if you are a sponsor, you are born to be victim.

Fortune has confirmed that Microsoft has agreed to buy the voice-over-Internet company for $8.5 billion, including the assumption of debt, reports cnn.com.

Expect a formal announcement within the next hour. There had been reports last week that Skype was in acquisition or partnership talks with both Microsoft and Facebook.

See our 11:14 am post

ADelhi court today allowed DMK MP Kanimozhi's plea for exemption from personal appearance for two days in connection with the 2G spectrum scam case.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who on May 7 had refused to give any relief, today accepted the fresh pleas of Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar seeking liberty from appearance in court on May 12 and 13.

The court will pronounce its order on the bail of both the accused on May 14. After their plea for exemption from personal appearance was dismissed on May 7, both of them appeared on May 9 and today.

See our 13:20 post for the backgrounder.

The story of a miracle from cnn.com.

Dallas Wiens wanted to feel his 4-year-old daughter's kisses again, something he couldn't do after a horrific electrical accident disfigured his face. But he'll be able to sense her touch again soon, doctors said Monday, less than two months after Wiensunderwent the first full face transplant in the US.

Read more

The mother of the Nithari killings' victim Rimpa Haldar today demanded the early execution of Surender Koli, convicted for the murder of her daughter, saying he did not deserve any mercy. A special court has ordered that Koli (39), sentenced to death, be hanged between May 24 and May 31 following which he filed a mercy petition before the President.

Koli was sentenced to death along with his employer Moninder Singh Pandher, 54, by the Ghaziabad court on February 13, 2009. It was the first of the 19 Nithari killings cases to be decided. The Allahabad High Court had confirmed Koli's death sentence on September 11, 2009 while acquitting Pandher of the charges.

Princess Diana's post-mortem samples were swapped with those from another deceased woman, a new book has claimed, adding weight to "cover-up" theories.

According to the book, Diana Inquest: Part 4: The British Cover-Up, the late Princess of Wales' inquest samples were swapped prior to toxicological testing at Charing Cross Hospital in London. In fact, the toxicologist received the samples of another female and tested them in the belief that they were from Princess Diana, the book claims.

Author John Morgan says he believes he has discovered the truth of what occurred in the 24 hours following deaths of Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.

US high-tech giant Apple said staff at its flagship Beijing store acted in self-defence when a fight broke out, resulting in injuries to a customer who has since been compensated, reports said Tuesday.

Scuffles broke out at the Apple store in the Chinese capital on Saturday, with crowds jumping queues and smashing the store's glass door as they rushed to snap up the popular iPad 2 tablet computer and the white iPhone 4 handset.

In the early eighties, foreigners visiting USSR avoided wearing jeans. Russians apparently pounced on them, stripped them and ran off with the jeans. They were entirely unavailable in the USSR for well over a decade.

The British government is facing demands for an official apology after confidential documents disclosed that more than 80 Indian women seeking entry to the UK were subjected to 'virginity tests' to check their marital status in the late 1970s.

The confidential Home Office files show that intimate examinations - used to "check the marital status" of Indian and Pakistani women coming to UK to marry - were on a far wider scale than previously known, The Guardian has reported.

According to the documents, 73 women underwent the tests in New Delhi and nine in Mumbai at British embassies between 1976 and 79 to weed out "bogus" immigration claims.

The fresh revelations have prompted demands that the government apologise to the individuals subjected to the practice.

A local court in Raipur has allowed rights activist Binayak Sen to visit South Korea to receive an award later this month.

Additional Sessions Judge B P Verma has allowed Sen to go to Korea between May 15 and 20 and released his passport, sources in the court said. Sen had sought permission from the court to visit Korea to receive 'Gwangju Prize for Human Rights', the country's highest civilian award for civil and democratic rights activists of Asia.

A hike in diesel and domestic LPG prices has been deferred for now, but an increase in petrol prices later this week looks imminent.

An Empowered Group of Minister (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was to meet tomorrow to consider raising the diesel price by Rs 3-4 a litre and domestic LPG rates by Rs 20-25 per cylinder, but the meeting was deferred without assigning any reason.

Another Pak of lies. Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik slams reports saying India's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan.

PepsiCo's India-born chief Indra Nooyi and Motorola Mobility's Sanjay Jha are among the highest paid CEOs in the US, according to new estimates that say salaries and bonuses for chief executives running 350 major companies surged 11 per cent to USD 9.3 million in 2010.

In the 350-strong list, Nooyi is among the five CEOs of Indian-origin at the helm of major US corporations. Citigroup's Vikram Pandit comes in last in the list since he earned no compensation in 2010, following his decision to take a $1 salary per year and no other compensation until Citi returns to "sustained profitability".

Nooyi's total direct compensation in 2010 was USD 13.78 million, which included her salary of USD 1.3 million dollars, annual incentives of USD 3 million, stock option grants of USD 3.23 million and performance awards totalling USD 6.25 million.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will visit China from May 17 to 20 in the immediate aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden and the resultant tensions between Islamabad and Washington.

The visit is taking place in connection with the establishment of 60th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries, she said.

Remember, China was the first country to jump to support Pakistan on the sovereignty issue.

Two months ago, the earthquake-cum-tsunami in Japan made news every day, occupying reams of newsprint. Finally, the world seems ready to close the door on Fukushima nuclear reactor and the news it made.

Today, about 100 evacuees were allowed into the exclusion zone around Japan's troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant for a brief visit to gather belonging from their homes.

The excursion marked the first time the government has felt confident enough in the safety of the area to sanction even short trips there.

Residents have been pushing hard for weeks for permission to check up on their homes. The evacuees just a fraction of the tens of thousands forced to flee when the plant started leaking radiation after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami boarded chartered government buses for the two-hour visit.

Celebrated Amercian philosopher, political commentator Noam Chomsky writes on Osama bin Laden's killing: We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush's compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic.

Read

Newt Gingrich is all set to run as the Republican presidential candidate with his wife in a central role. Gingrich is best known for the Republican takeover of the House in 1994, the confrontation with PresidentBill Clintonthat led to a government shutdown the next year, ethics battles and his resignation as speaker in 1998, reports the NYT.

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The Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies, in a bid to allay fears over its ties to the Chinese military, disclosed recently that its board members include a former official of the Ministry of State Security, China's aggressive civilian intelligence service, reports east-asia-intel.com.

In April, Huawei issued its 2010 annual report that for the first time provided brief biographies of its board of directors, in what the company said was a sign that the firm "continues to work toward transparency and standardization".

The biographies showed no board members with apparent links to the military or government.

Thousands bid a tearful goodbye to former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu whose mortal remains were consigned to flames today, 10 days after his death in a chopper crash.

Over 7000 people gathered at the cremation ground at Shebdung near his native village in Tawang district this morning to pay their last respect to their 'Laughing Buddha', as he was fondly called. The last rites were performed as per Monpa traditions along with state honours.

US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer today asserted that America was not adopting double standards while dealing with 26/11 and 9/11, and said that both the countries have come closer since the attack.

"I respectfully and strongly disagree with you," Roemer told reporters at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, while answering a query on whether the US was adopting double standards on the issue.

"From 9/11 where we lost 3000 people, about 42 Indians, to 26/11 where scores of Indians were slaughtered by terrorists, including six Americans who died on that day, America and India especially over the past two years have come together to share intelligence, in unprecedented ways," Roemer said.

Unconfirmed, but a tweet from R Rajagopalan (and he's rarely ever wrong) says that the Enforcement Directorate is examining DMK MP and Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi's request to skip appearances before the ED on May 12 and 13. Remember, she willknow whethershe faces a jail term on Saturday, after the TN poll results are out.

Another tweet also says that private permission is being sought by six secretaries to the Union Govt to meet Sidharth Behura who is in Tihar Jail on the 2G scam. Apparently, IAS loyalties come into force.

Incisive tweets from R Rajagopalan:

• Parliament will soon have a new complex. The security drill has been changed and an electronic security umbrella is being installed at cost of Rs 20 crore.
• Rajnikant may leave for US for treatment. permissions and travel documents are being readied.

It may be remembered that Rajnikanth has been hospitalised in Chennai for over a week now.

In near-forgotten Libya, jets screamed in low over Tripoli early today, carrying out a series of strikes in quick succession, after witnesses reported two others near state media offices a few hours before.

Eight explosions were heard in the capital Tripoli as jets carried out unusually heavy bombardment over roughly three hours. Four explosions rocked the Libyan capital shortly after 2 am (0000 GMT) today, shaking the windows of a hotel housing journalists. They were quickly followed by two more blasts.

A testimony to the failure of India's public distribution system: Punjab's wheat procurement is heading for an all-time record this season as procurement so far has already touched the 104.08 lakh tonne mark as against 101.39 lakh tonne in corresponding period of last year.

Yet, rest assured, much of this will either rot away or be burnt as the country still does not have the requisite numbers of silos required to store it and the PDS is way below what is needed.

The sun.co.uk report says that after Osama, A race was on last night to get Osama Bin Laden's ally Mullah Omar. Both US and Pakistani special forces were hunting the Taliban spiritual leader's hideout after new tip-offs. Intelligence suggests the one-eyed warlord is being sheltered in the western Pakistani city of Quetta, near the Afghan border.

Read more

Didn't we say news of the Osama and his legions will never die. Blame supply-demand equations.

For years the US government has had a bounty on Osama bin Laden -- up to $50 million for information leading to his death or capture.

But his location was ultimately unearthed, not from a secretive tip, but via a patient process in which US intelligence methodically stitched together bits of data. Thus it appears no single person is eligible to claim that cash, says the Christian Science Monitor.

Read

While on travel, and thankfully, this one's not tragic, a cnn.com report says that the Great Wall of China, may actually be bigger.

Although the legend that the Great Wall of China is one of the few man-made objects visible from space might not have panned out, Chinese archaeologists released a statement last week saying that they have identified "relics, which wind their way through 20 kilometers in northeast China's Liaoning Province, to be part of China's ancient Great Wall.

Read

If you think India's tourist infrastructure is bad, read this. A British couple were among seven tourists whose deaths in Thailand have been linked to a toxic bed bug pesticide. The Daily Mail reports that an undercover investigation revealed shocking evidence linking the deaths between January and March after all seven stayed at or used facilities at the hotel.

Police initially dismissed the mystery deaths as a terrible case of food poisoning caused by eating toxic seaweed from a stall at a bazaar. Most had very similar symptoms, including myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, suspected to have been caused by food or water contamination.

Read the whole story

Pakistan government is expected to hike the defence budget for the next fiscal year by 12 per cent to Rs 495 billion though the total military spending is likely to be more than Rs 767 billion.

And we know where the funding is going to come from...

The sixth and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections ends today. Over 300 people in Bankura boycotted polling, claiming they faced logistic problems in reaching the polling station.

"The polling station is located about 2.5 km away from the village. It is very difficult to go there without a vehicle to cast votes because of the distance. For this reason we have decided to boycott the poll," a spokesman of the villagers said.

The Block Development Officer confirmed the villagers' sentiment and said because of logistic problems, no vehicle could be arranged for the villagers.

According to Election Commission's Khatra control room, which is in-charge of polling in the locality, not a single vote was cast since polling began from seven am in the polling booth set up for Belgaria villagers.

Time up for Mr Tiwari, then?

The Daily Mail story has a story that a shocking paparazzi photograph of the dying Princess Diana is to be screened for the first time in a documentary about her fatal crash.

Unlawful Killing, which will be shown at Cannes this week, is backed by the actor Keith Allen and Mohammed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Diana. The 90-minute film will include a graphic black and white close-up of Diana taken moments after the Mercedes carrying the couple crashed in a Paris underpass.

Why can't we just let her RIP? Read

Just in: Congress veteran N D Tiwari has to give a blood sample for a DNA test on June 1, rules the Delhi High Court.

A single-judge bench of the high court on December 23 had asked the 85-year-old leader to undergo a DNA test on the paternity suit filed by Delhi youth Rohit Shekhar who claims to be his biological son born out of the leader's alleged relationship with his mother Ujjawala Sharma.

Lesson to learn for India? Sometimes playing perennial pacifist does not work, especially when families of victims of Pak-sponsored terror attacks see the perpetrators roaming scot free in Pakistan.

President Barack Obama was apparently willing to risk a military confrontation with Pakistan in the covert operation to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and had insisted that the special US assault force be large enough to fight its way out if engaged.

The President had authorized Navy SEAL commandos to engage any hostile Pakistani police or forces if confronted while carrying out the operation. Two teams of specialists were on standby: One to bury bin Laden if he was killed, and a second composed of lawyers, interrogators and translators in case he was captured alive.

That team was set to meet aboard a Navy ship, most likely the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea.

Pakistan on the backfoot after much breast beating over the Osama killing and incursion.

Pakistan has agreed to grant US access to the three widows of Osama bin Laden, who were detained soon after the killing of the Al Qaeda chief in his Abbottabad hideout last week, media reports said today.

The US investigating agencies would be given "direct access" to the three widows of bin Laden, meaning the US government agents will be able to interview them, and not just submit questions.

With this, Islamabad has met one of the major demands of the Obama Administration.

While there was no official confirmation of this news from the White House, CNN said Pakistan will allow the US to question or take into custody the apparent wives of bin Laden only if their "country of origin has been asked for permission," according to a senior Pakistani intelligence source.

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver have said they are separating after 25 years of marriage.

The bbc.co.uk quotes them as saying, "After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion and prayer, we came to this decision," the two said in a statement.

They said they were working on the future of their relationship while living apart and would also continue to parent their four children together. They did not provide further details.

Just days after reports that Google and Facebook were interested in partnering with, and possibly buying VoIP company Skype, comes a claim from the Wall Street Journal that Microsoft is planning to buy the company for $7 billion, in a deal worth closer to $8 billion after Skype's debts are considered.

This mirrors an earlier rumor of a Microsoft-Skype deal published by GigaOm. An annoucement could be made this evening.

Why Pakistan keeps harping on the 'attack on its sovereignty' over the US killing of Osama bin Laden on its soil.

In a secret deal struck a decade ago, the US and Pakistan agreed that Washington will carry out a unilateral operation against Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil if he was found there following which Islamabad would vociferously protest the incursion.

The then military leader Gen Pervez Musharraf and then US President George Bush struck the deal after bin Laden escaped US forces in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains in late 2001, the Guardian newspaper reported.

Under the deal, Pakistan would allow US forces to conduct a unilateral raid on its soil in search of bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. Afterwards, both sides agreed, Pakistan would vociferously protest the incursion, the paper quoted serving and retired Pakistani and US officials as saying.

Good morning. The last and final phase of the West Bengal elections today.Results on Friday (stay with us forthat). Here's the topnews stories this morning.

Pataudi's first cousin tipped as next ISI chief (The Times of India)
Maj Gen Isfandiyar Ali Pataudi has another India connection, he was classmate of General VK Singh at Army War College in US a few years ago. Read

Pakistan may give US access to Osama bin Laden's wives (DNA)
'The Pakistanis now appear willing to grant access. Hopefully they'll carry through on the signals they're sending,' said a US official. Read

CIA won't withdraw ISI chief in Pakistan: Officials (DNA)

The Central Intelligence Agency has no intention of bringing home its chief operative in Pakistan despite an apparent attempt by the Pakistani media to unmask his identity, US officials said on Monday. Read

Don't blame Pakistan for non-state actors: Zardari (Hindustan Times)

India should stop blaming Pakistan for the terrorist actions of "non-state actors", President Asif Ali Zardari told a delegation of Indian jurists which recently returned from a visit to Islamabad. Read

26/11: India to give FBI pink foam it found in bombs, attack sites (Indian Express)
American investigators would now compare it with similar material found in Pakistan. Read

Ayodhya verdict: Supreme Court stays three-way order (DNA)
The Lucknow bench of the high court in September last year had passed the verdict directing partition of the 2.77 acre land on which the disputed structure once stood into three parts among Muslims, Hindus and Nirmohi Akhara. Read

Honour killing barbaric, punish with death: SC (Hindustan Times)

Holding honour killings as a slur on the nation and a barbaric, feudal practice that ought to be stamped out, the Supreme Court on Monday directed courts to view such cases as "rarest of rare" category for awarding death penalty to the convicts. Read

Polls 2011: Last phase of West Bengal assembly elections begin (DNA)
The sixth and final phase of the elections will cover 14 seats in the Maoist-affected Jangalmahal area spread over West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts. Read