Sept 11 (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.
* President Barack Obama authorized the start of U.S. air strikes in Syria and expanded a month-long bombing campaign in Iraq to "degrade and ultimately destroy" Islamic militants who recently beheaded two Americans. (http://on.wsj.com/1p97F8h)
* The National Football League said Wednesday night that it is appointing former FBI Director Robert Mueller to conduct an investigation into the league's "pursuit and handling of evidence" in the Ray Rice domestic violence incident. The investigation will be supervised by New York Giants owner John Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney. (http://on.wsj.com/1tLZCWt)
* Investigators are examining communications between research firm Height Securities and several hedge funds, opening a new front in an insider-trading probe focused on the firm's 2013 investor alert about a change in health-care policy. (http://on.wsj.com/1tzuV2V)
* Fifteen years ago, Ana Patricia Botín was pushed out of her senior job at Banco Santander SA by the bank's chairman, who also happened to be her father. On Wednesday Botín's Shakespearean career came full circle, with her being named chairman after her father's death. (http://on.wsj.com/1qEWKIJ)
* A bipartisan bill approved by a congressional committee to amend the U.S. bankruptcy code underscores a post-crisis conundrum: Big banks must demonstrate they can be dismantled in bankruptcy, but experts and some lawmakers say the current code is inadequate to handle the failure of a major financial firm. (http://on.wsj.com/1nMQObQ)
* The Securities and Exchange Commission is stepping up its scrutiny of corporate executives who sell shares in their own companies, announcing a raft of cases Wednesday against insiders for allegedly breaking rules on disclosing stockholdings and trades. (http://on.wsj.com/Zhuwte)
* Twitter Inc plans to raise as much as $1.5 billion in the social-media company's first sale of debt to support its growing business. The San Francisco company said it is offering convertible bonds in two chunks of $650 million, according to a securities filing on Wednesday. (http://on.wsj.com/1lV9Wsx)
* Sony Corp said it reached an agreement for its planned Web-based TV service to carry MTV, Nickelodeon and 20 other Viacom Inc channels and offer access to streaming Viacom programming on mobile devices. (http://on.wsj.com/1qHHdIm)
* JDS Uniphase Corp said it plans to split into two publicly traded companies, separating its optical components business from its networking operations. The fiber-optic communications company plans to spin off its communications and commercial optical products segment into a separate company by the third quarter of next year. (http://on.wsj.com/Zhvdmn) (Compiled by Supriya Kurane in Bangalore)