PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Aug 8

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

* Airbus and Boeing Co (BA.N) have both struggled with complex technology and assembly issues that have delayed ambitious new jet models. Now the manufacturing rivals face a more basic problem with the production of their existing planes: a shortage of less-advanced equipment such as seats, toilets and galleys that is slowing down their assembly lines.

* CEO Robert Willumstad is taking time to hatch a plan to revive American International Group Inc (AIG.N). Investors aren't waiting. Shares plunged 18 percent, after the company reported a $5.4 billion quarterly loss. The decline helped drag down the broader market.

* Companies throughout the food chain are changing the way they do business in response to soaring grain costs, and consumers are likely to bear the brunt in the form of rising food prices.

* Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have released the names of supporters who each have raised at least half a million dollars. These mega-fund-raisers have created a new category of political bundlers who surpassed previous fund-raising highs.

* The number of people riding Amtrak surged 13.9 percent in July from a year earlier, as high gas prices caused more commuters to rely on intercity rail, but trains are getting overcrowded and a backlog of infrastructure problems stands in the way of expanded service.

* Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Merrill Lynch & Co MER.N agreed to buy back $17 billion in auction-rate securities, seeking to defuse a legal showdown over their sales practices. A key source of short-term funding for municipalities is drying up as banks step away from a market that had become a substitute for the auction-rate-securities market.

* A military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden's former driver to 5 ½ years in prison for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for release in just five months. Salim Hamdan had faced up to life in prison, and prosecutors sought a sentence of at least 30 years.

* Nestle's (NESN.VX) first-half net rose 6.1 percent as sales of higher-margin items and price increases offset rising commodity costs. The latest results suggest Nestle may be more resilient than some of its rivals to rising raw-materials prices.

* Weak July sales from retailers have some worried that a back-to-school sales boom might not happen this year. If performance is down this fall, it could be an unpleasant preview of what is usually the chains' most promising time of year, the holiday season.