July 24 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Three people were killed and seven more were injured when a man opened fire in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Thursday night, officials said. The gunman was one of the dead. (http://nyti.ms/1IpOk2w)

* The sale of the FT Group to Japanese media company Nikkei comes after the financial newspaper's British owner, Pearson Plc , decided to focus on its growing education business. The price was an eye-popping $1.3 billion, one of the biggest newspaper deals ever, dwarfing other recent sales. (http://nyti.ms/1SFp5Jd)

* Turkey plunged into the fight against the Islamic State on Thursday, rushing forces into the first direct combat with its militants on the Syrian border and granting permission for American warplanes to use two Turkish air bases for bombarding the group in Syria. (http://nyti.ms/1IoQRKf)

* Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said it had filed with regulators to spin off Ferrari, the Italian luxury sports car maker, in an initial public offering in the United States. The automaker said that it would seek to list the shares of the business, to be known as Ferrari N.V., on the New York Stock Exchange. (http://nyti.ms/1CTtKp0)

* Two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into whether Hillary Rodham Clinton mishandled sensitive government information on a private email account she used as secretary of state, senior government officials said Thursday. (http://nyti.ms/1LzFY96)

* Two men in Florida accused in an illegal Bitcoin operation and three in Israel charged in a stock scheme are being investigated in the breach at JPMorgan Chase and Co last summer. (http://nyti.ms/1SFoOG7)

* McDonald's Corp reported a 13 percent drop in earnings, to $1.2 billion, as customers reacted coolly to its turnaround attempts. (http://nyti.ms/1GIVqYF)

* The Electronic Sports League said it would start testing players for performance-enhancing drugs, a regulation move that would align it with more traditional sports leagues. (http://nyti.ms/1HMV0EA)

(Compiled by Zara Mascarenhas in Bengaluru)