Bank of America Merrill Lynch to expand its online brokerage business.

BMW poised to maintain world's #1 luxury car brand title.

Coke taps McCann for creative work in central, southern Europe.

Microsoft rumored to be opening a retail store in NYC next year.

MySpace not in talks to sell the company, CEO says.

Doubts brew about NASA’s new arsenic life.

Netflix strikes streaming deal with Disney, ABC. Continue reading...

In what appears to be the biggest coordinated cyber-siege on brands to date, supporters of embattled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have staged an unprecedented chain of online attacks on brands that have stopped doing business with WikiLeaks.

MasterCard's site was targeted and knocked offline this morning following denial of service attacks on Amazon.com, PostFinance and EveryDNS — and PayPal, which clarified why it's restricting WikiLeaks but released its remaining funds today, following an exec's comments at a tech conference in Paris.

Those sites had dropped WikiLeaks in the wake of the thousands of leaked U.S. State Department cables distributed by WikiLeaks last week. MasterCard said the attack didn't affect customers' ability to use their cards, although the BBC heard otherwise.

Next in line for web takedown by the Operation Payback hacktivists: Visa, which (like MasterCard), was attacked after cutting ties with WikiLeaks.Continue reading...

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is named "CEO of the Decade" by MarketWatch, with Ford CEO Alan Mulally named "CEO of the Year."

BMW reports highest global sales growth so far this year.

Cheesecake Factory inks credit line for expansion next year.

CNN says Parker Spitzer talk show keeps rising amid the tensions.

Fortune Brands splits into three companies: spirits (Jim Beam, Canadian Club), home (Moen faucets) and a golf business.

Hyundai signs extended global FIFA World Cup sponsorship deal.Continue reading...

Bank of America agrees to $137 million fine as US inquiry continues.

Contrave cleared to become first prescription diet pill in US in more than a decade.

Donald Trump says he's "seriously considering" a run at the White House.

Elizabeth Edwards loses battle with cancer.

Google unveils laptop with Chrome OS.

Oprah continues promotional blitz with Dec. 9th Jeopardy! appearance.

Royal Bank of Scotland is on the hot-seat in UK parliament.Continue reading...

One blog, in a reference to TIME's Person of the Year, is already calling him Man of the Year — at least, that's how Death and Taxes is hailing Julian Assange.

If there were any doubt about the rising brand that is Assange and his whistleblowing site, Google search results (after the jump) show the off-the-chart spike in searches for WikiLeaks, the #1 search term in the US and around the globe since the explosive release of classified US Embassy cables that started on Nov. 28.

Despite pressure by the US government and others to silence WikiLeaks, since the week (Nov. 28-Dec. 5) following the release of the official US cables, "Wikileaks" has remained the top search term in the US, as measured by Google Insights. With founder Julian Assange's arrest today in the UK, Google's chart may need to go up to 11.Continue reading...

AGL to buy Nicor in huge natural-gas deal.

AT&T deals with failing grade by Consumer Reports.

Bank of America tops mobile banking apps in new study.

BP weighs sale of North Sea assets to help pay for Gulf clean-up.

Bright Food of China nears purchase of GNC.

DecorMyEyes Google-abuser arrested as Google boosts "nicer" advertisers.Continue reading...

Amway signs former NFL Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner.

AOL is mulling a breakup, Reuters hears, followed by a merger with Yahoo.

Borders weighs hedge fund backing of takeover attempt of Barnes & Noble.

China Dandang aims to be mainland's Amazon with US IPO this week.

Cigna faces class-action suit by employees over pensions under ERISA.

Disney tops weekend box office with Tangled.Continue reading...

American Apparel grants 6.5M shares to employees.

Angry Birds on Android projected to generate $1 million per month in advertising.

Apple TV is #13 best-selling gadget at Amazon; Google TV is #430.

Google acquires technology to humanize robo-voices; and urges developers to get ready for Chrome extensions.

Groupon adds options for restaurants.

J.Crew sale faces legal challenges.Continue reading...