WSJ Today's Front Page News

As Spain slides toward recession, debt collectors are doing a roaring trade. The country's legal system is overwhelmed with cases, so many companies say the only way to get people to pay is to shame them in front of the neighbors.

As the economy sputters, Obama is picking up support from some of the very women who until recently disdained him.

The Dow declined 128 points to 8451.19, capping the worst week in its 112-year history with its most volatile day ever. Down nearly 700 points early on, stocks gave up late gains as hopes for an international bank-rescue plan were overcome by a wave of selling.

GM has recently been in talks with Cerberus about buying Chrysler in exchange for its remaining stake in GMAC. The upheaval in financial markets has rendered the talks inactive, but if markets stabilize, they could be renewed.

Icelanders are returning to fishing after the global financial crisis ruined the country's swollen banks.

The Dow industrials plunged 678.91 points, or 7.3%, to 8579.19, falling for the seventh straight day, or more than 20% over that stretch. The decline leaves the U.S. in one of its worst bear markets in decades.

Switzerland requires that geneticists conduct their research without trampling on a plant's dignity.

U.S. officials are discussing temporarily backing all U.S. bank deposits if economic conditions continue to worsen, a move that would mark another unprecedented step.

The latest trend that started in California and is spreading to the rest of the country: recession. The state is providing a template for how a downturn could look.

Descendants of slaves in Brazil are claiming land rights as they fight scientists who want to use land near their village to expand a rocket base.

The world's central banks lowered short-term interest rates in unison. Separately, the U.S. Treasury is considering ways to inject capital directly into banks, possibly by taking equity stakes. (Fed's statement)

The government said it will lend AIG as much as $37.8 billion, a sign that its initial $85 billion effort to shore up the insurer is falling short.

McCain called for a $300 billion program to aid homeowners, while Obama argued for a middle-class tax cut and health-care reform. Each blamed the other's policies for the crisis.

House bombs undermine a central tenet of the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq -- the reliance on hundreds of vacant houses as combat outposts.

The Fed said it will bypass ailing banks and lend directly to U.S. corporations for the first time since the Great Depression, while hinting strongly at further rate cuts. (Remarks and Fed minutes)

The U.K. is expected to announce a plan to buy stakes in some of the country's largest financial institutions. The plan could total up to $88 billion.

Organized labor has a secret weapon it hopes will persuade white working-class voters to vote Democratic: a fast-growing outfit called Working America.

Under Brazil's laws, wiretapping is meant to be a last resort. But it has become a primary tool to crack white-collar investigations.

Markets around the world tumbled, reflecting investors' lack of confidence despite stepped up relief efforts by the Fed and European governments.

The Dow industrials fell below 10000 and European stocks fell to 20-year lows, a stark sign that the crisis may be outpacing policy makers' ability to contain it.