PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - July 22

July 22 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* A former member of the first family of oil-rich Kazakhstan is accusing its authoritarian ruler of extensive corruption, potentially complicating U.S. efforts to improve relations with the strategically important Central Asian state.

* Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) agreement to appoint Carl Icahn to its board ends Icahn's proxy fight against the Web giant -- and gives the activist investor a direct hand in any decision about selling to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).

* Roche's (ROG.VX) $44 billion bid to gain full ownership of Genentech Inc DNA.N took the staunchly independent biotech company by surprise and risks upsetting the highly successful -- but delicate -- relationship the partners have developed over two decades. Executives agreed to meet Tuesday to discuss the offer.

* General Motors Corp (GM.N) and three dozen electric utilities agreed to collaborate on smoothing a path for a plug-in electric vehicle that is slated to roll out in about two years. The collaboration is the first major effort by the two industries on an electric vehicle and includes some of the biggest names in the power sector.

* Wall Street firms handled the Securities and Exchange Commission's new short-selling limits, which took effect Monday, relatively smoothly. Some of the stocks were in shorter supply, and some customers had to pay more to arrange borrowing of shares.

* Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, accused architect of massacres making him one of the world's top war-crimes fugitives, was arrested late Monday in a sweep by Serbian security force.

* New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez has signed the William Morris Agency to handle his career and execute a strategy for burnishing his image. Scott Boras will continue to represent him in any baseball-related negotiations.

* Apple Inc (AAPL.O) reported a profit of $1.07 billion as consumers continued to flock to its computers and iPods, but a dimmed outlook for the summer quarter clipped 10 percent from the stock after hours.

* Bank examiners from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are looking at the books of mortgage investors Fannie Mae FNM.N and Freddie Mac FRE.N, a person familiar with the situation said.

* WellCare Health Plans Inc (WCG.N) will restate more than three years of results in response to a Medicaid fraud probe. The company also faces inquiries from several states and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and lawsuits by shareholders.

* Federal regulators found a jalapeno pepper contaminated with a rare strain of salmonella at a small distributor in Texas, prompting a Food and Drug Administration consumer warning. The agency recently lifted a similar warning about tomatoes.