BofA: Laughlin tapped for chief risk officer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bank of America Corp. said Friday it has tapped Terry Laughlin to be the lender's chief risk officer.

Laughlin is now head of the Charlotte-based company's legacy asset servicing business.

The bank that Paula Dominick, its global compliance executive, will fill in as chief risk officer until Laughlin takes over late in the third quarter.

The previous chief credit officer, Bruce Thompson, recently moved to the post of chief financial officer.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan noted that Laughlin has helped the company make significant progress dealing with its legacy mortgage issues.

The bank has been facing lawsuits from investors over …

Saudi official questions new sanctions on Iran

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Monday expressed doubts about the usefulness of more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference in the Saudi capital that the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions demands a more immediate solution than sanctions. He described sanctions as a long-term solution, and he said the threat is more pressing.

The Saudi minister spoke at a joint appearance with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is in the Persian Gulf to shore up support for new sanctions against Iran. The Saudi minister also said efforts supported by the U.S. to rid the Middle East of …

As market drops, recruits less interested in options

As many tech stocks dive and employees watch the value of theirstock options evaporate, the currency of the "new economy" may giveway to an old standby: cash.

Compensation experts say the tumbling Nasdaq composite index iscasting a shadow over the liberal use of stock options, the "carrots"that cash-strapped high-tech firms and start-ups dangle in front ofjob candidates.

Experts say tech companies may have to scale back generous optiongrants and offer, instead, larger salaries and cash bonuses to lureworkers.

"Cash is king," said James McElligott Jr., a compensation expertand partner at Richmond, Va., law firm McGuire Woods Battle & BootheLLP. "That has …

Anchorage to Phoenix flight diverted to Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) — A U.S. Airways flight from Anchorage, Alaska, to Phoenix made an emergency landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after one of its engines went out.

Airport spokesman Perry Cooper says the Airbus A319 landed safely and none of the 130 people aboard was injured when Flight 149 was diverted to Sea-Tac around 5:45 a.m. Friday.

U.S. Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder says a mechanical problem led to the engine shutdown. She says the passengers were placed on another plane to continue the flight to Phoenix.

THIS IS A …

Bill Clinton to bankers: engage the left

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton urged the people who run Latin America's biggest development bank on Saturday not to turn their backs on the leftists in the region who parlayed the poor's discontent into electoral victories.

Clinton didn't name Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, whose presidents have all demonized Washington and expelled U.S. diplomats in recent months, referring to them rather as "Colombia's neighbors."

He said he doesn't agree with their politics but "I do understand why poor people who feel powerless turn away from the messy world of democracy."

"It shouldn't be surprising that a reaction to global …

Repairs complete after rockslide closes parts of road W.Va. 3

SUNDIAL - Work crews have finished construction on W.Va. 3 inSundial where a rockslide from overhanging cliffs had left the roaddamaged since January.

For more than nine months, the rock fall zone has remained a one-lane highway with a temporary stoplight.

Brent Walker, West Virginia Division of Highways spokesman, saidthe lag time for the project's completion is typical throughout WestVirginia.

"It doesn't surprise us ... there are slides all over WestVirginia. We live in a mountainous state," he said. "Many slides gowithout repairs. We practice triage - we do the best we can with theresources we have."

Walker explained that the DOH …

Palestinians Install More Moderate Gov't

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinians installed a new, more moderate coalition government on Saturday, in hopes of persuading the international community to end its isolation of the Palestinian Authority and lift a year of bruising sanctions.

Israel promptly announced it wouldn't deal with the coalition, because governing partners Hamas and Fatah stopped short of explicitly recognizing the Jewish state or renouncing violence, as the international community has demanded.

But the new alliance, which replaced the militantly anti-Israel government led by the Islamic Hamas, appeared to implicitly recognize Israel by calling for a Palestinian state on lands the Israelis captured …