Nov 6 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* The chief executives of Detroit's Big Three automakers and the president of the United Automobile Workers union are scheduled to meet Thursday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about emergency financial aid for the companies, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.
* The first clues are emerging that Wall Street pay will plummet this year - but perhaps not enough to satisfy the financial industry's critics.
* Even as financial turmoil has cut into sales at many stores, it sent consumers into the arms of Wal-Mart.

* Ten days before the leaders of 20 countries assemble here for an emergency summit meeting on the financial crisis, the Bush administration discouraged suggestions that the gathering would create a new international market regulator with cross-border authority.
* The German government approved a stimulus package of 23 billion euros ($29 billion) on Wednesday in a bid to unlock more than twice that amount in investments and help the country, one of the world's biggest exporters, weather a global slowdown.

* International Business Machines Corp's chief executive, Samuel Palmisano, is proposing a technology-fueled economic recovery plan that calls for public and private investment in more efficient systems for utility grids, traffic management, food distribution, water conservation and health care.
* GMAC Financial Services, the finance company partly owned by General Motors Corp, lost $2.52 billion in the third quarter, hurt by the housing slump and write-downs on vehicle leases, and said that its mortgage unit, one of the nation's largest home loan providers, might not survive.
* Google Inc offered its rival Yahoo Inc a marriage of convenience this past summer: an advertising partnership that gave Yahoo an alternative to selling all or part of itself to Microsoft Corp. That proposed marriage fell apart in the face of opposition from government antitrust regulators, leaving a jilted Yahoo under growing pressure to devise a new growth plan.
* A private equity firm is buying a 17 percent stake in Whole Foods Market Inc, a much-needed vote of confidence for a chain that is being battered by increased competition and a weak economy.
* Small merchants have long chafed at the fees they must pay banks every time a customer swipes a debit or credit card. But now, with business slowing and every dollar important to their bottom line, some merchants are pushing for changes.
* Delta Air Lines Inc, the nation's biggest carrier, said that it would charge some passengers to check their first bag, but that it was eliminating the fuel surcharges to book tickets using frequent-flier miles.
* ArcelorMittal SA, the world's largest steel maker, said that it would sharply cut production as global demand waned.
* Cisco Systems Inc warned that a sharp drop in sales could push revenue down by as much as 10 percent.
* In a revamping, the drug maker GlaxoSmithKline Plc will cut about 1,000 sales jobs in the United States by the end of this year.
* Richard Li, the Hong Kong tycoon, is moving ahead with efforts to buy out minority shareholders in the telecommunications company PCCW, but he faces a struggle to secure enough support. Keywords: PRESS DIGEST/NYT

(Compiled by Aftab Ahmed; Bangalore Equities Newsdesk +91 80 4135 5800; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780)

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