Jan 13 (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.
* The Basel Committee for Banking Supervision agreed on Sunday to ease a new rule, meant to rein in risky balance sheets, starting 2018, in an effort to avoid tightening financing for the world's economy. The regulators signaled there is still no agreement on the final level of the new leverage ratio, which measures how much capital a bank must hold against its loans and other assets. ()
* Comcast Corp unit NBCUniversal News Group announced a partnership with Now This News, a startup that creates short-form news segments tailored for distribution over social media sites like Vine, Instagram and Snapchat. It was not revealed how much money NBC invested, but the transaction would give it a roughly 10 percent stake, as well as an entry into a new news format. ()
* Gerchen Keller Capital, an upstart investment firm that bets on lawsuits, was expected to announce on Monday that it has amassed about $260 million for its second fund. Litigation finance, as the business is known, often involves bankrolling plaintiffs in exchange for a slice of the lawsuit's potential winnings. ()
* An increasing number of pawn businesses catering to the wealthy offer fast liquidity in exchange for high-end luxury items. With almost 250 years of experience in the exclusive world of high-end pawn, Suttons & Robertsons has come to the United States to fill what it believes is a growing need among wealthy Americans who have spent beyond their means and need a quick - and quiet - infusion of cash in exchange for a few cherished baubles they are willing, at least temporarily, to live without. ()
* The annual North American International Auto Show has taken on added importance for Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy six months ago, as the city desperately needs a successful show to improve its battered image. ()
* Indonesia, one of the world's biggest producers of minerals including gold, nickel, copper, tin and thermal coal, implemented a new law on Sunday banning the export of unprocessed ore. ()
* A fire at a Citibank branch in Morningside Heights in Manhattan burned for more than 30 hours on Saturday and Sunday, drawing over 200 firefighters before it was extinguished. The fate of customers' valuables stored in safe deposit boxes at the branch was not known. ()