Washington - After the worst episode yet in a devastating, year-long credit crisis plaguing the United States, the question on some analysts' minds was whether the world's largest economy was in danger of losing its dominant grip on global finance.

New York  - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the 158-year-old investment bank, has become the largest institution to fail in US history after a last-minute rescue fell apart over the weekend.

A legendary US institution, Lehman employs about 25,000 people and reported debts of more than 600 billion dollars as it filed for bankruptcy Monday in a Manhattan court.

Apart from its debts, Lehman was valued at about 637 billion dollars in its bankruptcy filing. Its share price plunged 95 per cent.

London  - Staff emplo

New York, Sept. 15 : Wall Street was in turmoil on Sunday as Merrill Lynch found shelter in a 44 billion dollar takeover by Bank of America and Lehman Brothers headed towards filing for bankruptcy.

BOFA’S bid for Merrill came as the world’s top banks appeared close to abandoning efforts to save Lehman and set out to build a firewall against further financial chaos with a 50 billion dollar liquidity pool to support other vulnerable institutions.

Paris - Reacting to the collapse of US bank Lehmann Brothers, the Paris Bourse plunged by nearly 3.5 per cent shortly after opening, led downward by financial shares.

Madrid  - The shares of top Spanish banks plunged Monday following US investment bank Lehman Brothers announcing it would file for bankruptcy protection.