Dec 29 (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.
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday of thwarting peace in the Middle East. http://nyti.ms/2isFXsE
- Even before Kerry issued his scathing critique of Israeli policies on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump essentially told Netanyahu to ignore it. http://nyti.ms/2hPqJgg
- Actress Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday aged 84, a day after the death of her daughter, the actress Carrie Fisher. http://nyti.ms/2hPtCxT
- With threats like cord cutting and declining television viewership, 2016 was not a lucrative year for cable television giants like TBS, Discovery, Univision and ESPN. http://nyti.ms/2igklQo
- In a move that promises to raise new questions about electronic privacy, detectives investigating a murder in Arkansas are seeking access to audio that may have been recorded on an Amazon Echo electronic personal assistant. http://nyti.ms/2ijEQhz
- Hans Tietmeyer, the central banker who led Germany's transition from the deutsche mark to the euro despite reservations about a single European currency, died on Tuesday aged 85. http://nyti.ms/2iGWQiw
- The president and chief executive of Dentsu, one of the world's largest advertising firms, said he would resign to take responsibility for the death of an employee, as well as the larger problem of dangerously long work hours at the agency that has been laid bare in its wake. Matsuri Takahashi, a young employee at Dentsu told friends on Twitter of enduring harassment and grueling long hours on the job, in the months before she jumped to her death from a company dormitory last Christmas. http://nyti.ms/2hPwHxL
(Compiled by Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru)