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NEW YORK — Wells Fargo agreed Wednesday to pay a $2.1 billion fine to settle allegations it misrepresented the types of mortgages it sold to investors during the housing bubble that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
The amount is relatively smaller than the fines paid by Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and other big banks to settle similar allegations. Wells Fargo is one of the last remaining big banks to settle charges related to its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.

TOKYO — Britain wants to align itself more closely with Asia’s growing economies as it prepares to leave the European Union, trade secretary Liam Fox said Wednesday.
The United Kingdom seeks to strike new trade pacts with countries that are becoming a larger part of its export market, he said, while also maintaining as much of its European trade as it can.
“This is where we’re likely to see a lot of global growth coming over the next 10, 15 years,” he told the Associated Press during an interview in Tokyo.

Apple Inc. investors have wondered for years what comes after the iPhone. The answer is a growing collection of services and accessories that increasingly rely on the device, rather than replace it.
The latest quarterly results confirmed that Apple isn’t selling many more iPhones these days. Instead, higher prices have driven growth. Revenue from the smartphone jumped 20 percent in the latest quarter as customers snapped up the $1,000 iPhone X. The average price was $724, up 19 percent from a year earlier.

Macpage, a 100-employee accounting and consulting firm headquartered in South Portland, will merge with a nationwide company.
The merger with Wipfli, which is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was announced Wednesday.
Macpage was founded in 1956. In addition to its headquarters in South Portland, the firm also has an office in Augusta and most of its clients are Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

AUGUSTA — Maine’s North Atlantic Development Office is putting together a trade mission headed by Gov. Paul LePage for companies interested in increasing business with the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The nine-day trade mission in September will feature “business meetings, group events, and unique cultural opportunities designed to help Maine companies expand their business development networks in these important markets,” according to the office.

Central Maine Power is hardening its smart-meter network to make it less vulnerable to power outages, a weak link identified during last October’s wind and rain storm that blacked out a record number of customers.
The company said on Wednesday that key devises in its smart-meter network are now wired for back-up generators, and that the utilty has increased the number of mobile generators available for use during extended outages.

AUGUSTA – Former U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed three Democratic candidates running for the Maine Senate in a tweet Wednesday.
Making Obama’s first round of endorsements for the 2018 election were Louis Luchini, Linda Sanborn and Laura Fortman.

UPPER LAKE, California — A massive wildfire in Northern California has torched more than 1,000 homes in and around the city of Redding, authorities said Wednesday as some evacuees were allowed to return home.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said another 440 buildings, including barns and warehouses, have also been destroyed by the fire, which is now the sixth most destructive in California history.

The Maine Development Foundation’s Maine Downtown Center has launched an interactive web portal designed to attract visitors to main streets across the state.
The website features local businesses, events and natural attractions in the 10 Main Street Maine communities, which collaborated with the Maine Downtown Center and the Maine Office of Tourism on the project.

LEWISTON — After a middle school student drowned June 12 during a school field trip, the Lewiston School Department made an immediate decision to update its field trip policies.
The school department’s law firm, Brann & Isaacson, conducted an investigation and released its findings in two parts.
The first part, an investigation into how student Rayan Issa died, was released June 25 at a School Committee meeting.