JCPenney seeks to raise $1 billion as Martha Stewart loses a round in JCP-Macy's case.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg launches FWD.us with Silicon Valley heavyhitters on immigration reform.

Apple agrees to settle suit on iPhone and iPad warranties.

Argos plans digital "store of the future" to fight Amazon.

Bibigo Korean food brand partners with Psy.

Bitcoin finds Winklevoss twins rise in digital money as crash continues.

BlackBerry looks to apps and China for growth.

Burger King CEO leaves to take top job at H.J. Heinz.

Douwe Egberts goes to JAB for $9.8 billion.

Eli Lilly plans to lay off 30 percent of sales reps in major restructuring.Continue reading...

Aereo TV streaming service from Barry Diller faces showdown with News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, who threatens to take FOX cable-only, as Intel cooks up its vision of future of TV.

Apple, which can now trademark iPad mini in U.S. and captured 74% of mobile app revenue in Q1, reportedly will release new iPhone 5S in "at least" two screen sizes.

Billabong in talks to sell out for $300 million.

Airbus juggles order book to meet record demand for A320neo Jet.

AT&T joins Boeing in backing U.S. cyber bill facing privacy fight.

Audi promotes in-vehicle Wi-Fi in new TV campaign.Continue reading...

"I've been eating at KFC the last few days, could that be a problem?" ("前几天刚吃了肯德基会有问题吗") asked one Weibo user.

The coming week could be a nightmare for KFC in China. Depending on developments in an outbreak of a new strain of avian flu called H7N9, KFC could see its business decimated by another chicken scare just months after a previous one.

KFC is not the only brand worried. Tyson chicken is already rolling out damage control.Continue reading...

Winner, winner chicken dinner. Join #TeamBoneless and you may be rewarded.

— KFC Colonel (@kfc_colonel) April 6, 2013

KFC U.S. today announced its Original Recipe Boneless menu, which it's promoting with new spots, on Facebook and with the Twitter hashtag #TeamBoneless.

As USA Today noted, "In an astonishing brand reversal, KFC is about to stake its future on a red-hot concept that might have caused Colonel Sanders, himself, to see red: boneless chicken."

More details on the move, which was three years in the making and will see more than 90 percent of KFC's menu items to eventually go bone-free, in the press release below.Continue reading...

HP board shakeup and chairman exit gives CEO Meg Whitman a chance to shake off troubles.

BP faults Deepwater Horizon claims overseer, launches first brand-wide fuel loyalty program.

BMW prepares X4 crossover for U.S. market, makes vehicles greener with fewer cylinders, less gasoline.

Al Jazeera America hires CNN's Ali Velshi as anchor.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos leads $5 million investment round in Henry Blodget's Business Insider.

Apple reportedly signs music labels for streaming service as Google's YouTube clinches deal with Universal Music.

Best Buy may have turned the tide on showrooming Amazon.Continue reading...

Even green beans can be strategic in the continuing struggle by QSR brands to come up with better-for-you options that are appealing to kids and yet acceptable to nutrition scolds.

KFC made green beans the default option in its new Li'l Bucket kids meal, which is joined in the $3.99 package by a Kentucky Grilled Chicken drumstick, an applesauce pouch from GoGo squeeZ and a Capri Sun Roarin' Water. The new repast aimed at kids also appeals to parents with robust infotainment options such as puzzle games that are attached to the bottom of the bucket lid.

"Green beans are one of the more popular green vegetables with kids," Cynthia Koplos, KFC's senior director of marketing, told brandchannel. "They're already available at almost all of our restaurants." Parents also can choose mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese as side items in the Li'l Bucket, in place of green beans.Continue reading...

In 1987, China's central government limited residents of Beijing to 2.2 pounds of pork each month. That's about the combined meat weight of two new burgers offered to China just 26 years later by McDonald's and Burger King.

The McDonald's burger—called the "German Style"—is joining Burger King's new "Italian Style" burger to form an Axis of Meat set on annihilating China's hunger—and maybe its stomachs. 

Free breakfasts aren't the only way China is buzzing about McDonald's. The house of Ronald's meat battleship is also a hot topic on Weibo.Continue reading...

"A kick-start to a longer-term breakfast campaign in China" is how a McDonald's representative summed up the chain's million-McMuffin giveaway on Monday. Counting other regional locations totaling about 5,000, 250,000 McDonald's employees gave away about 5 million McMuffins. In Taiwan alone, 346 outlets handed out 1,000 McMuffins each.

And McDonald's is far from done with plying Chinese eaters with free breakfast sandwiches. "In China, we will continue a 'free monday' event every Monday from March 25 to June 17," Jessica Lee, McDonald’s Asia Pacific Senior Director of Corporate Relations, told brandchannel. She added that offers will range from free McMuffins to free upgrades to free drinks.

The giveaway caused a message-multiplying social stir, just as McDonald's had hoped. Now, McDonald's just has to get those millions to pay in what is about to become the most lucrative breakfast market ever known to man.Continue reading...