PRESS DIGEST -Wall Street Journal - February 18

Feb 18 (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.

- U.S. steelmaker Steel Dynamics STLD.O and Australian conglomerate SGH SGH.AX submitted a sweetened offer for BlueScope Steel BSL.AX that values its equity at roughly $11 billion, and said they wouldn't raise it again unless a rival bidder emerges.

- Warner Bros. Discovery WBD.O said on Tuesday it will restart deal talks with Paramount PSKY.O setting the stage for a potential bidding war with its preferred suitor Netflix NFLX.O. The move comes after Paramount last week sweetened its all-cash $77.9 billion hostile offer for all of Warner Discovery, including its cable channels CNN and TNT.

- The German pharmaceutical and agriculture conglomerate Bayer BAYGn.DE said on Tuesday it proposed to settle a nationwide class-action lawsuit to resolve claims that its flagship herbicide causes cancer. The settlement plan includes setting aside more than $7 billion to fund payments over 21 years.

- Kalshi suffered a blow in its battle to remain available in Nevada, as a federal appeals court rejected its request for a stay on the state's efforts to block the prediction-market platform.

- Kenvue KVUE.N is eliminating 3.5% of its workforce as part of a broader effort to cut costs ahead of its planned acquisition by Kimberly-Clark KMB.O.

- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposed raising property taxes by nearly 10%, having failed so far to persuade New York Governor Kathy Hochul to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy.