Oct 28 (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.
- General Electric Co is in talks to merge its oil-and-gas business with Baker Hughes Inc, according to people familiar with the matter, a transaction that would dramatically reshape the industrial giant. http://on.wsj.com/2eVrG6s
- Apple Inc introduced new versions of its Macintosh personal computers Thursday, betting that smaller, thinner models and a touch screen on the keyboard will reverse declining sales. Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro laptops, adding a thin touch screen on top of the keyboards of some models. Users can slide and touch the bar to edit photos, navigate the web or authorize online purchases. http://on.wsj.com/2dMor3U
- CenturyLink Inc is in advanced talks to merge with Level 3 Communications Inc, a deal that would give the business-telecommunications companies greater heft in a brutally competitive industry. A deal could be announced in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. As always, there is a possibility the talks could fall apart. http://on.wsj.com/2eK4Z4z
- Qualcomm Inc's agreement to pay $39 billion for the world's largest developer of chips for automobiles represents a huge bet on cars becoming the next smartphone - a way to roll together communications and services once handled by dozens of other devices. Its deal for NXP Semiconductors NV , the biggest to date in the semiconductor industry, puts the spotlight on Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf, who 20 years ago started at the company he now runs designing the unseen chips used in mobile phones. http://on.wsj.com/2e06CwB
- Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp said Thursday it had launched an external review of its security and staffing processes in the wake of its second major personnel scandal in three years. The government services and defense specialist said it had hired former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller to conduct the review. http://on.wsj.com/2dMWTep (Compiled by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru)