Lahore, Sep 13: New rules of engagement authorising United States ground attacks inside Pakistan, signed by President George W Bush in July, were not agreed to by Islamabad, American and Pakistani officials have said.

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani was informed last month by senior US defence officials that if Pakistan failed to stem the flow of Taliban and other terrorist fighters into Afghanistan, the US would adopt a new strategy – one allowing ground strikes on targeted insurgent encampments.

The Washington Post quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying that General Kayani believed the strategy was still under discussion and that Pakistan’s counterinsurgency performance was improving.

Islamabad, Sep 13: Pakistan faces the potential danger of a schism in the army as there is a growing anti-American sentiment largely fuelled by the indiscriminate missile attacks and cross-border incursions.

The Pakistani military’s top brass finished a two-day summit on Friday that was called to consider how to respond to the US incursions in Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan.

Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani issued a strong statement before the meeting, calling the ground assault “reckless.”

Melbourne, Sep 13: The Pakistan Army has issued orders to retaliate against “invading” US forces that enter the Tribal Areas of the country to attack militant targets.

Pakistani corps commanders issued the order last night. The move has plunged relations between Islamabad and Washington into a deep crisis over how to deal with al-Qaeda and the Taliban

London, Sept. 13: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov subjected his British counterpart David Miliband to a four-letter abuse tirade when the latter lectured the former about Moscow’s decision to invade Georgia.

Lavrov reportedly reacted with fury and repeatedly used the "F-word" when Miliband criticized him about last month’s aggression in South and North Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The Telegraph quoted an insider as saying that it was difficult to draft a readable note of the conversation.

Tokyo - In the middle of a worldwide credit crisis, Japanese companies are using their large cash reserves to go shopping beyond their borders.

So far this year, they have taken part in mergers and acquisitions worth 4.56 trillion yen (over 42 billion dollars), a 180-per-cent increase over the same period last year, the Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei reported Saturday.

While US and European firms are struggling with the consequences of the credit crisis that was triggered by the mortgage industry in the United States but has spread broadly, their Japanese competitors have abundant stocks of funds.

La Paz - The Bolivian government declared a state of siege Friday in the Amazonian province of Pando after days of violent clashes that have left 14 people dead.

Bolivian Defence Minister Walker San Miguel said the move - which forbid civilians from carrying arms, restricts the freedom of assembly and increases the powers of the military and the police - was adopted in an effort to contain a wave of violence in the area that broke out Thursday.