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New Delhi - A dreaded Indian bandit was shot dead in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh Thursday after a 50-hour gunbattle with over 400 armed police that saw four policemen killed, a news report said.

Ghanshyam Kewat, armed with rifles and hand-grenades, was hiding in a house in a village in the Chitrakoot region, some 280 kilometres south of state capital Lucknow when police teams surrounded him on Tuesday night, the PTI news agency reported.

Lausanne, Switzerland - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has renewed its broadcasting deal with the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) for coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2016 Summer Games.

The IOC said in a statement Thursday that ASBU will have at least 200 hours of coverage in 2016 and a daily highlight show from Sochi in 2014 in the deal covering 20 states including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

Dhaka - Unregistered Rohingya refugees face persecution in Bangladesh's south-eastern Cox's Bazar district, where tens of thousands of the Myanmar refugees have been living in squalid camps for years, an international aid organization alleged Thursday.

Seoul - North Korea has several thousand tons of chemical weapons, a report from a think tank published on Thursday said.

"Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities are the greatest threat, but it also possesses a large stockpile of chemical weapons and is suspected of maintaining a biological weapons programme," the report published by the International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

Silverstone, Britain - Behind-the-scenes talks were expected to be held at the British Grand Prix on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to end a Formula One crisis over a planned budget cap.

The ruling body FIA will publish its final list of 2010 entrants on Friday, with five teams including championship leaders Brawn GP listed only conditionally and Ferrari leading three others listed as unconditional against their will.

There is a lot of buzz of going around in industry circles regarding Amitabh Bachchan’s non-performance on the Aladdin song at the recently concluded IIFA awards 2009. Ritesh Deshmukh along with newcomer Jacqueline Fernandes was to perform with Big B. But when the award function was held there was no sign of the Bachchan performing on the song. Everyone present were left wondering what must have gone wrong that time.