Neiman Marcus and Target join brands for unusual Christmas collaboration: 50 limited-edition American designer items, plus $1M donation to the CFDA.

Starbucks rolls out low-cal Refreshers drinks.

Marks & Spencer fires clothing head following worst sales in three years.

American Airlines and U.S. Airways keep dancing around a merger.

Apple removes green electronics certification from products.

Chase launches Chase Liquid reloadable card.

Coca-Cola takes stake in Mexican juice company Jugos del Valle.

Conde Nast confirms London location of namesake fashion college.

DirecTV could drop 26 Viacom channels in dispute.

Dodge places major ad push behind new Dart.Continue reading...

PepsiCo expands into yogurt sales in the U.S. under Muller brand.

Marks & Spencer CEO's lack of fashion cred criticized as retailer overtaken by rival Next.

Valentino luxury brand in talks to be sold.

AT&T cuts ad spending.

Amazon sparks fears with "robo-pricing."

Billabong hits choppy waters.

Boeing expands new-orders lead over Airbus.Continue reading...

Fish heads and chicken fat are the latest sources of electricity for major retailers in the U.K. including Walmart, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, William Morrison Supermarkets and Sainsbury.

Not only is bioenergy the evolution of alternative energy sources, but the meat, fish, cooking oils and leftover food would otherwise be transported to landfill at additional cost and fuel consumption.

“Diverting food waste from landfill to anaerobic digestion is a no-brainer for the supermarkets — landfill charges and energy costs are only getting more expensive,” said Niamh McSherry, a food retail analyst at Berenberg Bank, to Bloomberg.Continue reading...

Apple will use Baidu search engine on phones in China and gets on fast track in court to block Samsung Galaxy phone as iPhone 5 speculation mounts ahead of WWDC, while marketing head Steve Schiller gets a Bloomberg Businessweek profile. Also, Apple will pay $2.5 million to settle false advertising suit in Australia over 4G iPad claims. 

Audi plant expansion tests ability to maintain quality.

Boeing hits milestone on 787 Dreamliner.

Burger King plans to expand in Russia.

Cannes Lions to honor Dan Weiden of Weiden+Kennedy.

Carnival Cruise loyalty program members are up in arms.

CBS chief Les Moonves says "partisanship" is part of journalism now.Continue reading...

UK retailer Marks and Spencer is an old hand at creating snazzy outfits, such as the official suit that Team England is sporting at the European soccer championships.

But it's also committed to doing so sustainability while helping those in need, which is why M&S has been working with Oxfam for the past four years. That effort has brought in more than 10 million pieces of clothing for Oxfam's "op shops" throughout Great Britain, and now the company is taking its good work to another level.

M&S is expanding the collaboration with the launch of London’s first Sustainable Fashion Lab, a pop-up concept that will open on Thursday April 26 and close on May 9. The idea is to get designers and stylists together with sustainability thought leaders to spark a conversation about how the fashion industry can be more sustainable, while also giving the retailer a platform to highlight its Plan A commitment to become "the world's most sustainable major retailer."Continue reading...

Al Gore prepares 24-hour global warming Climate Reality live-stream event.

Angry Birds spurs 1M t-shirts and 1M plush toy sales per month for Rovio.

AT&T will use plant-based packaging for accessories as Coca-Cola's PlantBottle arrives on UK shelves.

Bank of America announces 30,000 job cuts.

Boston Globe newspaper puts up online paywall.

British American Tobacco gears up for legal battle vs. the Australian government.

Broadcom bets on web traffic for mobile with $3.7 billion NetLogic deal.

Glenn Beck says his new TV network is "not for slugs."

Google - just another ad company?

Groupon sued by its own employees.Continue reading...

Hulu reportedly draws bids from Amazon, Yahoo and Google.

Google+ usage plateaus, while Google dominates US web brands, adds offline access to Gmail and apps in boost for Chromebook.

Dish Network revels in blocked AT&T merger with "challenger brand" T-Mobile, while AT&T forges on with $700 HTC Jetstream Android tablet announcement.

GM reboots "Chevy Runs Deep" campaign.

Amazon's Android tablet could erode Apple's iPad dominance, while @author program elevates writers' brands.

Apple may have another lost iPhone fiasco on its hands.

Britney Spears' medical records protected by judicial decision in branding lawsuit.Continue reading...

Following in the wake of the countless flavored vodkas that have been released in recent years, Bombay Sapphire has come up with a new flavor infusion of its own: Bombay Sapphire East.

Infused with lemongrass from Thailand and black peppercorns from Vietnam, Bombay Sapphire's latest release is now available in a three-market U.S. test that includes New York. While vodkas have been at the forefront of the infusion fad, Bombay Sapphire is following at least one other gin’s lead: Beefeater 24, introduced in late 2008, is flavored with Chinese green and Japanese sencha teas.

A video touting the new Bombay Sapphire flavor highlights the idea of pure, hand-harvested ingredients for an authentic Eastern experience, linking in with the brand’s “Infused with Imagination” campaign.Continue reading...