PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Feb 26

Reuters

Feb 26 (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.

* Administration lawyers have presented the White House with four options for restructuring the National Security Agency's phone-surveillance program, from ditching the controversial collection altogether to running it through the telephone companies, according to officials familiar with the discussions.()

* The virtual currency bitcoin suffered the biggest setback in its five-year history after a major exchange shut down on Tuesday, stoking concern about the future of a digital form of money traded by professional investors and ordinary people, but regulated by no one. ()

* Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has received a subpoena from federal prosecutors in New York, according to a person familiar with the matter, dealing another blow to the embattled marketplace for buyers and sellers of the virtual currency. ()

* Two big banks, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp, on Tuesday disclosed details of the continuing regulatory and legal challenges they face for their actions during the financial crisis. ()

* Credit Suisse Group AG went to great lengths to assist U.S. customers trying to open Swiss bank accounts and evade federal taxes, courting clients at a Swiss-themed ball in New York and golf tournaments in Florida and setting up a branch in the Zurich airport to assist Americans en route to ski vacations, a Senate report alleged Tuesday. ()

* Tesla Motors Inc shares hit a record high on Tuesday ahead of an expected announcement of a battery-production partnership in which the company would carve out a business making advanced batteries for itself and others. Panasonic Corp, now the primary battery supplier for Tesla's $71,000-and-up electric cars, is in talks about investing in a nearly $1 billion battery factory in the United States, according to Japanese business newspaper the Nikkei. ()

* When word got out that Procter & Gamble Co had allowed Amazon.com Inc to set up shop inside its warehouses, Amazon's bitter rival Target Corp reacted by retaliating against P&G, according to people familiar with the matter. Several months ago, the discount chain started to give some P&G products less-prominent placement in stores people in the industry said. ()

* The Pentagon has responded to concerns that defense cuts could harm the U.S. military-industrial base by proposing support that could aid two unlikely beneficiaries: General Electric Co and United Technologies Corp. ()