Aug 1 (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.

- Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley argued for continued caution over the path of U.S. interest rates, given uncertainty over the global outlook, but warned that traders who have been ruling out an interest-rate increase later this year are growing too complacent. http://on.wsj.com/2ar4Y5E

- China's homegrown ride-hailing champion, Didi Chuxing Technology Co, has reached a deal to acquire Uber Technologies Inc's China operations, people familiar with the deal said, marking an end to their bruising competition for passengers. http://on.wsj.com/2ar5O2o

- Pope Francis said the inspiration for terrorism wasn't Islam but a world economy that worshiped the "god of money" and drove the disenfranchised to violence. "Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has at its center the god of money and not the person, "the pope told reporters late Sunday as he returned to the Vatican from a five-day visit in Poland. "This is fundamental terrorism, against all humanity." http://on.wsj.com/2akIL7H

- A hot-air balloon hit at least one electrical transmission line before all 16 people on board died in a fiery crash in Central Texas on Saturday, prompting accident experts to delve into weather conditions, pilot actions and equipment issues, according to the first official release of information by federal investigators. At a Sunday press conference in the middle of a rural pasture bisected by power lines and towers about 30 miles south of Austin, Robert Sumwalt, the on-scene member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said preliminary indications pointed to some type of collision between a portion of the balloon and part of that electrical grid. http://on.wsj.com/2aVmihm (Compiled by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru)