Oct 1(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.
- The long-serving chief executive of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd ANZ.AX and an architect of the lender's expansion into Asia, Mike Smith, will step down at the end of the year. He will be succeeded by Shayne Elliott, the bank's chief financial officer. (http://on.wsj.com/1JEAQde)
- Russia launched airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, catching U.S. and Western officials off guard and drawing new condemnation as evidence suggested Moscow wasn't targeting extremist group Islamic State, but rather other opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime. (http://on.wsj.com/1hcl7eE)
- China has begun to report its currency reserves to the International Monetary Fund for the first time-a milestone in opening a key facet of the country's economy to the public view. The move comes as Beijing seeks to have its currency, the yuan, included in the basket of reserve currencies that comprise the fund's lending instrument. (http://on.wsj.com/1JEB9os)
- Indonesia's handling of the bidding for its first high-speed train, with reversals and mixed messages to Japan and China, added to the confusion foreign companies face. After months of bids, revisions, and talks among presidents and prime ministers-even a short-lived cancellation of the project-Japan said this week that Indonesia picked China for the $5 billion project. (http://on.wsj.com/1QLYsSQ)
- Two measures of the health of China's struggling manufacturing industry point to persisting headwinds for the world's second-largest economy. While September's official purchasing managers index registered a modest improvement over August's results, the gauge of factory activity also showed that manufacturing continued to contract at a time when the world is increasingly focused on China's growth prospects. (http://on.wsj.com/1M2LnAN)
- Afghan troops recaptured the northern city of Kunduz from the Taliban early Thursday, officials and residents said. Afghan troops had on Wednesday night launched a counteroffensive against militants who had stormed the city days earlier. (http://on.wsj.com/1MI7aki)