Washington - An emergency summit of leaders from the world's 20 leading economies will be held on November 15 in the US capital to tackle the ongoing financial crisis threatening to plunge the world into recession, the White House announced Wednesday.

President George W Bush has been on the telephone inviting leaders from the Group of 20, a bloc that includes advanced and developing economies, to Washington to "review progress being made to address the current financial crisis," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Kabul - US-led coalition forces mistakenly bombed an Afghan national army position in Khost province early Wednesday and killed at least nine soldiers, while more than 40 militants and three police were killed elsewhere in the country, officials said.

The airstrike occurred in Sayedkhail district of the south-eastern province of Khost when a coalition convoy was returning from an operation, the US military said in a statement.

"Initial reports from troops on the ground indicate that this may be a case of mistaken identity on both sides," the statement said.

Brussels - Georgia was Wednesday promised a higher-than- expected 4.55 billion dollars in aid over the next three years to help it recover from its 5-day war with Russia.

Pledges were made by some 40 countries and 15 international organizations attending a donors' conference in Brussels.

The total far exceeded the 3.2 billion dollars that the World Bank had estimated Georgia would need to rebuild its infrastructure, settle its refugees and get its economy back on track.

Islamabad - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed Wednesday that Pakistan had sought help to tackle the financial crisis the Islamic militancy-hit country is currently seeing.

"The Pakistani authorities have requested discussions with the IMF on an economic program supported by financial assistance from the Fund to meet the balance of payments difficulties the country is experiencing as a result of high food and fuel prices and the global financial crisis," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF.

Islamabad - Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday that his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta had confirmed his government had held talks with Taliban representatives in Saudi Arabia.

"Mr Spanta shared with me that, yes, there was an informal contact between the Afghan government and Taliban that took place between some clergymen from Afghanistan and some elements from the previous setup (Taliban regime) in Afghanistan," he told reporters in Islamabad in a joint press briefing with Spanta.

Spanta said the reconciliation process would move ahead only if militants were "ready to put down their weapons," accept the Afghan constitution and "live a peaceful life."