Apple loses to RIM in smartphone market in India and eyes worldwide iCloud rights as CEO Tim Cook gets ready to unveil iPhone 5.

Alibaba casts eye on Yahoo, as Yahoo signs content-sharing deal with ABC News.

Angry Birds owner Rovio loses top branding exec.

Citibank raises fees and customer hackles.

Daimler signals optimism on truck sales.

Disney's 3D version of The Lion King shoots onto top-grossers list.

England bans cigarette-vending machines ahead of UK-wide ban.

Facebook looks to increase engagement and help brands communicate better with users via new Insights analytics tool, as changes and security issues touch privacy nerve.Continue reading...

UBS warns of big losses (up to $2 billion) on rogue trades, leading to employee arrest in London.

Esprit divests North American business as profit drops 98%.

Fast Retailing, parent of Uniqlo, sets big expansion plans (opening up to 300 stores/year) as brand that "represents" Japan.

Groupon plans to put IPO back on track.

Al Gore's 24-hour Climate Reality webcast irks some.

CBS CEO Leslie Moonves insists that TV ad market is holding up.

Crocs banned for nurses in Wales.

DuPont wins nearly $1 billion in damages in Kevlar-secrets case.Continue reading...

Post Carol Bartz ouster, Yahoo may look for next leader in advertising as site retains financial advisers and mulls sale.

President Obama is expected to seek a $300-billion jobs package in his address to Congress tomorrow night.

AT&T could cut price of buying T-Mobile if regulator demands become too onerous.

BP casts about for new growth strategy.

Bank of America executes major shakeup of leadership.

Benetton unveils sexy image overhaul.

Borders is sued over layoffs.Continue reading...

When you're the president and Exhibit A in one of your centerpiece economic-development plans turns into a huge disappointment, the fallout is likely to be intensely negative. And we're not talking here about the $800 billion economic-stimulus program that President Obama launched in 2009.

Instead, it's the president's much-vaunted "green-jobs" strategy. And the brand under fire in this situation is Solyndra, a California-based solar-panel manufacturer that last week shut its doors and is now filing for bankruptcy protection despite receiving a $535-million federal loan guarantee and about $1 billion in venture capital.

The company, based in Fremont, Calif., was the first to receive funds under the Energy Department's loan-guarantee program for the clean-technology industry. Last year, President Obama visited Solyndra (its biggest US solar-panel contract: PepsiCo's Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, Calif.) and touted it for creating jobs. But facing competition from larger panel-makers, including some in China, Solyndra began to shrink almost before its new factory was built.Continue reading...

With his campaign to deprive incumbent politicians of corporate campaign contributions until they get the federal-debt issue right, Howard Schultz has certainly added to the increased noise by executives yammering about what's wrong with the American economy, and what to do about it. And at a time of continued economic distress -- including stubbornly high unemployment and the threat of a double-digit recession -- many CEOs aren't just talking. They're also putting -- or not putting -- their money and companies' resources where their mouths are.

Take Schultz and his simpaticos. “We’ve touched a nerve,” the Starbucks CEO said in an interview with TheWrap last week. "There’s such a groundswell of disappointment and concern with regard to the leadership in Washington and crisis of confidence that we have.” He called for a suspension of donations to all incumbents, including President Obama, and dozens of other CEOs have signed on to Schultz's pledge, including Tim Armstrong of AOL and Mickey Drexler of J. Crew. Schultz doesn't even want politicians on vacation until they get the nation back on a viable fiscal path.

But at the same time, another renowned CEO, Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, made a tacit -- but very clear -- expression of confidence in the Obama administration last week by plunking down $5 billion to invest in and help the Bank of America through a rough patch. The renowned financier also promised to hold a big fundraiser in New York next month for the beleaguered president, who at some point last week interrupted his Martha's Vineyard vacation to call Buffett, presumably to thank him for his support. Of the same accord seems to be a new TV advertisement by Midwestern stalwart Fifth Third Bank, which says, "We're not waiting for the economy to improve -- we're helping businesses to make it happen."Continue reading...

Apple wins reversal of $625.5 million patent-infringement verdict.

Boeing says it was surprised by cracks in 737s.

CBS and Turner TV ratings for NCAA Final Four tourney dip from last year.

Cisco braces for "activist siege."

Discovery-owned Science Channel rebrands to Science.

Facebook scores Obama town hall.

Lady Gaga's country version of Born This Way benefits gay youths.

Satyam and former auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers will pay $17.5 million to settle US fraud suit.

If three of the biggest names in shipping in the U.S. market were playing poker, the latest hand might have gone something like this: I’ll see you a mayor and raise you a president.

Just a day after DHL touted the rollout of an all-new “green” fleet in New York City by quoting Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a press release, much bigger rivals FedEx and UPS were adding to their own environmental chops at event with President Obama, where they joined fellow heavy hitters PepsiCo, Verizon and AT&T in a new National Clean Fleets Partnership.Continue reading...

Acer CEO resigns.

Berkshire Hathaway loses heir apparent to Warren Buffett as David Sokol resigns over a stock purchase.

Coca-Cola to launch first TV-ad campaign for Fuze juice brand.

Dairy Queen ads fail to capture younger set.

Microsoft sues Google in Europe on antitrust grounds.

Honda targets mid-April factory start-up in Japan.Continue reading...