New York - Bank of America Corp chief executive Kenneth Lewis on Monday said the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co left the banking giant best positioned to weather the financial storm that has engulfed Wall Street and is unlikely to end before 2010.
Lewis said the 50-billion-dollar takeover, which first came under discussion Saturday morning, had been the "strategic opportunity of a lifetime" despite one of the most difficult financial environments in US history.
London - Staff employed at the British subsidiary of US bank Lehman Brothers face the prospect of not being paid this week, administrators PriceWaterhouseCooper
(PWC) warned Monday.
The US bank's main operation in Britain, where 4,500 people work, was placed into administration shortly after its US parent filed for bankruptcy protection.
PWC partner Tony Lomas said at a news conference in London that picking over the firm's business in Britain was an "extraordinarily complex" task and would take a "significant" amount of time. Staff numbers would be downsized.
Lomas indicated that the forthcoming wage bill was 42 million pounds (75 million dollars).
Baghdad - Car bombs killed 12 people in Baghdad on Monday as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in the Iraqi capital on the eve of a change in command of the US-led forces.
Some 32 people were injured in the twin blasts, which occured near a family law court in the downtown area of al-Karada.
They happened as US General David Petraeus was spending his last day in Iraq as commander of the Multi-Lateral Iraq force.
Ankara - US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen on Monday said that NATO would respond to defend Georgia if it was attacked by Russia if and when Georgia becomes a member of NATO.
"Should Georgia become a member of NATO, NATO is committed to a collective defence when any country is attacked... if that happens, if and when they become members, and that is to be determined, NATO would respond in accordance with the alliance requirement," Mullen, the chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff told reporters during a visit to Turkey on Monday.
Washington - US stocks were poised for a massive sell-off Monday after embattled investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings filed for bankruptcy - one of many financial firms in turmoil amid a significant broadening of the US credit crisis.
News of the venerable Lehman Brothers' failure came hours after financial services firm Merrill Lynch & Co agreed to be sold to Bank of America Corp late Sunday night.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 300 points - more than 2.5 per cent - and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down more than 3 per cent Monday morning.
Paris - Caught up in the turmoil caused by the collapse of US investment bank Lehmann Brothers, the Paris Bourse lost nearly 5 per cent of its value by mid-afternoon on Monday, led downward by weak banking shares.
The big losers for the day were the banks Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, which were down 13.79 and 12.51 per cent, respectively.
For the year, Credit Agricole - France's largest retail banking group and the second largest in Europe - has lost more than 43 per cent of its value.
The shares of two other banks, Dexia and BNP Paribas, fell by 12.10 and 11.54 per cent, while insurance giant Axa lost 11.53 per cent of ts value.
New York - Bank of America Corp chief executive Kenneth Lewis on Monday said the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co left the banking giant best positioned to weather the financial storm that has engulfed Wall Street and is unlikely to end before 2010.
Baghdad - Car bombs killed 12 people in Baghdad on Monday as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in the Iraqi capital on the eve of a change in command of the US-led forces.
