Berlin - Germany's Finance Ministry, central bank and federal financial supervisory authority said Monday the German financial markets would be able to cope with the fall-out from the collapse of the US bank, Lehman Brothers.

In a joint statement, the three said the commitments of German financial institutions to Lehman Brothers Holding were "manageable."

The Finance Ministry, the central bank, or Bundesbank, and the supervisory authority, or BaFin, said they remained in close contact with the corresponding institutions in other countries and were "watching very closely" further developments.

Stockholm - The Stockholm bourse dropped 3 per cent in opening trading on Monday in the wake of reports that US investment banker Lehman Brothers was to file for bankruptcy protection.

Shares in the four main banking groups including Nordea dropped some 5 per cent, although Swedish banking groups have said they have not been exposed to the troubled subprime US mortgage market.

Clothes retailer Hennes & Mauritz was also impacted negatively as was ball-bearing maker SKF and construction group JM, while the SAS Group share, operator of joint carrier Scandinavian Airlines, surged 15 per cent.

SAS on Friday confirmed it was in talks and "evaluating various structural possibilities."

Washington  , Sep 15 : Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s credentials as a reformer were brought into question by a former adversary who said the Alaska Governor can’t claim to be a credible agent of change since she kept federal highway money allotted to Alaska even though the so-called ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ project had been cut from the list of the state’s earmarked projects.

Wana, Sept 15 : An attempt by US troop

Washington - The embattled investment bank Lehman Brothers was expected to file for bankruptcy before the start of trading later Monday, hours after financial services firm Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America.

Negotiations throughout the weekend failed to produce a buyer for the venerable Lehman Brothers, leading to the bankruptcy plans, the Washington Post reported early Monday on its website.

Washington, Sept 15 : Amid a series of strong statements emerging from Islamabad that the ongoing US strikes might prove counter-productive and could lead to straining of US-Pak ties, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard A. Boucher Monday said there was “no rift” in relations between Pakistan and US.

Describing Pakistan as a “praiseworthy ally” in war against terrorism, Boucher said that contacts and cooperation would continue between two countries.