Easily the biggest story today is the SC verdict in the Bhopal Gas tragedy quashing the CBI's plea demanding an enhancement of punishment for the accused. The other rans are...

1. China wants to study stealth chopper remains, says Pak
2. Osama's sons may now sue US
3. Nato doesn't know if Gaddafi's alive or dead
4. The transcripts of the Amar Singh-Bipasha Basutape are out
5. How S Korea responds to students in minis
6. Finally, US bill to cut off aid to Pakistan
7. Osama's sons may now sue US
8. Pak gives conditional access to Osama widows
9. Senator Kerry heads to Pak to mend ties
10. Prayers for Osama inside Pak parliament
11. IPL cheerleader: Graeme flirts with anyone
12. Assange awarded top Sydney peace prize
13. William wedding snub 'difficult': Sarah Ferguson
14. Select US lawmakers to see pics of Osama's corpse
15. SC lifts ban on airing Amar Singh tapes
16. Bhopal gas tragedy: CBI petition dismissed

Pakistan today hinted that all-weather friend China wants a peek at the US secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani officials are interested in studying the remains of helicopter and they suggested that the Chinese are interested as well.

The apparent Pakistan and Chinese interest was reported even as a key US lawmaker demanded immediate return of the chopper debris for fear of American military secrets being compromised.

One person has been killed and over 25 people injured in a fire at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Mumbai. The fire erupted at theContainer Freight section, nearly 12 km from JNPT. The fire was brought under control with the help of 25 fire engines.

What Pakistan really thinks of PM Gilani's address to the nation in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death.

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A little birdie tells us that UP CM Ms Mayawati may soon ban pillion riding in her state after Rahul Gandhi's dashing 4 am pillion ride into the heart of the farmers' protest in Greater Noida.

Nato admits it doesn't know if Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi is dead or alive. A telegraph.co.uk report says Gaddafi has not been seen in public since he reportedly escaped an air strike on April 30 that killed his son.

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What you've been waiting to read: The transcripts of the Amar Singh tape.

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A row over how to respond to ever-shortening school skirts is brewing in South Korea. A local education board has announced plans to place boards in front of all school desks, to make students more "comfortable".

The local assembly is beginning a session today during which they will decide whether to approve funding for the refurbishment. The move will cost around $700,000 (£427,000).

From the Daily Mail: Osama's son says: My father's death was criminal and I may sue the US. Omar, who is Bin Laden's fourth eldest son, claimed he and the Al Qaeda chief's other children are reserving the right to take legal action in the US and internationally to 'determine the true fate of our vanished father'.

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Reactions to the SC order quashing the CBI's plea for an enhanced punishment for the Bhopal gas tragedy accused.

Social activists today expressed dismay over the SC's order dismissing the CBI's curative petition and called it "another black day".

"The Supreme Court today has heaped yet more injustice on victims who have already suffered it earlier -- in 1989 on settlement (for compensation) and in 1996 after dilution of penal charges against the accused. May 11 is another black day in the history of Bhopal," social activist Satinath Sarangi told reporters soon after the apex court delivered its verdict.

Sarangi alleged that the state organs, including judiciary, were not keen on justice to Bhopal gas victims. "Why should people suffer because the CBI has not done its job well? The government machinery is not inclined to give justice to victims and this includes judiciary. It (court) could have seen that 1996 judgement equated the corporate massacre with a meagre traffic accident."

Fingers crossed this Bill will makeitto a law.

A key US lawmaker has introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to stop American aid to Pakistan, saying the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad has made it clear that Islamabad concealed, protected and enabled him for many years.

"We can no longer afford this foolishness," Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said after introducing the 'Defund United States Assistance to Pakistan Act of 2011' in the House of Representative.

"The time has come for us to stop subsidizing those who actively oppose us. Pakistan has shown itself not to be America's ally," he said.

The bill says that terrorist outfits based in Pakistan, especially Lashkar-e-Taiba has been responsible for terrorist strikes inside India including the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008, in which 166 people including six American nationals were killed.

You have to hand it to Pakistan. Caught with its hand in the cookie jar, Pakistan refuses to cower.

The terror haven now says it will allow US investigators access to the widows of Osama bin Laden only if Washington shares with it a huge stash of material seized from theal Qaeda leader's hideout in Abbottabad, says the Express Tribune.

US investigators, who are sifting through a trove of data recovered during the May 2 top-secret swoop by US Navy SEALs, want to questionBin Laden's wivesas they seek to trace his movements and his network.

The White House says granting American investigators access to the women could help counter growing mistrust between them.

Amid tensions between the United States and Pakistan over thekilling of Osama bin Laden, top US senator John Kerry said yesterday, he would visit Islamabad seeking to mend ties and answer troubling questions.

Kerry said he hoped to resolve some of the puzzles raised after the Al Qaeda leader, the world's most wanted man, was finally tracked down to a Pakistani compound after a decade-long global hunt.

A must-read from the Guardian. How Osama bin Laden asked a matchmaker to find him a wife. That wife is the Yemeni woman who is now in Pakistan's custody.

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An interesting situation emerged in the National Assembly (the equivalent of our Parliament) yesterday when independent MNA, Maulvi Asmatullah, managed to offer Fateha (prayers) for Osama bin Laden, while the treasury MNAs looked on helplessly.

The Pakistani paper The International News reports that as Asmatullah raised his hands in prayer, Maulana Attaur Rehman and Laiq Ahmed of the JUI-F joined him.

When Asmatullah started to offer the prayer, Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi tried to stop him, saying: "What you are doing? I did not give you permission.'

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The vouyeur inus is raising a toast to the SCverdict that the Amar Singh tapes cannow be published. The tapes contain his private conversations with big shot politicians and Bollywood stars.

If you haven't already, read the Times of India report on the IPL cheerleader who was thrown out for blogging on flirtatious players.

She wrote: "The men see your face, then your b***s, then your a**, then your b***s again, Ol'Graeme Smithwill flirt with anyone while his girlfriend walks behind him. The Australian cricketers are naughty, a certain someone played kissing catches with three girls. He told them, 'Come to my room, I want to cuddle'."

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Just in: DMK MP Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar appear before the Enforcement Directorate in the 2G probe.

If you've been trying to call Shilpa Shetty and can't get through, here's what her tweet says.

First RR lost the match then I lost my phone in Jaipur:( Grrrrrrrr,sooooo frustrating. So all those trying to contact me jus filling u in.

Don't say we didn't fill you in... :)

WhenPresident Obamaordered a raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, killing Al Qaeda leaderOsama bin Laden, US officials discovered some interesting personal items.

From Coca-Cola to marijuana to a Viagra-like supplement, here are a few of bin Laden's favorite brands and products, says a fun story in the Daily Beast.

See: Osama's favourite things

In an irony of sorts, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's Gold Medal for "exceptional courage in the pursuit of human rights".

WikLeaks was praised as an "ingenious and heroic website that has shifted the power balance between citizen and the state by exposing what governments really get up to in out name".

In accepting the Gold Medal, Assange said, "The real value of this award, and the Sydney Peace Foundation is that it makes explicit the link between peace and justice. It does not take the safe feel good option of shunning controversy by uttering platitudes.

Instead it goes into difficult terrain by identifying organisations and individuals who are directly engaged in struggles of one kind or another," he said.

Read Assange's editorialin the Australian published in December last year

Just in: A report on the bbc.co.uk says that Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been stopped from returning to the country.

He was receiving medical treatment in Nairobi, Kenya, after being violently arrested in Uganda two weeks ago.

Officials from his Forum for Democratic Change said he was not allowed to board a flight back to Uganda.

The Duchess of York has told US talk show host Oprah Winfrey that not receiving an invitation to the royal wedding was "difficult".

The bbc.co.uk quotes her saying, "I wanted to be there with my girls."

In a taped interview, Sarah Ferguson said she went to Thailand instead of attending Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding in London.

In 2010 she was recorded offering to sell access to ex-husband Prince Andrew to a reporter posing as a businessman.

Osama claws his way back to the news from his watery grave.

The sons of Osama Bin Laden have criticised the US authorities for carrying out his "arbitrary killing". A statement given to the New York Times newspapersaid the family wanted to know why the Al Qaeda leader had not been captured alive.

After the Internet, Google is now set to foray into the domain of household appliances --it will produce bulbs, thermostats and dishwashers, and integrate them with wireless technology.

According to Google, the new range of "almost anything electrical" household devices would be launched by the end of this year, and wireless technology will help these devices to communicate with tablets.

'Amul baby' Rahul Gandhi would have made his momma proud. Riding pillion on a motorcyle in the dark just before dawn today, Rahul reached the epicentre of violent clashes in Noida and met farmers protesting the Uttar Pradesh government's land acquisition policy.

The strong police force deployed at the Bhatta Parsaul village, which witnessed violent clashes between the police and farmers, apparently failed to notice the Congress General Secretary when he reached the Delhi suburb in a mobike at around 4 am.

The other accused in the Adarsh Housing scam list include:

1. State Minister for Water Resources Sunil Tatkare,
2. Adarsh Society's General Secretary R C Thakur,
3. Former Principal Secretary of Urban Development department Ramanand Tiwari,
4. Congress leader K L Gidwani,
5. Former Collector of Mumbai, Pradeep Vyas
6. Former Under Secretary of Urban Development department P V Deshmukh.
7. The Commission is presently recording the evidence of first witness, Brigadier Deepak Saxena of the Army Headquarters (Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat).

The inquiry commission probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has issued summons to former Maharashtra Chief Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to appear before it as witnesses.

The two-member commission, which summoned Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, issued summons to Deshmukh, presently Union Minister for Rural Development, and Chavan yesterday.

Why Chavan had to step down: Chavan was named among the 14 accused by the CBI in its probe into the scam. The then state revenue minister, he is accused of recommending 40 per cent allotment of flats in the Adarsh Society, originally meant for Kargil war widows, to civilians. His relatives allegedly got flats in return.

Why Deshmukh had to step down: Deshmukh as Chief Minister had dealt with files pertaining to the high rise in upscale Colaba.

Both the ex-CMs have now been added to the list of 17 witnesses summoned last week.

Back to the Amar Singh tapes for a bit.

The Supreme Court lifting the gag order on the media from broadcasting and publishing contents of the taped conversations of former SP leader Amar Singh with top politicians and Bollywood stars means these conversations can now in the public domain.

The bench said that there has been suppression of facts by the politician before the court in the case. The SC also said Singh could now initiate action against the telecom operator for illegally tapping his phone.

What was up for consideration in the SC today was Section 304A of Indian Penal Code.

The CBI had questioned the rationale behind the SC's earlier judgment diluting the charges tothis section. Section 304-II entails a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment whereas a person convicted under Section 304A could be punished for a maximum of two years jail term.

The eight convicted persons including former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra are out on bail.

If you remember, the CBI petition sought restoration of the stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder instead of death caused due to negligence against the accused.

The Supreme Court had on August 31, 2010, reopened the Bhopal gas leak case and issued notices to all the accused on the basis of a petition filed by the CBI seeking to restore against them the stringent charge of culpable homicide, which attracts a maximum punishment of 10 years of jail term.

OK, the SC verdict on the Bhopal Gas tragedy case is out. The Supreme Court dismisses the CBI's curative plea in the case, which in effect means that it stands by its verdict on the reduced charges on the eight accused. The SC therefore upheld the 1996 judgment and charges against the acccused -- accidental death, not negligent death.

The bench headed by the Chief Justice SH Kapadia passed the verdict over the petition seeking to recall the apex court's 14-year-old judgment that had diluted the charges against the accused who were prosecuted just for the offence of being negligent.

Last month, the apex court had questioned the CBI for approaching it 16 years after it had diluted in the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy case. The CBI wanted the charges to be enhanced.

While we await the SC verdict, US lawmakers will be shown the picture of the corpse of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was shot dead last week by US special forces in Abbottabad in Pakistan.

The select group of US lawmakers mainly from the intelligence and armed services committees of the both chambers of the Congress - would be shown these pictures at CIA headquarters. The timing has not been decided yet.

Last week, US President Barack Obama refused to make these pictures public arguing that this would harm America's national security interests.

"It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama told the CBS news on Sunday.

Recommended reading: 'Why Bin Laden's sea burial was 'sad miscalculation'

The Supreme Court has just lifted the ban on the airiing of Amar Singh's taped conversations. Amar Singh's 2006 petition had sought restraint on the media airing the conversations.

Singh had obtained an injunction from the SC against the disclosure of contents of the "Amar Singh" tapes on grounds that these contained his private conversations which were tapped illegally.

However, a PIL had sought publication of all those intercepts which were not in the private domain alleging that they pertained to fixing several deals at the cost of the public exchequer.

Good morning. Fantastic visuals on CNN IBN of a Telugu Desam Party MLAbeingchased and beaten up by tribal women in Visakhapatnam. TheMLA was trying to trying totalk to the tribalsprotesting over a mining project.

Meanwhile, the headlines this morning

Exit polls say Mamata likely to sweep WB, split on TN, Kerala (The Times of India)
Left Front's 34-year rule in Bengal is set to end with Mamata's alliance likely to win three-fourth of seats, say exit polls & post-poll surveys. Read

India rejects Rehman Malik's claim that Dawood is not in Pakistan (The Times of India)
Indian intelligence agencies suspect that Dawood is hiding there in one of the safe-houses of the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI. Read

LeT trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction with help from al-Qaida (The Times of India)
LeT leader Arif Qasmani, who was indicted by US for Mumbai train bombings, is using his al-Qaida links to acquire biological weapons and anthrax. Read

SC verdict in Bhopal gas case, Amar Singh tapes today (The Times of India)
The Supreme Court will have a busy day on Wednesday as it is scheduled to pronounce judgments on whether to apply new and stringent charges against former top officials of Union Carbide in the Bhopal gas leak case, as also the plea for making public the contents of the Amar Singh tapes. Read

2G scam: Kanimozhi allowed exemption from appearance for two days (DNA)
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 managing director Sharad Kumar seeking liberty from appearance in court on May 12 and 13. Read