Here's what we have for you at the end of the day. Feel free to scroll down for all the other stories that happened today...

1. PM appeals to Ramdev to call off fast
2. Dayanidhi Maran sues Tehelka on 2G report
3. Sibal, PC: No unanimity among civil society
4. Pak journo's car, unidentfied body found
5. Bitta slams demand to commute Bhullar sentence
6. Did Headley lie to Chicago court?
7. India-Pak on Siachen: Ceasefire holding well
8. Lokpal wants PM purview, Ramdev says no
9. Strauss-Kahn legal team will discredit maid
10. India, Germany sign four agreements
11. How Iran delayed Merkel's flight to India
12. Bail for Binayak Sen aide Pijush Guha
13. Misbah'willing' but not 'desperate' to lead Pak
14. 36 killed in two road mishaps in Assam

What fading stars itching for a comeback will do for publicity. A certain actress is now a citizen journalist for a TV channel. Sad.

Still no confirmation of the identity of the body found in the missing Pakistani journalist's car.

But here's another story on the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006. The man suspected to bethe murderer has been arrested in Chechnya.The bbc.co.uk reports that Rustam Makhmudov was arrested overnight at his parents' home. Two of the detainee's brothers and a third man are currently awaiting trial over the murder in Moscow.

And why we don't want to be accused of being politically incorrect, the alleged murderer looks like a thug. Read

You do know that DMK union minister for textiles Dayanidhi Maran has sued Tehelka for its report that the Maran brothers -- Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi got Rs 700 crore from telecom company Maxis. The BJP, of course, self-righteously says Maran should come clean on the issue, while the Congress has distanced itself from the issue.

This is what the report says

Meanwhile, telecom minister Kapil Sibal and home minister P Chidambaramhave been addressing a press conference on the Lokpal Bill.

Here's the government's chance to pass the buck on to civil society for the status quo on the Bill and boy, are they gloating...

PC points out that the government has not been delaying the draft but questioning the government's intentions will delay it even further.

Sibal says he is confident that the draft will be ready by June 30, which is the mandated deadline.

Both PC and Sibal say they have written to the state governments and political parties on the Lokpal bill for their suggestions on whether the PM, MPs and higher judiciary should be included in the purview of the Bill.

Both reiterate again there is no unanimity among civil society members, which has been delaying the Bill draft.

More on the missing Pakistani journalist.

This is what Time magazine online has on Syed Saleem Shehzad.

Ali Dayan Hasan, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, received a call from Shahzad's wife. "He had told her that I was one of the people that should be called in case anything happens to him," says Hasan.

"He had feared for sometime that something like this would happen to him." Later, Human Rights Watch says it was able to establish that Shahzad was being held by the ISI. "We were informed through reliable interlocutors that he was detained by the ISI," says Hasan. T

hose interlocutors, he adds, had received direct confirmation from the agency that it was detaining Shahzad. In any case, Hasan says, "in a high-security zone like Islamabad, it is only the ISI that can effect the disappearance of man and his car without a trace.

Read more

This is the reportin Asia Times Online that may have led to Syed Saleem Shahzad's abduction. Hopefully, the body in the car is not his.

Incidentally, Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief and author of Inside al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11.

Just in: Pakistan journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad's car has with an unidentified body has been found. Fears have been growing for his safety, since he went missing on Sunday andaccording to an international advocacy group, is believed to be in the custody of Pakistan's ISI.

Read our 11:16 am and 12:03 pm posts.

Time for gossip.

Filmmaker Farhan Akhtar has said he is furious over "misleading' reports that he had cheated on wife Adhuna (who have been married for 11 years) by growing particularly close to a female assistant director both on and off-set of his last movie Don 2.

"I''m upset," the actor said, "Thearticle is nothing but misleading."

Akhtar however insisted that he won't defend his honour in court.

"Not only will I have to keep going to the court, but I''ll also have to keep seeing [the reporters], which is not something I'm interested in," he said.

What's that they say about smoke and fire?

An announcement:The 2011 India Economic Summit will be held in Mumbai for the first time in the 26 year history of the Summit.

In partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry and with the support of the Government of India, this year's summit will take place on 20-21 November 2011 in Mumbai.

The Summit will return to New Delhi in 2012 and 2014 in time for India's next national election.

Speaking of terror and terror groups, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee has said it file a separate mercy petition to President Patil asking for a pardon for Bhullar and will also appeal to the UNHRC to intervene.

Given this, theAll India Anti-Terrorist Front Chairman M S Bitta today criticised the Punjab Congress unit for backing the demand for commuting the sentence.

"I am mentally tortured by the Congress and central intelligence agencies for the past 18 years. I have completely failed to face political terrorism in the country," Bitta said.

He was referring to the demand made by Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the state Congress unit for commuting Bhullar's death sentence to life term.

Bhullar was sentenced to death by a trial court on August 25, 2001, for plotting terror attacks on Punjab SSP Sumedh Singh Saini in 1991 and Bitta, the then Youth Congress chief, in 1993.

He said if clemency was granted to Bhullar then the trend will follow in the cases of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Mumbai attack convict Kasab and Dara Singh.

As David Coleman Headley's testimony in the Chicago court ended last week, a question that needs answering, however much we want to wish it away -- Is Headley telling the truth?

This is the question acclaimed journalist Sebastian Rotella attempts to answer in ProPublica.

Read

Two high-power meetings on today in New Delhi ... One with German Chancellor Angela Merkel has just concluded, the other -- Defence Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan on Siachen has ended as well.

Here's what the Ministry of External Affairs had to say about the meeting.

• The discussions were held in a frank and cordial atmosphere, contributing to an enhanced understanding of each other's position on Siachen.
• They also acknowledged that the ceasefire was holding since November 2003.
• Both sides presented their positions and suggestions towards the resolution of Siachen.
• Both sides agreed to continue the discussions in a meaningful and result oriented manner.
• They agreed to meet again at a mutually convenient date in Islamabad.

The eternal question -- should you let the dead lie, or do this...

Seventy-five bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean two years ago, more than doubling the number of remains that have been found.

The remains have not yet been identified, vice-president of the French victims' association, Robert Soulas said. "Personally, I would have preferred to leave the bodies of our loved ones on the seafloor," he added.

Air France 447 flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people aboard. The bulk of the wreckage was found this year after a search by robot submarines of an underwater mountain range.

An Arab television channel has broadcast pictures which it says show Western special forces on the ground in Libya.

The Daily Mail says footage by the Al Jazeera television channel shows a group of six Western-looking men described as 'possibly British'talking to rebel fighters near the besieged port city of Misrata. With their peaked caps, wraparound sunglasses and assault rifles, the group certainly appear different to the rag-tag rebel army battling Colonel Gaddafi's forces.

Read

Every day at a given hour, the Dalai Lamagets on to Twitter and does his bit. Today he said: When I speak about love and compassion, I don't do so as a Buddhist, or a Tibetan, or as the Dalai Lama, but as one human being to another.

Here's an interesting read in Foreign Policy magazine on whether the Dalai Lama is really stepping back. Take a look

A tweet from Ramgopal Verma

Fr the unintelignt my clarification..Am too intelgnt 2 knw 2 not 2 meet any intlligent man who wil mke me feel he is lesser intelgnt than me.

Intelligent or otherwise, it's certainly unintelligible

A triple eclipse treat -- two partial solar and one total lunar eclipse in a month begins tomorrow. But here's the bad news...

The first of the three, which will be a partial solar eclipse will be seen on June 1, but not from India.

Then, the total lunar eclipse will be visible on June 15 from Indian, Middle East, East Africa, South America, Australia.

Another partial solar eclipse on July 1 will also not be visible from India. It will be visible from southern latitudes, Antarctica.

Zero excitement or rather interest in news about William and Kate post their wedding. But this lady refuses to butt out of the news, literally.

William's sister-in-law Pippa, (who has a FB page posted by dedicated fans called Pippa Middleton's Bottom), is now in France to watch the French Open.

Click here for pictures of her royal bottomness(not us, it's what her fans call her)

Led by banking and realty stocks, the BSE Sensex rallied by over 257 points today on brisk buying in blue-chips, despite India's economic growth slowing to 7.8 per cent in the fourth quarter.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex, which had gained 104.58 points in opening trade, continued its upward march to trade 257.58 points, or 1.41 per cent, higher at 18,489.64 at 1330 hours, with all the sectoral indices, led by realty and banking, trading in positive territory with gains of up to 2.18 per cent.

Moveover apple, it's now a litchi a day, that could keep the doctor away.

A new research paper has claimed that the litchi fruit is not just a rich source of vitamins and minerals, but is also a powerful antioxidant and could be a panacea for various ailments.

The fruit contains Vitamin K, Vitamin B6 and more Vitamin C than citrus fruits. "Minerals like Magnesium, Iron, Calcium, Copper, Phosphorus and Potassium are abundant in Litchi. It is low in Sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol. They are also purported to have some anti-inflammatory properties, aid in gastrointestinal health and have as much fibre as an apple," the paper said.

Lokpal Panel member Arvind Kejriwal has been crying hoarse on every TV channel that's grabbed him for a byte that there is no rift in civil society (read Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev).

But differences have cropped up, whether he admits to it or otherwise.

The bone of contention is the demand for the inclusion of the Prime Minister and higher judiciary in the Lokpal Bill byHazare's team, which Baba Ramdev opposes.

At the same time, he said that he did not want to go into the controversial issue and involve himself in a public debate.

Baba Ramdev, who lent support to Anna Hazare in his campaign against corruption when he went on a fast in Jantar Mantar, however, refused to call off his own fast against black money, from June 4 till the government conceded all his demands.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal said if the PM was kept out of the Lokpal, then there could be 10 departments under him which would straight away come out of the anti-corruption watchdog.

And the other report on Strauss-Kahn -- the man who by thought and alleged deed ensures our news is colourful.

The defence team of the former IMF chief is likely to question the credibility of the hotel maid, who has accused him of sexual assault. Strauss-Kahn has already indicated that he plans a consensual-sex defence, the Wall Street Journal said.

This tactic requires undermining the credibility of the maid, a 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea, according to experts.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly forced the maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to perform oral sex.

MMS and Merkel and their delegations are now lunching.So, while we take a break from the Indo-German meet, here's something you can chew on....

Two back-to-back reports on ex IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

First, a report from the Daily Mail says Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has claimed that Dominique Strauss-Kahn may be the victim of a shadowy conspiracy to force him out of his job as head of the International Monetary Fund.

Putin is the first world leader to throw serious doubts over the sex charges against the 62-year-old Frenchman. But his remarks will certainly surprise the disgraced former IMF boss, who reportedly said before his arrest that he believed that Putin was actively plotting his downfall.

Even as India and Germany sign four agreements including one on vocational education, here's a report Angela Merkel shouldn't read: How UK's £400m aid for India schools has been 'squandered'.

Read

Germany, if you remember, has pledged to wane out the use of nuclear energy by 2030. It obviously came up for discussion because the PM reiterates that India needs nucelar energy and explains that the country must have a viable alternative to nuclear energy to stop use.

Both MMS and Merkel are all smilesas the joint meet comes to an end.

Merkel also says Germany is committed to speeding up the process of reform in the UNSC. Remember, India wants a permanent seat at the Security Council.

India, Germany sign four agreements on vocational education , medical research, science and technology.

Merkel says India andGermany equally worried about terrorism and her country is united with India in wanting a stable Afghanistan. On the anvil is a joint action plan to fight terrorism.

Meeting over, PM, Merkel hold press conference at Hyderabad House.

PM Manmohan Singh says:

Have discussed a MoU on the transfer of technology.

India is looking forward to expanding its R$D base and receving high technology from Germany

Says terrorism is a key challenge and has to be fought on all fronts and just not selectively.

Merkel speaking now.

Across the border in Pakistan, US military chief, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said that the Pakistani government will launch a major offensive on militants in North Waziristan. "It's a very important fight and a very important operation,' the outgoing chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told a television network. In several interviews to US television channels, Admiral Mullen said part of his job as chairman had been to try and "close the trust gap' between the United States and Pakistan, which had built up over many years," Mullen said.

Pakistan has always been wary of targetting North Waziristan, a known stronghold of the Al Qaeda. But of course, Pakistan has been forced to kowtow post the Osama attack.

And here's why German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in New Delhi in a meeting with PM Manmohan Singh as we write this...

Read

In an incident that smacks of the increasing paranoia that rules Iran, the country today disallowed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's aircraft overflight rights while she was en-route to India, but later relented after negotiations.

As a result, the VVIP flight, which besides the German Chancellor had a large delegation on board, had to circle over Turkey for two hours before being given permission to enter Iranian airspace in the wee hours of today.

The flight was finally allowed to fly over the Iranian airspace -- the normal flight route between Europe and India - following a hour-long negotiation with Tehran which was mediated by Turkey and involved the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

Merkel on her way to India arrived late in New Delhi this morning as a result of the delay.

Just in: The Supreme Court has granted bail to the Pijush Guha who was convicted insedition case alongwith Binayak Sen. Kolkata businessman Guha had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Chhattisgarh which found him guilty of sedition, criminal conspiracy and collusion with Maoists,along with Sen and Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal.

Guha was convicted for allegedly acting as courier for Sanyal and taking his letters to the cadre and thus, helping them organise the fight against the state.

Waiting in the sidelines just as Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi announed his retirement, is the test series captain Misbah-ul-Haq. Scroll down to our first post to read why Afridi called it quits.

Hesaid he is not desperate for captaincy and his priority is to perform well as a player for Pakistan, but would be happy to lead the side.

"I''m not desperate to be one day captain, but if the Board wishes for me to captain the one day side then I will do so. I''ve always made my intentions and priorities very clear and that is to play well for Pakistan, irrespective of whether I am captain or not. If someone else is captain then that is not an issue for me, I will play under anyone as skipper and am not anxious to lead the team,"Misbah said.

OnTwitter:

Husain Haqqani tweets: Received a call from the family of missing journalist Saleem Shahzad. Have requested officials in Islamabad to help locate him.

Haqqani is Pakistan's ambassador to the United States.

Even as Binayak Sen warned that India is on the brink of famine (See the report in our first post), the UK charity group, Oxfamhas more dark predictions. In a report inbbc.co.uk, Oxfam said the prices of staple foods will more than double in 20 years unless world leaders take action to reform the global food system.

In other words...

-- By 2030, the average cost of key crops will increase by between 120% and 180%.

--Half of that increase will be caused by climate change.

Read

Talks between South Africa's President Zuma and Col Gaddafi in Tripoli have ended with no announcement of progress towards an end to Libya's conflict. Zuma is attempting to broker peace between Gaddafi and Nato.

The bbc.co.uk report says Col Gaddafi would agree to a ceasefire but would not step down -- as demanded by Nato and Libyan rebels. The ceasefire proposal was rejected last month after a mediation mission by Zuma on behalf of the African Union.

A spokesman for Libya's rebels dismissed calls for a ceasefire, and promised to continue their offensive.

A report from the Dark Ages...

A 19-year-old Muslim girl was stoned to death under Sharia law after taking part in a beauty contest in Ukraine.

Katya Koren was found dead in a village in the Crimea region near her home. Her body was buried in a forest and was found a week after she disappeared. Koren's friends said she liked wearing fashionable clothes and had come seventh in a beauty contest.

Police investigations revealed that three Muslim youths killed her claiming her death was justified under Islam.

Fingers crossed that Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad is and will be released soon.

Meanwhile, after former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's debauched behaviour in a hotel room, another case involving a maid, presents itself.

An Egyptian businessman, staying at the Pierre Hotel in New York, has been arrested on allegations he sexually abused a hotel maid.

Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar, 74, is accused of locking and sexually abusing a 44-year-old hotel employee inside his hotel room.

According to police, he grabbed her breasts, forcibly kissed her and began rubbing up against her.He had called for room service requesting tissues.

Omar was arrested Monday and charged with sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching and harassment, officials said.

This is what the Pakistan Navy has to say....

A report in the Dawn newspaper says that terrorists had entered the PNS Mehran base after breaching Pakistan Air Force`s security parameters on the southern side, about 800 metres from the naval airbase.

The paper adds that while, the revelation indicates a dangerous gap of coordination in intelligence and security matters among different wings of defence services. And then hints that: The fact that terrorists did not attack the PAF facilities and rushed towards the PNS base gave credence to the view that they had predetermined targets and were facilitated from within.

This is what missing Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad's story in Asia Times Online says:

Al-Qaeda carried out the brazen attack on PNS Mehran naval air station in Karachi on May 22 after talks failed between the navy and al-Qaeda over the release of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al-Qaeda links, an Asia Times Online investigation reveals. Read more

Human Rights groups fear that Shehazad who is missing from Islamaad since the story was filed has been abducted by Pakistani Intelligence agencies.

The Pakistan Navy has laid the responsibility of the security lapse at Karachi's Mehran Naval Station, which was attacked by militants on May 22, on the Pakistan Air Force. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two US-supplied Orion surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base.

Meanwhile, Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad has gone missing just after alleging links between Pakistan's navy and the Al Qaeda.

Morning and welcome to Live! news. First, the top news stories this morning and then on to the rest of the news as ithappens, across the world.

36 killed in two road mishaps in Assam (The Times of India)

Thirty-six people were killed and 17 others injured in two road mishaps in Assam where a bus carrying a marriage party fell into a pond and an oil tanker caught fire this morning. Read

Bollywood biggie Karim Morani lands in jail (The Times of India)
A special CBI court on Monday sent another accused in the 2G spectrum case, Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd's director Karim Morani, to jail after rejecting his bail plea and taking a dim view of his efforts to dodge what befell his co-accused. Read

Contentious issues bog down Lokpal Bill panel (The Hindu)
Both sides admitted divergence of opinion on four of the five contentious issues discussed at the fifth meeting of the committee, and the expression of the two sides on the deliberations was equally at variance. Read

Dejected over removal of captaincy, Shahid Afridi 'quits' international cricket (DNA)
He announced his decision in protest of his removal from the captaincy of the national one-day team and said he will not consider to return till the present board under the chairmanship of Ijaz Butt is in place. Read

Rana 26/11 trial to resume tomorrow in Chicago; al-Qaeda-ISI-LeT nexus info expected (DNA)
The trial of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Husssain Rana, which led to several revelations of nexus between ISI and LeT in carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks, will resume in Chicago tomorrow with the testimony of co-conspirator David Coleman Headley. Read

India is on the verge of a famine, says Dr Binayak Sen (DNA)
Elections are not the only way to run a democracy. It is one of the ways. Unless there is a concerned population, you cannot have a democracy. Read

Govt move to placate Ramdev on black money (The Times of India)

On a day when the government's simmering differences with the Anna Hazare civil society group burst into the open, the Centre unveiled yet another measure to placate yoga guru Baba Ramdev over his demand for action on black money. Read