PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - Aug 28

Aug 28 (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 Justice Department will roll back a conversational set of rules that penalized companies if they insisted on paying employees' legal fees or protecting their confidential communications with corporate lawyers.

* Before they ship PCs to retailers like Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N), computer makers get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to load them up with lots of free software. For $30, Best Buy will get rid of it for you.

* The New York attorney general announced an agreement that would require Xcel Energy Inc (XEL.N), a builder of coal-fired plants, to disclose to investors the financial risks of global warming.

* In Brazil, the government is encouraging farmers to produce more for export while prices are high. But Argentina is focused on encouraging farmers to sell more at home.

* The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved to allow some large American companies to begin using international accounting standards as early as next year, and to require all American companies to do so by 2016.

* Durable goods orders rose a surprising 1.3 percent, and a gauge of business investment also rose unexpectedly.

* Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) is halting some pricing practices that critics say were contributing to overuse of its flagship anaemia drug Aranesp at a time of mounting concerns about the product's safety.