PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Sept 29

Sept 29 (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.

* Amid rising concern about the threat of influenza pandemics, three big drug makers announced deals Monday that give them rights to new flu vaccines, placing bets on one of the pharmaceutical industry's brightest, but riskiest, segments.

* Xerox Corp (XRX.N) and its new chief executive, Ursula Burns, unveiled the biggest acquisition in the company's 103-year history, joining a wave of hardware makers expanding into services with a $5.6 billion deal for Affiliated Computer Services Inc (ACS.N).

* The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is expected to propose Tuesday that the bulk of the banking industry prepay three years' worth of fees to replenish the fund that insures trillions of dollars of customers' deposits, people familiar with the matter said.

* Big Wall Street firms from Vanguard Group Inc to Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) are lining up against new rules to restrict short-selling under consideration by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

* Warner Music Group Corp and YouTube are close to an agreement that would return the music company's video clips to Google Inc's (GOOG.O) video-sharing site after a nine-month licensing dispute.

* Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said Monday that his office could soon seek "billions" from Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), including Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, over the bank's handling of the purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co.

* China approved U.S. auto maker General Motors Co's [GM.UL] plan to buy part of Delphi Corp DPHIQ.PK, following an antitrust review.

* More uncertainty was injected into the planned sale of General Motors Co's Opel to a group led by Magna International Inc MGa.TO as Spain urged European regulators to investigate the agreement and Germany's Free Democrats, consistent critics of the deal, were poised to win a powerful voice in Germany's new government.

* Sequenom Inc (SQNM.O) said it dismissed Chief Executive Harry Stylli and four others after an independent panel of directors found the company failed to adequately police its studies of a noninvasive prenatal test for Down's syndrome.

* FairPoint Communications Inc FRP.N said it is in talks with some of its lenders about restructuring its debt, a deal which could lead to a bankruptcy filing, as it announced $42 million in interest and other payments may not be made Wednesday.