This February, Starbucks has declared it would start selling instant coffee - just a year after its $1 coffee gave way to wide debates. Following slowing growth at its US stores, Starbucks started then to sell eight-ounce cup of Joe priced at only $1 at a handful of stores near Starbucks's Seattle headquarters. Now it comes the instant coffee…what happened to Starbuck’s premium quality?

Once upon a time…when it came to consumer products Disney was synonymous for Mickey Mouse T-Shirt and cute merchandising featuring cute, Disney cartoon characters.

Well, it seems like this will not be the case for much longer.

This year again, and for the third time consecutively, Air China has been nominated the “Best China Airline”.

The prestigious title was happily received by the airline vice president during the “16th Annual Business Traveler Asia-Pacific award”, hosted in Honk Kong by Business Traveler Magazine, and was thus assigned accordingly to the results of a yearly readers pool conducted and analyzed by Business Traveler Asia Pacific and Synovate. 

We have reported in our September 5 news about Coca Cola 2.4 billion U.S. dollar bid to buy China's largest juice maker Huiyuan. Now, to answer the application Huiyuan and Coca Cola have filed to China’s Ministry of Commerce, Ministry spokesman Yao Shenhong announced that a hearing will be held to analyze if the deal falls in the realm of "normal economic activities" or if this will give Coca Cola a dominant position over other players in the industry.

Hilton, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, is paying $15-million on an advertising campaign including TV and Olympic sponsorship for its nine brands. The initiative will include a new spot airing during the Beijing Olympic Games.

The Hangzhou branch store of Louis Vuitton suddenly closed without issuing any public notice leaving both customers and onlookers surprised and disappointed to not see the beautiful window-shop anymore. It was later announced that the shop was closed following to the inspection conducted by Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

China's 500 Most Valuable Brands list for 2008 has been released following the closure of the 2008 World Brand Summit on June the 2nd.

China Mobile once again topped the list with State Grid not far behind and CCTV ranking in at third place.