Altria launches tobacco rights website.

Apple sees its devices dominate mobile ordering as brand plans books announcement and sets Red Friday sales event for Asia.

Avery Dennison sells office and consumer products business to 3M.

Axe woos young males with interactive comic book.

Bentley plans luxury SUV.

BMW sees 2012 premium growth.

BP sues Halliburton over Gulf spill, includes anti-BP protesters in new ad.

Bridgestone kicks off Super Bowl campaign at NHL Winter Classic.

Brisk ties into Star Wars 3D theatrical launch with mobile campaign.

Cadbury adopts vertical shelf-ready packaging.Continue reading...

American Airlines parent AMR may have to shrink.

Allstate ties in with Autism Speaks organization.

BP alleges that Halliburton destroyed evidence in Gulf of Mexico spill.

Coca-Cola drinks were tampered with, Chinese government claims.

ESPN gets knocked over soaring costs by cable-TV operators.

Flipboard launches app in China.

Ford begins search to replace CEO Alan Mulally ahead of his retirement.

Green Bay Packers sell "shares" in team.Continue reading...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is suing 17 US and European banks and more than 130 individuals on charges of selling bonds backed by mortgages that should have never been packaged into securities. Institutions named including Bank of America, its Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays, Citigroup and Nomura.

Halliburton is suing BP for defamation and misrepresentation, while a key court ruling in the Gulf of Mexico litigation could encourage more lawsuits. Oil and gas production is curtailed in the Gulf, meanwhile, as New Orleans declares state of emergency ahead of storm.

Facebook tests comment translation button.

GM rehires Bob Lutz as an adviser.

Google acquires Zave Networks, a digital coupons platform, as it expands local deals offering.

Hugo Boss releases campaign featuring Orlando Bloom and Sienna Miller in support of African schools.Continue reading...

Amazon, Costco and Kohls top US brand-loyalty ranking as Amazon’s Kindle expands to offer e-books from libraries.

BP includes Halliburton in round of lawsuits on one-year anniversary of Gulf disaster.

Boeing to fight order to move some 787 production.

Chesapeake Energy suffers blowout on anniversary of BP oil spill.

DirecTV plan for early viewing of new movies at home draws criticism from filmmakers.

Fiat moves to raise Chrysler ownership to near half.Continue reading...

Earlier today we noted BP's contrite actions (a 20-minute video, a Wall Street Journal piece with CEO Bob Dudley's byline, a homepage donning of a hairshirt) on the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, aka the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

Tonight comes news of how it's really marking the one-year anniversary: by suing rig-owner Transocean for a whopping $40 billion in damages. According to Yahoo, BP's suit — filed in federal court in New Orleans — shifts the blame by accusing Transocean "of causing last year's deadly blowout in the Gulf of Mexico."

BP blames Transocean because "every single safety system and device and well control procedure on the Deepwater Horizon rig failed." Similarly being sued by BP in a separate filing today for causing or contributing to the disaster: Cameron International, with the charge that its "blowout preventer " failed to prevent a blowout.

According to the BBC, BP's legal team is arguing that both companies "should help it pay for tens of billions of dollars in liabilities resulting from the spill, which include clean-up and compensation costs." Today is the deadline for companies to file claims against one another, as well as the last day for parties to sign onto a class action suit against BP and Transocean.

Update: Make that more than $80 billion — and add Halliburton to the list.

American Apparel seeks rescue financing to avert bankruptcy.

Apple revamps MobileMe, sues Samsung over Galaxy phone; Samsung vows to fight back.

McDonald's launches US hiring blitz today.

Asos could be forced to rebrand in Germany.

BMW's DesignworksUSA expands to China with Shanghai office.

Burger King settles with franchisees over Value Menu.

Dish Network will keep 600 Blockbuster locations open.Continue reading...

A year after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up (along with its reputation), BP clearly has a long way to go to rebuild trust.

As might be expected, the oil giant's executives were confronted by protesters (one smeared with a black, oil-like substance) and heated accusations at the company's first annual general meeting since the Gulf of Mexico disaster.Continue reading...

AOL rolls out homepage redesign amid declines in traffic and ad revenue.

BP and Halliburton challenged by report saying they knew about problem cement before well explosion.

Brett Favre's personal brand is being battered by sexting allegations.

Coca-Cola is on the look-out for another billion-dollar brand.

Conde Nast announces major reorganization and strategy shift.

Credit Suisse deemed tops for consumer M&A advice.

Domino’s Pizza uses radical authenticity in brand makeover.Continue reading...