March 23 (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.

- Elliott Management Corp, one of the biggest activist investors in the U.S., is pushing Dutch paint and chemicals giant Akzo Nobel NV — which traces its roots in part to dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel—to enter into talks with PPG Industries Inc, a Pittsburgh-based rival. http://on.wsj.com/2muLioW

- AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc joined a growing number of companies pulling much of their advertising from Google, expanding a controversy over the internet giant's ad placements on objectionable content and deepening the financial impact on the company even after it announced measures to assuage concerns. http://on.wsj.com/2muPa9x

- Sears Holdings Corp's raised doubts in a securities filing about its ability to keep operating after seven years of losses, sending the retailer's share price tumbling and spooking some of its landlords. http://on.wsj.com/2muElUF

- Nike Inc said a sneaker homage to the cult classic film "Space Jam" was a smash hit, but the retro shoes were a rare highlight in otherwise troubling results for the world's largest athletic company. http://on.wsj.com/2muLnce

- Nick Denton will leave bankruptcy having weathered a multimillion-dollar judgment from an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit that forced the chapter 11 sale of his Gawker media business. http://on.wsj.com/2muB9bW

- Starbucks Corp plans to hire more U.S. military veterans and their spouses after facing backlash over its promise to hire refugees. Presiding over his last annual shareholders meeting as chief executive, Howard Schultz said Starbucks will hire 15,000 veterans and their spouses by 2025, on top of more than 10,000 hired since a pledge he made four years ago. http://on.wsj.com/2muFDiB

- General Electric Co said it would double its planned cost cuts in industrial operations over two years and more closely tie top executives' bonuses to profit in its core business. http://on.wsj.com/2muJEUe

- China Petroleum & Chemical Corp said it would acquire controlling stakes in Chevron Corp's businesses in South Africa and Botswana, in a roughly $900 million deal that underscores the ambition of China's struggling oil companies to earn more money abroad as profits shrink at home. http://on.wsj.com/2muLfJw (Compiled by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru)