April 8 (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.
* Petroleum giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc is in advanced talks to acquire Britain's BG Group Plc, in a deal that would likely be valued at upwards of $50 billion. (http://on.wsj.com/1DIlOXB)
* A white police officer who shot a black man in North Charleston, South Carolina, was charged with murder after law enforcement reviewed a video taken by a bystander. (http://on.wsj.com/1GJrMGO)
* FedEx Corp said it would buy Dutch parcel-delivery firm TNT Express for about $4.8 billion, making an end run around rival United Parcel Service Inc and positioning itself to capitalize on the growth of e-commerce in Europe. (http://on.wsj.com/1ajgJHH)
* Investors and small firms are entering the $2.6 trillion U.S. repo market, taking advantage of banks' retreat from a key corner of the credit markets. (http://on.wsj.com/1CvRHvq)
* Hedge-fund manager Kyle Bass's patent challenge against Jazz Pharmaceuticals illustrates a new strategy of challenging U.S. drug patents while shorting shares of the holder and wagering on potential winners.(http://on.wsj.com/1y2WVDs)
* The chairman of an insurance regulatory task force is calling for changes to better protect consumers from agents who sell financial products despite being barred from the securities industry.(http://on.wsj.com/1a3NB70)
* Japan's SoftBank Corp is downsizing its presence in U.S. tech enclave Silicon Valley after subsidiary Sprint Corp's failed bid last year to acquire T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier. A SoftBank spokesman said Wednesday that the company had subleased both of the four-story office buildings it had leased in San Carlos, California in 2013, where around 100 employees had been stationed until last year. (http://on.wsj.com/1FejYOg)
* Canada's Manulife Financial Corp is near a multiyear deal worth well more than $1 billion to win the right to sell its insurance products through Singaporean lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd's branch network across Asia, according to a person familiar with the situation. (http://on.wsj.com/1DIlOXB) (Compiled by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru)