PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Dec 22

Dec 22 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

* 'Queen of Quangos' emerges as BBC chair contender http://on.ft.com/2ht3oRB

* Federal Reserve hits Spanish bank BBVA with $27 mln penalty http://on.ft.com/2ht8EEJ

* Apple-Nokia legal battle reignites patent wars http://on.ft.com/2ht629X

* Superfast broadband to reach 600,000 more rural homes http://on.ft.com/2hteuGk

Overview

- Deirdre Hutton emerged as a contender to become the next BBC chair. She is on a final shortlist of three to head the board of directors for BBC. The two other candidates are David Clementi and John Makinson.

- Federal Reserve assessed a civil monetary penalty of $27 million on Bilbao-based BBVA and its subsidiary in New York BBVS Securities after it found that the non-bank unit had exceeded limits on activities previously imposed by the Fed's board.

- Apple accused two companies associated with Nokia of conspiring with the Finnish company to "extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively". Nokia hit back at Apple on Wednesday saying that it had filed legal challenges of its own in the US and Germany.

- The UK government is seeking to connect an extra 600,000 homes in rural areas to superfast broadband, after BT released almost 300 million pounds into a scheme designed to address the gap between speeds available in the countryside and in cities.

(Compiled by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)