Apple's environmental impact concerns China.

AT&T has an 11th hour plan to salvage T-Mobile deal and win over reluctant FCC.

American Airlines parent AMR files for bankruptcy protection to restructure debt as talks with pilots end.

American Express launches $20-million giveaway to spur online sales.

BSkyB holds annual meeting as James Murdoch survives investor vote; singer Charlotte Church alleges coverage trade-off for singing at Rupert Murdoch's wedding; and The Guardian reports broadening of News Corp. hacking scandal to include a North Ireland government minister.

Chevrolet gives three-day Sonic test drives to Klout leaders.

Cyber Monday sales come in 15-20 percent higher than a year ago.

Facebook targets $10 billion IPO for spring that would value social network at $100B.

Groupon shares plummet post-IPO.Continue reading...

Adbusters' role in branding Occupy movement examined in New York Times as Occupy LA protesters dig in heels.

Amazon eyes China growth.

Apple critiqued for not getting social media (but does it matter to brand loyalists?) as digi-savvy toddlers' parents fuel iPad sales.

Black Friday sales boost LG and Samsung as e-tailers are poised for Cyber Monday lift.

BSkyB's James Murdoch loses investors' confidence.

China's Chery automaker launches Qoros brand as Subaru joint venture gains lifeline.

Coach, expanding in China, will list shares on  Hong Kong's Hang Seng stock exchange.

Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Nestle and Mars sign European pledge to only promote nutritious products on their websites.

Disney releases mobile app for Spider-Man, as the Marvel-owned web-slinger finds his feet on Broadway.Continue reading...

A new entrant in the highly competitive luxury e-commerce sales game, Joyus, is being closely watched as it aims to make over the bad image that infomercials gained on late-night TV through the years.

The reason: Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, the former Google executive who dreamed up Joyus after being named one of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business (and one of its new "Valley Girls" shaking up Silicon Valley).

"If you think about the ways to sell online, video is underutilized," she observes to the New York Times' Bits blog. "It’s a new way for brands to merchandise their product."Continue reading...

The White House and Republicans in Congress have reached a deal to raise the debt ceiling, agreeing to about $1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years to lower the deficit and prevent the first government default in U.S. history.

HSBC plans global layoffs as banks sells 195 U.S. branches to First Niagara for $1 billion.

PBS plans to launch a digital TV channel in the U.K. as network's president talks it up to TV critics.

Airbnb sees another crime victim come forward as suspect is arrested in first incident.

Alibaba resolves dispute with Yahoo.

Apple's Taiwan vendor FoxConn to replace workers with robots, while iPhone rises, iPad tops tablet brand survey for customer satisfaction, and iPod sinks.Continue reading...

All Nippon Airways defers deliveries of some 787s from Boeing and projects profit drop in wake of Japan disaster.

Bank of the West breaks brand ad.

BSkyB board votes to retain James Murdoch as chairman as the company plans a share buyback and a higher dividend and new phone-hacking allegations emerge and UK's top media regulator resigns.

Current TV names new CEO from “old” ranks.

Epocrates “free” ad-supported app lures doctors.

Fiat consolidates management of Chrysler with new global org chart.Continue reading...

AOL shuffles execs.

BSkyB may lose UK "stranglehold" on Hollywood releases.

Dunkin' Donuts parent IPO could exceed $400M.

Express sets Guinness World record with Times Square fashion show.

Facebook iPad app appears in the wild, disappears.

Google gives Gmail a new logo and homepage.

Hyatt apologizes for turning up heat on protesters.

LinkedIn launches "Apply With LinkedIn" button.Continue reading...

The strangest moment of the British parliamentary hearing into the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal today had to be Wendi Murdoch — that's her in pink, above — swinging at a protester (activist Jonathan May Bowles) who hurled a (shaving?) cream pie at her husband Rupert before he was hauled away.

The second strangest moment: CNN host Piers Morgan's virtual testimony on Twitter, where he defended Wendi and then himself, responding (on Twitter and then on-air) to allegations that he was involved in phone-hacking while running the now-shuttered News of the World.Continue reading...

The Wall Street Journal's headline says it all: "Showdown Time Comes for Murdoch." But even as US questions arise, fellow media mogul Steve Forbes writes that Rupert Murdoch will "survive and thrive again." 

As the News Corp. chairman and CEO, his son James and the embattled former (resigned and then arrested) News International head Rebekah Brooks appear before a three-hour parliamentary hearing into phone-hacking allegations in London today, Bloomberg News is reporting that Rupert Murdoch is ready to step down.

News Corp. COO Chase Carey is on standby to assume the CEO position, according to Bloomberg, while Murdoch would remain chairman in that scenario — all depending how today's hearing goes. CNN has more.