PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Aug 8

Aug 8 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* President Barack Obama authorized targeted air strikes and emergency assistance missions in northern Iraq, saying the United States must act to protect American personnel and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the face of advances by violent Islamist militants. (http://on.wsj.com/X5DN6W)

* A change in how the FICO credit-score, the most widely used credit score in the United States, is tallied will likely make it easier for tens of millions of Americans to get loans. (http://on.wsj.com/1yb8UZM)

* Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Malaysia's state investment company, said it will buy out Malaysian Airline System Bhd as the first step in restructuring the ailing flag carrier hit by the high-profile loss of two of its flights this year. (http://on.wsj.com/1q05RiP)

* The U.S. economy looks set to steadily accelerate after a weather-pummeled first-half crawl, but the most upbeat economists in The Wall Street Journal's monthly forecasting survey say the business sector holds the key to even stronger growth during the second half. (http://on.wsj.com/1mrprmJ)

* Investors pulled a record $7.1 billion from junk-bond funds in the week ended Wednesday. Many investors have been pulling back from the market amid concerns that the bonds are overvalued and a strengthening U.S. economy could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than the market currently expects. (http://on.wsj.com/1mrirX0)

* Blackstone Group LP, KKR & Co LP and TPG Capital Management LP agreed to pay a combined $325 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that a number of private-equity firms colluded to keep down the prices they paid for companies. (http://on.wsj.com/1qZuKRU)

* Deutsche Bank AG, under fire from U.S. regulators over what they see as weak systems and financial controls, has been formally ordered to clean up its act as part of a confidential pact with the authorities, according to people familiar with the agreement. (http://on.wsj.com/1oJUtuj)

* MetLife Inc has agreed to pay $23 million to resolve a class-action litigation that accused an agent of the firm of improperly blasting life-insurance pitches via fax machine. (http://on.wsj.com/X5Ehd8)

* The Obama administration is exploring a range of possible weapons in the tax code to try to deter companies from relocating overseas for tax purposes through so-called inversion mergers. (http://on.wsj.com/1q07mNQ)

* International Business Machines Corp said it has developed a microchip that simulates brain functions to perform calculations. IBM says the chip is a sharp break from the fundamental design used in most computers. (http://on.wsj.com/1q088uc)

* Russia's ban on food imports from the United States could trim revenues for producers of almonds, poultry and other agricultural products, though the impact on the U.S. farm sector is expected to be muted overall, industry officials said on Thursday. (http://on.wsj.com/V6EVp1)

* Deutsche Telekom AG Chief Executive Timotheus Höttges said he hasn't received an offer for U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile US that meets his requirements for a deal, as the company reported a rise in second-quarter profit. (http://on.wsj.com/1pYSHT2) (Compiled by Rama Venkat Raman in Bangalore)