7-Eleven, JetBlue and Bliss go presidential with "poll" promotions as Pizza Hut comes up with a controversial dare ahead of next week's debate.

Toyota recalls 7.4 million vehicles globally for power-window glitch and 2.5 million Lexus vehicles, as it plugs Prius on the Home Shopping Network.

Samsung signs TV deal with Spotify.

BAE and EADS terminate merger talks.

Bain Capital buys maker of Craftsman Tools.

Ballmer touts new era at Microsoft as bonus trimmed.

Cadbury tells bishop it's not precious about purple.

Chevron is rejected by Supreme Court in Ecuadorian case.Continue reading...

Yes, making gains at breakfast is nice. So is the fact that nobody talks about the hit job on Taco Bell's beef from a while back. But now the Yum! Brands stalwart is finally getting the kind of feedback that brand stewards really have been craving all along: Americans are mentioning "Taco Bell" in the same jalapeno-laced breath as "Chipotle." Thanks largely to the Cantina Bell menu that it introduced in July, Taco Bell perceptions are climbing among American consumers, according to new research by the YouGov BrandIndex.

Created by celebrity chef Lorena Garcia — featured on the recent season of Top Chef Masters on Bravo, which hyped her Taco Bell tie-in during commercial breaks —the chain's new Cantina Bell menu brings eight new ingredients to Taco Bell including whole black beans, cilantro rice and fire-roasted corn salsa — exactly the sorts of staples that have garnered Chipotle's fresh-Mex menu such high regard. Garcia even recently visited fields in California to show where and how Taco Bells gets its cilantro.Continue reading...

In the 1920s and early ‘30s of New York, as Prohibition ruled the land, folks didn’t have to go without a drink. There were speakeasies aplenty back on those days that would be happy to quench your thirst as long as you didn’t mind needing to remember the password, being ready to dump your liquor at the drop of a hat, and having a few extra bucks to help pay off any police that happened by the place.

The folks at Mountain Dew seem to think that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is about to return the Big Apple to those long-gone days if his suggested bill — which could be passed today — winds up restricting consumers from buying sodas that are bigger than 16 ounces goes through. Some call it a gamble; Bloomberg says he’s looking out for the long-term health of his city’s dwellers and visitors.

The whole thing has got Mountain Dew execs and indeed the entire beverage industry agitated — and not because of the caffeine in their beverages, either. The PepsiCo-owned soda brand has teamed up with "cultural production" studio New York Art Department to plaster ads around New York City that say “Prohibition” and feature a 17 ounce, vintage can of Mountain Dew (long before it was abbreviated to Mtn. Dew). To drive the message home, a smaller message quips: “Also available in legal sizes!” 

On a more serious note, New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, an industry coalition backed by the American Beverage Association, says more than 250,000 New Yorkers have signed a petition. While small business and industry lobbying has failed to sway New York City’s Board of Health, which appears poised to pass the ban on Big Soda (update: it passed), you can be sure Bloomberg's public health watchdog is unhappy with another move Mountain Dew has made as well.Continue reading...

BP sells Gulf of Mexico oil fields for $5.5 billion to help pay for spill settlement while Petrobras seeks partner for development of its Gulf sites.

HP expands workforce reduction to 29,000 positions.

AIG will see U.S. slash its stake to become minority shareholder with $18 billion sell-off.

Apple cuts reliance on Samsung for iPhone chips as iPhone 5 mania and rumor mill heat up.

Audi threatens BMW's seven-year luxury auto crown.

Google charges retailers in growing competition with Amazon, as Google Fiber launch site takes off and Google Glasses hit the runway at New York Fashion Week.

NBC faces Paralympic TV deal scrutiny while the UK celebrates the end of the summer of the Olympics with London 2012 parade.Continue reading...

It's no problem to stretch our gastronomic imaginations to the concept of Taco Bell's "fourth meal," to agree to fill our gurglilng stomachs in the wee hours with chalupas and Doritos Locos Tacos. That all belongs to the day just ending, and is on-trend with similar tests such as McDonald's nascent nocturnivores breakfast after midnight test, and Dunkin' Donuts new addition of Quaker Oatmeal to expand its "better for you" breakfast lineup.

But somehow it's a stretch to imagine Taco Bell could produce something appetizing for breakfast. Regardless, now the Yum! Brands-owned iconic fast-food chain is giving it a serious try.

Expanding on a pilot test earlier this year, Taco Bell has rolled out a test of its new breakfast menu in about 800 restaurants, primarily in the western United States. (Is that because they get up later than everyone else, so it's more like an early lunch?)

The test menu for "FirstMeal" includes two new items: the A.M. Crunchwrap and Mtn Dew A.M. They have joined Cinnabon Delights as the chain's morning repast.Continue reading...

Accor speeds expansion after profits rise.

California Pizza Kitchen adds healthful items to menu.

Denny's to open 10 restaurants in Chile in first major expansion in South America.

ESPN extends deal with Major League Baseball through 2021.

FTC files false-advertising charges against Your Baby Can Read program.

Ford breaks ground on new plant in eastern China. Continue reading...

Looking for fried chicken in Vladivostok or Nairobi? You may be in luck. Yum! Brands is looking to grow such brands as KFC and Pizza Hut internationally, particularly in emerging markets including Russia and Africa, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. 

Yum execs said Wednesday that its Yum Restaurants International division could show a 10 percent growth by year’s end, the site notes, and that it is planning to “double its annual net openings over the next five years.” Many of those openings will be Africa and Russia, though China and India also are providing good sources of revenue.

According to Nation’s Restaurant News, most of the international launches have been KFC, with Pizza Hut a distant secod. Meanwhile, Taco Bell “has yet to become an international growth vehicle,” the site reports. Continue reading...

AT&T posts $4-billion quarterly profit and sells 3.7 million iPhones (click here for highlights).

Amazon pursues careful state-sales-tax strategy.

Apple and Samsung gear up for "patent trial of the century" as Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 is banned in EU.

Apple is expected to beat estimates in today's earnings conference call, if not a blowout.

BMW invests in EV-charging network.

Billabong gets lower takeover offer.

Capital One deceptive-marketing fine "unlikely" to change its strategy.Continue reading...