• STARBUCKS TESTS LATTE WITH STOUT FLAVOR: NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks is testing a latte that it says has the “savory toasty malt” flavor of a foamy mug of stout.
The “Dark Barrel Latte” is being tested in a handful of stores in Ohio and Florida, said Linda Mills, a Starbucks spokeswoman. She said the drink is topped with whipped cream, dark caramel drizzle and incorporates a “chocolatey stout flavored sauce.”
Despite the stout flavor, the latte does not contain alcohol.
She declined to provide further details, noting Starbucks regularly tests new drinks.
Starbucks Corp., based in Seattle, has enjoyed strong sales growth in part by continually introducing new food and drinks.
The company has said it would expand its test of serving alcohol and small bites in the evening to more stores, for instance.
• UPS EXPANDS 3-D PRINTING TO 100 MORE STORES: ATLANTA (AP) — UPS says it will put 3-D printers in nearly 100 more stores as it seeks to lure small businesses.
United Parcel Service Inc. said Monday that it has been testing the printers at six stores. The company said they have been used by businesses, inventors and artists to make architectural models, prototypes and other items.
UPS hopes to convince consumers that it would be easier to use a 3-D printer at one of its stores than to buy and set up a machine at home.
• GERMAN AMAZON WORKERS ON STRIKE FOR HIGHER PAY: BERLIN (AP) — Workers at four of Amazon.com’s German distribution centers have started a two-day strike in a long-running dispute over wages.
The ver.di union said Monday workers at the American online retailer’s logistics centers in Leipzig, Bad Hersfeld, Graben and Rheinberg will stay off the job until Tuesday evening.
Amazon employs some 9,000 people in total at nine locations in Germany.
For more than a year now, the union has been pushing for higher pay, arguing that Amazon workers receive lower wages than others in retail and mail-order jobs.
Amazon says its distribution warehouses in Germany are logistics centers and employees already earn wages on the upper end of that industry.
Amazon has agreed to pay Christmas bonuses to workers but ver.di says that’s still not enough.
• GIULIANI TO HELP FIGHT NORIEGA’S VIDEO GAME SUIT: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is joining a video game company’s legal fight against disgraced Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who is suing Activision over his inclusion in one of its popular “Call of Duty” games.
Activision Blizzard Inc. announced Monday that Giuliani and his firm will ask a Los Angeles judge to dismiss Noriega’s lawsuit, which claims his likeness was used without permission in 2012’s”Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”
Giuiliani told The Associated Press he took the case because he doesn’t want the imprisoned Noriega to profit from his crimes, which include convictions for murder, drug trafficking and money laundering. Also, Giuiliani said that if the lawsuit is upheld, it could give historical figures and their heirs veto power over their depiction in books, television, movies and video games.
Noriega sued Activision in July, claiming the company depicted him as a “kidnapper, murderer and enemy of the state.”
“I am outraged that he is seeking millions and millions of dollars that he can take down to a Panamanian prison from a great American company,” Giuliani said Monday.
“Noriega going after ‘Call of Duty,’ you should think of it as Osama bin Laden’s family going after ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’” he said.
• APPLE: 10 MILLION IPHONE 6 AND 6 PLUS SOLD: CUPERTINO (AP) — Apple says it sold more than 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, a record for a new model, in the three days after the phones went on sale.
A year ago, Apple Inc. said it had sold 9 million of the then-new iPhone 5C and 5S models.
The iPhone is available in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the U.K. It will go on sale in 20 more countries on Sept. 26 and others by the end of the year.
CEO Tim Cook said Monday that demand for the phones has exceeded the company’s expectations. Besides larger screens, the new phones offer faster performance and a wireless chip for making credit card payments. The phones start at $199 with a two-year service contact.
