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.

Almaty (Kazakhstan), Aug. 25: If there are places to assimilate the impact of multi-culturalism and modernisation, Almaty, the "Apple City" of Kazakhstan should make the list in more ways than one.

At least that is the first impression that one gets on seeing the city, widely regarded as the cultural and business capital of Kazakhstan, for the first time.

Islamabad - At least 10 people were killed on Saturday as pro-Taliban militants attacked the residence of a member of parliament in North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), officials said.

Dozens of heavily-armed militants targeted the house of Waqar Ahmad Khan with several rockets in Kabal area of the restive Swat valley.

Waqar was not in the house when the attack took place but his brother Iqbal Khan died as did his two nephews. Seven bodyguards were also killed in the raid, police said.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan/Moscow - At least 65 people are believed dead in the crash of an Itek Air Boeing 737 passenger liner shortly after takeoff from Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, the Kyrgyz authorities said early Monday.

The ill-fated airliner, bound for Tehran, was completely consumed by fire, according to the Civil Defence Ministry.

Tokon Mamitov, an advisor to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev, announced the revised death toll, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported.