2 Wall St. brokers accused of $1B subprime fraud. A former Wall Street broker pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he and a colleague duped investors into purchasing more than $1 billion in high-risk securities by making it look as though the trades were protected by the federal government.

German fertiliser group KS joins blue-chip DAX index. German fertiliser group K+S will join the DAX 30 index of blue-chip stocks, reflecting its growing business as prices for commodities and foods rise globally.

World markets sink after Wall Street plunge. World stock markets fell sharply Friday in the wake of a sell-off on Wall Street amid mounting concerns about a slumping U.S. economy and its impact on global growth.

On London: Scant comfort to be found in the pound's current decline. Sterling's decline against the dollar showed no signs of slowing this week, but what was more interesting was the reaction of the London market. The FTSE 100 fell 7.1 per cent - its worst weekly performance in percentage terms in more than six years - turning on its head the idea that the UK market performs well during periods of dollar strength.

Dow, S&P end higher on financials, down for week. NEW YORK -The broader U.S. stock market edged higher on Friday, but still posted its worst week since May, as a rally in financial stocks helped reverse losses sparked by a government report showing the U.S. jobless rate rose to a five-year high.

GE gets "Wells notice" in SEC accounting probe. General Electric Co said on Friday it had been notified by U.S. regulators that a civil complaint could be filed against the company following a more than three-year-long probe into its use of hedge accounting for derivatives and other accounting matters.

30-year mortgages dip slightly to 6.35 percent. Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for a third straight week, dropping to the lowest level since mid-July.

Home loan troubles break records again. A record 9 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, as damage from the housing crisis continues to mount, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.

Arbitration Favors Firms Over Investors. Let's say you had $50,000 in auction-rate securities that your broker said were as safe as money-market funds. The market collapsed, and you sold at an 80 percent haircut. At your arbitration hearing, one of the three panel members works at a firm that also sold auction-rates deceptively. How fair..

Coming Soon to IMAX: Profits. In his latest film incarnation, Batman rescues Gotham from the Joker. In real life, the Caped Crusader's blockbuster movie, The Dark Knight, is proving to be a lifesaver for IMAX, a chain of specialty theaters.

Forester Value: Making a Comeback. When it comes to performance, Forester Value seems to have an aversion to the middle ground: It's either at the top of the heap or at the bottom. Compared with other large-company value funds, Forester was in the bottom 10% in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. But it was in the top 10% of..

Make Sure Your College Student Is Covered. My son is about to start college and will be living in a dorm this year. Will my homeowners insurance cover his computer and other electronics in his room? And do I need to tell my auto insurance company if he won't be taking a car there?.

Smith & Wesson: Making a Comeback. Shares of Smith & Wesson closed at $5.82 on September 2, just about where they traded three years ago. Between then and last October, the firearms maker became a growth-stock darling, beating profit estimates and zooming to as high as $22 before stalling badly. Investors dropped the stock symbol..

A Class-Action Settlement for Nearly Every Consumer. In a class-action settlement, the credit bureau TransUnion has agreed to provide free credit-monitoring services to millions of consumers to settle claims that it illegally passed along private information for marketing purposes.

D.C. Board President To Stay in Education. D.C. State Board of Education President Robert C. Bobb, who will leave the board at the end of the year, said he plans to stay involved in education issues.

Police Target Student Drug Use. They were just four words typically text-messaged to his cellphone -- "What are the numbers?" -- but to a teenage pot dealer at one of Montgomery County's elite high schools they were part of a code used by students interested in making a buy.

An Experiment in Science. Kaylyn Jackson, 17, positively gushes when she talks about astrophysics. And multivariable calculus. And mathematics in general.

Math Progress. The federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called "the nation's report card," has tracked math performance for years. The share of students rated proficient or advanced on NAEP's math test is rising.

Public School Fees Wear On Montgomery Parents. Public school is supposed to be free. But a student at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda can expect to pay $15 to take Advanced Placement biology, $40 for band class and $11 for a Spanish workbook.

Washington Area Residents Mobilize to Help Evacuees. Yesterday afternoon, Linda Mathes of the District was hunkered down in a Covington, La., school. The power was out, the winds had whipped the shutters off the windows and the rain was driving hard.