PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - July 6

July 6 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The Wall Street Journal on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* A federal judge approved the sale of General Motors Corp's GMGMQ.PK assets to a new government-run company, removing a key hurdle to the auto maker's plan to exit bankruptcy.

* Wisconsin-based Bemis Co (BMS.N) has agreed to acquire the U.S. packaging business of Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L) for $1.2 billion in cash and stock.

* Technology companies, which have weathered the financial storm better than most others, are under the spotlight as the second-quarter earnings season begins this week.

* At backwater branches in rural India, banks are raking in rupees and making loans at record levels, reflecting an economic resilience in the country's countryside.

* Six months after the U.K. government scrambled to launch new bailout measures for Britain's foundering banks and economy, several of those efforts are languishing with few takers.

* Venture-capital investors see Washington's economic stimulus program as a potential financial boost for the hard-hit technology firms and other start-ups they own. Of particular interest is more than $60 billion earmarked for four sectors widely invested in by venture-capital firms: environmentally clean technology, rural Internet broadband, cyber security and health-care information technology.

* Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), which stepped away from its conservative roots with its purchase of Wachovia last year, plans to announce that it will expand its securities business.

* Reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd (PRE.N) said Sunday it will acquire Paris Re Holdings (PRI.PA) in a multiple-step stock-for-stock transaction it valued at about $2 billion.

* The U.S. arm of BAE Systems Plc (BAES.L) is aiming to broaden its security businesses further beyond the Defense Department, according to the subsidiary's new boss, Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine general who commanded U.S. forces in the Mideast and Central Asia during the 1990s.

* European regulators proposed new measures that could place additional burdens on Europe's derivatives industry, fueling some concern that trading of these exotic contracts could be pushed onto exchanges, crimping the profits of banks that currently handle such transactions.

* China Investment Corp has appointed an international advisory board of economic and investment experts that the sovereign-wealth fund can consult with about its growing investments abroad.

* Producers in the U.S. and Europe have increased prices for flat steel by as much as $50 a ton or more and in some cases restarted idle production as customers replenish inventories and auto makers benefit from government-sponsored car-scrapping subsidies.