Almaty, Aug. 26: The five republics of Central Asia and Russia need to consider adopting a united approach to ward off external threats, particularly from the West, said a Kazakh professor of history.

Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of a Central Asian and Caucasian security cooperation moot, Professor Marat E. Shaikhutdinov, Director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics (IWEP), said that recent conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia had left the leaderships and people of Central Asia quite concerned about Central Asian and Euro- Asian security.

Almaty (Kazakhstan), Aug. 25: Lauding the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) for laying the framework for realizing a shared vision of peace and prosperity in the Asian region, India's Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma, said on Monday that there is a need for the 20 CICA member states to take stock of "complex transnational threats and security challenges, and craft appropriate security responses that go beyond traditional solutions.

Participating in a Foreign Ministers' summit meeting of CICA here, Sharma said that of the many threats confronting Asia, "none is as dangerous as that of terrorism".

Islamabad, Aug 25: Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has reportedly banned the local unit of the Taliban – the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan – and also decided to freeze its bank accounts.

People associated with the group would be arrested, and the bank accounts of the TTP would be frozen, the Dawn quoted sources in the Interior Ministry as saying.

Earlier, on Sunday the TTP had unilaterally announced a ceasefire with security forces and offered peace talks with the government. However, their request was turned down by the Pakistan government.

Beijing - China has arrested a 73-year-old underground bishop, a US-based Catholic group said in a statement.

Julius Jia Zhiguo, bishop of the unregistered or "underground" Roman Catholic congregation of Zhengding village in northeast China's Heibei province, was arrested by Chinese officials Sunday morning, the Cardinal Kung Foundation said.

It was the 12th time Jia has been arrested since 2004, the foundation said in a statement issued late Sunday. He has spent
18 years in prison.

He was last arrested in August last year, and released again in December.

Beijing - Chinese Security forces detained 500 members of the ethnic Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region over the past two weeks, Uighur activists said Monday.

More than 100 people were arrested in the desert town of Kashgar alone, the in-exile Uyghur World Congress said. The organization called on the international community to lodge protests with Beijing.

Many of the Muslim Uighurs are opposed to Chinese rule. Violence in Uighur towns near the Takla Makan desert in Xinjiang caused around 30 deaths over the past weeks.

Mingora (Pakistan), Aug 25: Ten people were killed today in Pakistan's Swat Valley when militants attacked a district government official home.

According to the police, the deceased include three members of a family and seven security guards.

The fighting between troops and militants in the Swat Valley has intensified in recent weeks. On Sunday, 78 people were killed and several others injured as fierce clashes continued in different parts of the Swat Valley.