PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Aug 15

Aug 15 (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.

* The world economy is slowing significantly after months of resilience in the face of U.S. weakness. Four of the world's five largest economies -- the U.S., the euro zone, Japan and the U.K. -- are now flirting with recession.

* In the contested region of South Ossetia, there was little evidence to back Russia's contention that Georgian attacks killed thousands of civilians. An incident in the Georgian city of Gori also belied Russia's claims it is observing the cease-fire.

* Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, a close U.S. ally, is likely to resign soon following secret talks aimed at easing his departure, people familiar with the situation say.

* Data emerging on players in the commodities markets show that speculators are a larger piece of the oil market than previously known, a development enlivening an already tense election-year debate about traders' influence.

* Michael Phelps won his sixth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Friday in record time, defeating rivals Laszlo Cseh and teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley.

* Sen. John McCain's son served until last month on the board audit committee of a Nevada bank that is struggling to survive amid mounting losses and regulatory scrutiny. There is no evidence of wrongdoing committed by Andy McCain, but the family ties could emerge as an issue on the campaign trail.

* New Hampshire accused UBS (UBSN.VX) of urging a student lender to keep issuing auction-rate securities even though it knew a market collapse loomed. A UBS senior banker held in the U.S. and asked to testify before the Senate was allowed to leave the country.

* The Federal Aviation Administration, proposing one of its biggest penalties ever, said it plans to fine AMR Corp's (AMR.N) American Airlines $7.1 million for allegedly violating employee drug- and alcohol-testing procedures and knowingly flying airplanes that broke maintenance regulations.

* A coming court ruling over the sharing of music files could set the bar higher for record labels to prove copyrights were violated.

* Harbinger Capital Management has accumulated 4.9 percent of Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N), possibly prompting Chief Executive James Dolan to explore options.