PRESS DIGEST- New York Times business news - Jan 11

Jan 11 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- Volkswagen AG is on the verge of pleading guilty to criminal charges and paying $4.3 billion in fines, in a deal that would resolve a federal criminal investigation into its cheating on vehicle emissions tests, the automaker said on Tuesday. http://nyti.ms/2jtdNNH

- The publisher of The Daily Mirror, a left-wing British tabloid, said on Tuesday it was in early-stage talks to acquire a minority stake in a new company that would include assets of the Northern & Shell Media Group, which publishes two rival right-wing tabloids, The Daily Express and The Daily Star. http://nyti.ms/2j64abm

- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is pushing further into the very sector that it helped to disrupt with a $2.6 billion bid for Intime Retail Group Co Ltd, a department store and mall operator in China. Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce behemoth, already owned 28 percent of Intime, which is listed in Hong Kong, and made an offer with Shen Guo Jun, the founder of the department store chain, to take the company private. http://nyti.ms/2j66u27

- Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan have hired a top political operative to lead the next phase of their philanthropic work at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the limited liability company they set up in 2015 to conduct charitable efforts. David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and is chief adviser and a board member at Uber, is leaving the ride-hailing company to join the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as president of policy and advocacy. http://nyti.ms/2jtfiLE

- John Carlin, who was the Justice Department's top national security lawyer, has moved to the law firm Morrison & Foerster to lead its global risk and crisis management practice, the firm announced on Tuesday. http://nyti.ms/2iDPU6a (Compiled by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru)