PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Jan 10

Jan 10 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- BlackRock BLK.N has withdrawn from the United Nations-backed Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, marking a significant shift for the asset manager once seen as a leader in ESG investing.

- Southwest Airlines LUV.N CFO Tammy Romo will retire on April 1 after more than 30 years with the company, as the airline seeks a search for her successor.

- Elon Musk's AI startup xAI has launched Grok, its first stand-alone consumer app featuring its proprietary language model, as it seeks to compete with OpenAI and Google in the generative AI space.

- Wells Fargo WFC.N has appointed JPMorgan Chase JPM.N executive Ed Olebe to lead its credit card division, as the bank seeks to expand the business under CEO Charlie Scharf.

- A New York appeals court has denied Fox Corp's FOXA.O bid to dismiss Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit over 2020 election-rigging claims, allowing the case seeking billions in damages to proceed to trial.

- Unionized dockworkers from Maine to Texas secured a nearly 62% pay raise over six years and protections against technology use in a tentative labor deal with East and Gulf Coast port employers, reached just ahead of a strike deadline.

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

((globalnewsmonitoring@thomsonreuters.com))