March 18 (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.

* Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled ahead of his main challenger in Israeli elections with most of the votes counted early Wednesday, a strong showing after he hammered away at security issues in the final hours of the campaign. (http://on.wsj.com/1bet0hw)

* Moshe Kahlon, who left Likud after a personal falling out with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, led his new center-right party, Kulanu, to a strong finish in a tight race. (http://on.wsj.com/1besZKj)

* American Express Co will unveil plans Wednesday to team up with big-name companies such as Macy's Inc and Exxon Mobil Corp to launch a loyalty program this spring, the latest move by the credit card company to appeal to a wider customer base. (http://on.wsj.com/1betYdz)

* Car makers such as Audi favor Mexico over the U.S. South as a site for North American plants partly owing to Mexico's free-trade agreements. (http://on.wsj.com/1ADl9jh)

* After years of reassuring the public that interest rates would stay low, the Federal Reserve is about to create some uncertainty by veering away from such promises. (http://on.wsj.com/1MIrtxx)

* Citigroup Inc and Barclays Plc are expected to pay as much as $800 million combined to settle a lawsuit with investors who say the banks manipulated foreign-exchange rates. (http://on.wsj.com/19x8zM1)

* Mortgage-finance companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on Tuesday said they are changing the way they modify some loans in anticipation of an influx of borrowers struggling to make payments on loans with rising interest rates. (http://on.wsj.com/1EpwlkR)

* French fashion house Chanel said it would increase prices in Europe on some handbags while slashing them in China in a bid to eliminate a growing price gap caused by the weakened euro. (http://on.wsj.com/1HYczRd)

* The boards of cement companies Holcim and Lafarge met separately on Tuesday to try to save their proposed $44-billion tie-up, and discussions on both sides hinged on the future of one man: Lafarge CEO Bruno Lafont. (http://on.wsj.com/1EuNNXJ)

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's executives often tout their 102-year vision for the Chinese e-commerce company. But some investors don't have to stick around past Wednesday. That is when several big institutional investors who bought stakes in Alibaba before its September initial public offering will be free to sell about 340 million shares when some "lockup" agreements expire. (http://on.wsj.com/1MM8hx6)

* A proposed mall merger turned into a battle royal, with two of the country's largest retail landlords trading barbs and jostling for better position in a $16 billion takeover offer. Los Angeles-based Macerich Co, the third-largest mall owner in the U.S. by market value, on Tuesday rejected an offer by its larger rival, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc , to buy the company for $91 per share in cash and stock. (http://on.wsj.com/1GUJapS) (Compiled by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru)