PRESS DIGEST-Financial Times, Wall St Journal Asia editions

SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal carried the following stories in their Asia print and website editions on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL TIMES (www.ft.com)

-- China Development Bank's [CHDB.UL] plan to bid for Germany's Dresdner Bank failed in large part because Chinese leaders refused to agree to the deal in time, in a sign of Beijing's increasingly cautious attitude to investments in western financial institutions.

-- India's Tata Group is looking to spin off its international steel assets, including Corus, in an overseas listing that could raise billions of dollars to help bankroll the steel unit's expansion.

-- Bank stocks in Europe and the UK, including UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) and HBOS HBOS.L, fell sharply and the risk of owning their debt leapt after the European Central Bank declared a crackdown on abuses of its bank liquidity operations.

WALL STREET JOURNAL (www.wsj.com)

-- Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej proposed a referendum on whether he should stay in office, in a surprise strategy as anti-government protesters continued to occupy his compound.

-- Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) says it is recalling 440,000 Vaio laptop computers world-wide due to a wiring flaw that could cause overheating.

-- Republican Presidential nominee John McCain will pledge to put aside "partisan rancor", promising in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention that "change is coming" to Washington, according to advance excerpts.

-- The South Korean won's KRW= slide has raised economic anxieties and has increased the chances of higher rates.