SINGAPORE, July 18 (Reuters) - The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal carried the following stories in their Asia print and/or Web site editions on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL TIMES (www.ft.com)

-- The United States should adopt the toughest possible fuel economy standards for motor vehicles and join a global framework for managing carbon dioxide emissions, according to a Bush administration-commissioned study of the energy industry, led by the former chairman of ExxonMobil.

-- China's air pollution will cause 20 million people a year to fall ill with respiratory diseases, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimated on Tuesday. The Paris-based club of industrialised countries said China was not doing enough to combat widespread and serious environmental degradation and should "redouble efforts" to implement its laws and policies.

-- The California State Teachers' Retirement System (Calstrs), one of the biggest investors in private equity, has criticised the listing of buy-out groups, saying they could harm long-term investors and disrupt the ability of private equity groups to make deals.

WALL STREET JOURNAL (www.wsj.com)

-- China signed a deal to produce and import natural gas from Turkmenistan, a big step in the realignment of the resource-rich Central Asian republic away from its former rulers in Russia.

-- Toyota Motor Corp. <7203.T>, taking advantage of the yen's persistent weakness, will try to make Japan an export center to meet growing demand for automobiles in small markets around the world where the market size doesn't justify assembling cars locally, a senior company executive said.

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