BHUBANESWAR - The Orissa government Tuesday brought here a top Maoist to speed up the negotiation process for the release of a district collector and a junior engineer held hostage by Maoists since Feb 16, officials said.

ISLAMABAD - Two US drone strikes Monday killed at least 15 alleged militants linked to Al Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border, intelligence officials said.

MUMBAI - Terming the 26/11 mayhem an attack to destabilise the Indian state, the Bombay High Court confirmed the death penalty awarded to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab for his extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting role in the assault and noted that the case fell in the rarest of rare categories.

MUMBAI - The strongest aggravating circumstance which nailed Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was the manner in which he waged war against the Government of India, the Bombay High Court noted Monday in its 1,215-page judgment while upholding the death sentence on the Pakistani terrorist.

MUMBAI - Confirming the death penalty awarded to Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab for his role in the 26/11 attack, the Bombay High Court observed that he is "a threat to society" and committed murders of innocents in "an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner", exhibiting "extreme perversity and depravity."