SHANGHAI, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - Credit Suisse and Citigroup are vying for a joint venture with China's Founder Securities as global players seek partnership in China's lucrative brokerage sector, state press said Wednesday.

Credit Suisse has signed an initial agreement with Founder for a 33 percent stake in the joint venture, which will focus on investment banking business, the Securities Times reported.

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - US regulators said Tuesday they had filed civil charges against operators of the Phoenixsurf.com website for running a vast fraud operation that raked in 41.9 million dollars from unwary investors in four months.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it had charged two men in their twenties, Jonathan Mikula and Gabriel Frankewich, with securities fraud after they promised potential investors a staggering 120 percent return in just eight days on investments of between eight and 6,000 dollars.