Most of the money will go toward expanding its wireless and high-speed Internet networks.

Burger King is testing more than 45 new menu items, including such non-traditional-fast-food fare as barbecued ribs, a grilled salmon sandwich and a steak kabob, Elaine Walker reports. The innovative offerings are possible because of a new broiler that has been installed in about 60% of BK's outlets. "The broiler takes the flame-broiled taste that consumers know us for and gives us the ability to be very revolutionary with the food offerings we can deliver," says John Schaufelberger, BK's svp of product marketing and innovation. About 80 regional markets will start promoting the first of the new products next …

Susan Arnold's announcement Monday that she is following through on a long-formulated -- if closely guarded -- plan to retire at age 55 has wags wondering who will succeed A.G. Lafley as head of Procter & Gamble. Lafley turns 62 in June; P&G's mandatory retirement age is 65. David Holthaus reports that most speculation centers on COO Robert McDonald, who began working at P&G in 1980 as a brand assistant on the now-defunct Solo brand and has worked his entire career there. "Bob McDonald looks to have the position sewn up," says Matt McCormick, who follows …

Kremlinologists apparently have an interesting new way to gauge who's in and who is not since the fall of communism. A vodka named after former Russian president Vladimir Putin quickly catapulted to the No. 2 position in sales after it was launched in 2003 but a similar brand named after current president Dmitry Medvedev is languishing on the shelves, Andrew Osborn reports. Both vodkas cost 150 rubles, or roughly $4, per half liter. To stand out in Russia's $11 billion vodka market, experts say, a vodka maker needs a unique brand and needs to market it heavily. "The disparity …

One of the first stories I assigned when I became national editor of Adweek in 1984 was a follow-up to one of the short ads that the New York Times used to run in agate type on the bottom of its front page. It read: "What's the dough boy afraid of?" As Gail Belsky subsequently reported, a small ice cream company in Vermont was charging Pillsbury with trying to block distribution of its boutique brand in order to protect its own investment in Häagen Daz. The campaign proved to be a master-stroke of an amateur PR effort that …

Health officials worldwide are casting a wary eye on e-cigarettes -- which emit a nicotine vapor with the help of a computer chip -- that a Florida company began marketing last year with the help of steroid-tainted baseball slugger Jose Canseco. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration seems poised to pull e-cigs from the market because the agency considers them "new drugs," Ken McLaughlin reports, which means that they need approval from the FDA. Smoking Everywhere, the company that is marketing the product on the Internet and in mall kiosks, will have to back up its claims with scientific …