Soccer’s quadrennial World Cup is the world’s most-watched sporting event, but there is another event held annually that packs a heftier long-term punch for 500 kids from around the world.

Since 2000, France’s Groupe Danone—the makers of such products as Evian, Naya and Volvic water along with Brown Cow, Stonyfield and Dannon yogurt, among other products—has sponsored 40 youth soccer teams from across the globe to come play in the Danone Nations Cup, essentially a World Cup for the 10- to 12-year-old set. Since 2003, the event has been supported by former French soccer great Zinedine Zidane, who gracelessly ended his career at the 2006 World Cup by getting kicked out of the game for headbutting an Italian player. 

After nine championships in France and two in South Africa, the Cup Final has been played in Spain and Poland in the last two years. Word has finally come this week that the world’s youth soccer elite will be heading to London’s Wembley Stadium for this year’s final on Sept. 7. The American team will be decided after the U.S. final to be held on May 27.Continue reading...

YouTube close to launching paid subscription channels, reports say. 

Amazon launches first Android app-store in China, ahead of Google. 

Pfizer lets bashful buyers get Viagra online.

Al Jazeera America plans to open Detroit bureau.

Asustek plans to make small Windows 8 tablets.

Audi considers doubling production at Mexico factory under construction.

Berkshire Hathaway provides peek at era after Buffett.

BuzzFeed takes steps to expand foreign news.Continue reading...

It turns out that CGI babies aren't just winners for E*Trade. Evian has reprised its famous (and viral) dancing bambinos in a new ad, "Baby & Me."

The video is a follow-up to its viral smash hit, "Roller Babies," which was aired in 2009. The brand also released the interactive spot "Baby Inside" in 2011. 

"The babies embody 'Live Young', the evian mantra, and remind us that we are all youthful in our own, unique way,” said Jerome Goure, VP Marketing for Danone in a press release. “Babies are also the ultimate symbol of natural purity, exactly what evian water is.”Continue reading...

Al Jazeera buys Current TV from Al Gore, prompting Time Warner Cable to drop channel.

Hormel Foods branches out as it buys Skippy peanut butter brand from Unilever.

Toyota declares a rebirth.

5-Hour Energy sees ad claims rebutted (again).

AB InBev plans to launch stronger U.S. version of Budweiser this year.

Amazon wins dismissal of App Store false-ad claim by Apple.

Apple "bet" energizes AT&T.

China recovery confidence spurs Hong Kong luxury sales.Continue reading...

Evian, Volvic, and Perrier have long dominated the high-end and high-margin water market in China, but things are changing and Chinese brands are charging forward to grab their share.

Evian was inspected for quality issues for the sixth time in six years earlier this year and recently announced that it wasn’t clear exactly how the excessive nitrate found in its product actually got there, as Beverage Daily notes. Local brands, meanwhile, are eager to entice drinkers their way.

The five-year-old Tibet 5100 Water Resources Holdings Ltd., a Chinese company that produces 5100 Tibet Glacier Spring Water, “said its revenues in 2011 were 633 million yuan ($99.2 million), up 76 percent from the previous year,” China Daily reports. The company’s gross profit margin was 79 percent, up from 64 percent in 2010. But Tibet 5100 is an anomaly.Continue reading...

Apple "friends" Facebook, adds features and cozies up to car brands to stay ahead of Google.

Disney and Netflix clash over DVD rental windows.

Google-branded Nexus tablet rumored.

BMW and Audi rivalry intensified in May as BMW courts bloggers.

Bacardi debuts new flavored rums in "breakthrough" bottles.

comScore releases much-discussed analysis of marketing on Facebook.

Domino's hits $1-billion-plus in digital sales.

Evian pursues one-touch online ordering.

L'Oreal decentralizes marketing globally.Continue reading...

Amazon buys publisher of romance and mystery books and cools down its warehouses.

Bona Film Group of China talks with Hollywood outfits.

Coca-Cola's Australian JV says cheers to beer.

Cosi tries for dramatic turnaround under new CEO.

Disney to restrict junk-food advertising on its shows.

EA offers much of new Star Wars game for free.

Goldman Sachs outlook dims.

Google buys Meebo to bolster Google+ as its battle with Apple expands to mobile maps.

Groupe Danone fails Chinese entry inspection for Evian water.Continue reading...

Facebook I.P.O. raises regulatory concerns, as regulators review Morgan Stanley's pre-Facebook IPO actions and the social network's share price drops 18% below IPO price and shareholders worry. NASDAQ is also being sued by an irate investor, while Facebook, its bankers and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also being sued. One hot commodity: Zuckerberg's post-IPO secret wedding to Priscilla Chan sees Claire Pettibone-designed wedding dress "go viral."

Apple's iPad played a key role in the largest debt restructuring in history, with 100 iPads saving Greece $140 billion. European banks were less prepared for the Greek economic crisis.

SAP to acquire Ariba for $4.3 billion in push into cloud.

Alcatel-Lucent technology made the Internet five times faster.

Amazon's massive cloud business raises questions.

FOX's American Idol lost nearly a quarter of its still-huge audience this season.Continue reading...