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REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Thousands of Icelanders lined up at McDonald's restaurants to order their last Big Macs before the U.S. fast-food chain abandons the crisis-hit island at midnight Saturday due to soaring costs. The world's largest fast-food company said earlier this week that all three of its restaurants in Iceland, operated by franchisee Jon Ogmundsson, would shut down October 31. The outlets have been packed since the announcement, with lines at one restaurant on the east side of the city backing up out the door and onto the street. At lunchtime Friday the outlet's parking lot was full and staff...

Red-faced United Nations officials on Monday admitted to a major security lapse after a UN guard helped Kentucky Fried Chicken's "Colonel Sanders" gain access to restricted areas. The guard escorted the white-suited intruder past security barriers, where he got a handshake from the UN General Assembly president, Dr. Ali A. Treki of Libya. The faux fast food chain founder also posed for a picture beneath the assembly's giant UN logo, which overlooks the spot where world leaders address their international counterparts. "It should not have happened -- that I will stress, and very strongly," said Michele Montas, spokeswoman for UN...

Iowa City police are investigating an early morning assault in which a man accused another of being a zombie, then punched him twice. Police said the assault occurred at 1:17 a.m. Sunday at an Iowa City restaurant south of the University of Iowa campus. A man was ordering food when he was approached by another man who called him a zombie, then hit him in the eye. When the victim tried to call police on his cell phone, the man punched him again, breaking his nose. The man then ran out a back door. The victim was taken by ambulance...

McDonald's posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by cost controls and rising sales in all regions, and expects same-store sales to remain positive in October even though people eat out less often. Shares of the world's largest hamburger chain rose 2 percent in premarket trading. McDonald's [MCD 58.33 --- UNCH ] and some other fast-food chains have been outperforming other restaurant companies due to their lower-priced fare, but rising unemployment is erasing that advantage. McDonald's third-quarter net income rose to $1.26 billion, or $1.15 a share, from $1.19 billion, or $1.05 a share, a year earlier. Analysts on...

Q: Is it true that if I use my credit card at fast food places, my credit score will decrease or that it will affect my score in some way because it looks like I cannot afford to buy food? I pay my bill in full every month. -- Burger and Fries Lover A: Dear Burger: The fast answer is no, where you eat doesn't have an impact on your credit score, but that's not the full story. Your credit score is just one of the many factors that issuers use when making lending decisions, and while paying plastic for...

A fast-food restaurant in this western Ontario city served cheeseburgers to a Canadian Forces pilot Thursday — while his helicopter was parked outside. Michelle Patterson said Friday she thought something was wrong when she looked out one of the windows of the A&W restaurant. All she saw was flying dust. "I thought, 'Oh gee,' and I went over to the side of our building and there was a helicopter there with a police car," she said. Moments later, the helicopter pilot walks into the restaurant. "He said he was here to pick up some supper before taking off again," said...

FAST food giant McDonald's has been named as Britain's most-hated brand in a new survey by marketing experts. The American burger chain – unpopular with 46 per cent of consumers – topped a list of the least-liked brands which featured some of the country's biggest names. Tesco was second most hated in the poll for Marketing magazine, followed by Coca-Cola and the discount fashion chain Primark. However, the research showed some of the most well-known brands also attracted consumers in equal measure. Tesco and Coca-Cola were also voted Britain's sixth and seventh most loved brands respectively. Both were more loved...

Diboll man makes first court appearance Accused 'Prankster' faces felony charges By JESSICA SAVAGEThe Lufkin Daily News Thursday, September 10, 2009 A Diboll man made his first court appearance Wednesday on felony charges related to a Lufkin McDonald's prank call which cost more than $5,000 in damages.James Tyler Markle has been appointed an attorney to represent him on a third-degree felony charge of terroristic threat. He is being held in the county jail on a $10,000 bail. Jessica Savage/The Lufkin Daily News (ENLARGE) James Tyler Markle, 19, is escorted Wednesday morning from the Angelina County Courthouse by sheriff's deputy L....

Despite the efforts restaurant chains from fast food to fine dining have made to add more-healthful items to the menu, consumers still aren’t buying. In a poll on chainleader.com, 82 percent of respondents say their better-for-you items are selling “lousy.” Recent research shows that customers cite economic factors as a reason for not purchasing healthful food—or as an excuse. Too Great a Cost Chicago-based foodservice consulting firm Technomic says its research shows the recession is hindering consumers’ healthy-eating behavior. Although more than half of consumers say they are more concerned about their eating habits than they were a year ago,...

Childhood Obesity Report Calls For Government Regulations to Limit Access to ‘Unhealthy’ Restaurant Chains Wednesday, September 02, 2009 By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) - A newly released report by the Institute for Medicine and the National Research Council details strategies for local governments to combat what it calls an epidemic of childhood obesity, including enacting zoning and land-use regulations that would “restrict fast food establishments near school grounds and public playgrounds.” The report, “Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity,” was compiled by the Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Governments, a committee of health care...

President Obama's nominee for surgeon general, whose job it is to help encourage Americans to get thinner and healthier, has been working part time as a scientific adviser to the fast-food giant that sells sandwiches like the Whopper and BK Triple Stacker. Dr. Regina Benjamin, hailed by Mr. Obama for her efforts in running a health clinic in hurricane-ravaged rural Alabama, has been paid $10,000 since last year for serving on a scientific advisory board for Burger King, according to newly filed public financial disclosures. The documents do not specify the scientific issues on which Dr. Benjamin advised the fast-food...

President Obama's nominee for surgeon general, whose job it is to help encourage Americans to get thinner and healthier, has been working part time as a scientific adviser to the fast-food giant that sells sandwiches like the Whopper and BK Triple Stacker. Dr. Regina Benjamin, hailed by Mr. Obama for her efforts in running a health clinic in hurricane-ravaged rural Alabama, has been paid $10,000 since last year for serving on a scientific advisory board for Burger King, according to newly filed public financial disclosures. The documents do not specify the scientific issues on which Dr. Benjamin advised the fast-food...

ST. LOUIS, Jul 13, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Summer gets saucy this year with Hardee's(R) introduction of the new French Dip Thickburger(R). A perfect "pas de deux" of beef, the French Dip Thickburger is available at participating Hardee's beginning today and is a meaty combination of a 100% Black Angus Beef Thickburger patty topped with thinly sliced roast beef and melting Swiss cheese served with a cup of au jus for dipping. To celebrate this delicious new meat-on-meat creation, Hardee's is sending four gorgeous French Maids (Sophie, Antoinette, Gabrielle and Isabelle) to cruise the country on segways. These beauties may not...

This whole style of pushing through bills without reading them or taking the time to get it right has to stop now. These politicians in Washington DC have almost completely destroyed America as we know it. The money they are spending and the absolute disregard for the growth of government is beyond pernicious. It is national suicide. Cramming down our throats one bill after the other without having a punctilious debate to try to get it right is utterly irresponsible. It is breathtaking to watch one politician after the other not even read these bills. What do they think they...

Former President Bill Clinton is one of the featured speakers at today’s inaugural “Weight of the Nation” conference in Washington, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control to focus on obesity prevention and control. Clinton’s battles with his own weight, of course, are famous -- punctuated by fast-food runs during the early days of his presidency, and the heart bypass operation he needed to undergo in 2004. How to fuel up for an appearance like today’s conference? According to The Washington Post’s “Reliable Source” column (which has the photo to prove it), the former president waited in line Saturday night...

No, "over salting" isn't code for anything nasty. The 20-year-old McDonald's worker literally spilled salt on the hamburger meat that was used to make a "Big 'N Tasty" that was served to a Georgia police officer. The police officer says the burger made him sick—and Kendra Bull, 20, spent a night in jail because of it. According to Kendra, she accidentally spilled too much salt on the hamburger meat, tried to remove it, notified her coworkers, then took a break. During the break she says she ate a burger made from the salty meat.

It wasn't your usual Saturday afternoon lunch at the Jack in the Box on North Grand Avenue on Saturday. Upon learning of his termination with the restaurant, a Jack in the Box employee went on a tirade, destroying two cash registers, a breakfast menu board, a drive thru headset, a milkshake mixer--- even two customer's meals. The 20-year-old employee was charged with criminal mischief greater than $1,500, which is a state jail felony. No one was injured in the employee's ‘rampage.’

The health zealots at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a close ally of the food cops at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, have come out with the 2009 version of their obesity report card, grading America “F as in Fat.� But once again, the weight police ignored the opportunity to examine the whys behind increasing obesity rates before assigning the country a failing grade.From the report: Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity at 32.5 percent, making it the fifth year in a row that the state topped the list. Four states now have rates...

Darius Dugger wanted it his way: no tomatoes, no onions, no pickles. He didn't get it. So he sued. Dugger is seeking $100,000 in damages, plus legal fees and court costs, after a Burger King franchise allegedly messed up his order, causing him to fall ill. A lawsuit filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court claims that on April 10, 2007, Dugger ordered a drink and two sandwiches from the restaurant on Monticello Avenue in James City County. Then the Portsmouth man left the restaurant, joined a group of co-workers for lunch and pulled out his sandwich. But, the suit says,...

With the nation in its deepest recession in decades, why would McDonald's pick this moment to launch a $4 burger? You may have noticed the signs that just went up on some McDonald's drive-through menus: The new Angus burger. It weighs one-third of a pound. It costs four bucks. In its first-quarter earnings conference call this morning, the company did not say it is rolling out the Angus nationwide, but it did not say it isn't. The company was cagey. Still, they're starting to pop up -- The Ticker saw the Angus on a menu last Saturday, at a McDonald's...

The hit squad had prepared their raid long in advance. At 10am eight police officers, some in anti-stab vests, joined three council employees on the doorstep of the Bamboo Joint takeaway. Their mission? To stamp out the practice of selling jerk chicken within 400 metres of a secondary school. Yesterday, the Jamaican cafe in Leytonstone, East London, became the first takeaway in the country to be given a closure order under guidelines banning the sale of fast food near educational establishments. Its owners were given three days to shut up shop. They were informed by Waltham Forest Council that their...

Idaho town could ban drive-thru windows02:39 PM MDT on Monday, April 13, 2009 SANDPOINT -- Residents in this northern Idaho city might have to start waving bye bye to drive-through businesses. A proposal to prohibit drive-through services recently passed the city's planning and zoning commission and goes before the city council in May. If approved the ordinance would regulate drive-through restaurants, banks, coffee shops, pharmacies, dry cleaners and other businesses that cater to customers in cars. Existing drive-through businesses would be allowed to continue but not rebuild. "Conceivably, as these existing drive-throughs degrade if they're not maintained, this could lead...

Kentucky Fried Chicken has been making a tour of America's big cities trying to get those towns to allow them, KFC, to fill the many thousands of potholes pockmarking our roads left over from this past harsh winter. But it isn't just community spirit motivating the fast food, fried chicken giant. They want to spray paint KFC logos on top of every pothole they pay to fill. It's all a matter of advertising. But I say, so what? Let them get their advertising. If they want to kick their ad money into a mutually beneficial arrangement with the cities, so...

Ninth graders whose schools are within a block of a fast-food outlet are more likely to be obese than students whose schools are a quarter of a mile or more away, according to a study of millions of schoolchildren by economists at the University of California and Columbia University. The study, a widely circulated working paper of the independent National Bureau of Economic Research, marks an intensive effort by economists to determine whether close geographic proximity to fast food plays a causal role in obesity. The sample population was large, spanned almost a decade and included such detailed geographic information...

Two sections of a life-sized plastic statue of Colonel Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken's founder, were recovered from the bottom of the Dotonborigawa river on Tuesday and Wednesday, 24 years after being thrown into the river in Chuo Ward, Osaka. The statue, which used to stand in front of a local KFC in the Dotonbori district, was thrown from the Ebisubashi bridge by Hanshin Tigers fans who were excited over their team's Central League pennant win in 1985. The Tigers also won the Japan Series that year. However, the baseball team is said to have been haunted by the curse of...

A moratorium on new fast food restaurants and convenience stores along a portion of University Avenue in downtown Berkeley may soon be lifted. The Berkeley City Council is scheduled to consider a Planning Commission recommendation to lift the ban Tuesday night, Feb. 24. The ban on new fast food restaurants and carry-out food stores on University Avenue between Oxford Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way was first adopted by the council in 1999 at the request of the Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) and with the support of then-Councilmember Dona Spring, who represented the downtown area on the council. In...

The ABC News medical unit wants to warn you about a stunning new risk to your health: fast food. Amazingly, it "ups your stroke risk" ABC tells us. Of course, we all know that eating too much fast food is bad for us, right? Well ABC has even more startling news. It isn't necessarily only eating the stuff that'll kill you. You see, ABC wants us to believe that just living near fast food places will kill you, too. Now stop laughing. I think ABC is serious with this stuff. ABC unleashed this "news" piece on February 19 with a...

Sixty one percent of the kids at Watsoville High (Watsonville, California) are eligible for free breakfast or lunch provided by the taxpayers but instead head off for the local convenience store or fast food joint. Still it's all our fault that they are fat. Watsonville faces a growing number of overweight children By JONDI GUMZ Posted: 02/08/2009 01:30:41 AM PST WATSONVILLE -- Too often, children in Watsonville are eating food that is not good for them, and it shows. About 31 percent of Watsonville's children are obese by age 8, and another 23 percent are overweight, a study for the...

Call this a case of liberalism via central planning gone wild. In one of the most politically left-of-center cities east of Berkeley, Calif., ideas put forth at city hall in Madison, Wis. would dramatically limit free enterprise and personal liberty, all in the name of environmental sustainability. According to the “Broad Strategies” section of a meeting agenda recently posted on the City of Madison Web site, an ordinance being considered would force city zoning to account for and mitigate climate change. ..more..

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Only 3 percent of kids' meals served at fast-food restaurants met federal dietary guidelines in the first study to examine the nutrient quality of such meals in a major U.S. metropolitan market.

Steak or salmon? Try Big Mac or Gordita. The high-end restaurant business is bracing itself for a slowdown as customers opt to save instead of spend. That’s good news for fast-food chains like McDonald’s. In October, sales at the Golden Arches jumped 8.2% globally, thanks in part to their budget-friendly dollar menu. But how far can your dollar go when it comes to taste? We asked Zach Brooks, editor of SeriousEatsNewYork.com and founder of MidtownLunch.com, to taste-test the best deals at five fast-food chains with outlets throughout the five boroughs, and dish on his findings. KFC“I love fried chicken. The...

Chicago, IL (AHN) - To battle the growing public perception that McDonald's offerings are not healthy, the fast food chain is tapping more mothers as its frontline warriors under the firm's Quality Correspondents program. McDonald's launched the program in 2007 and recently tapped five mothers in the Washington region to be part of the program. The five are among the thousands who responded to a TV ad seeking volunteers to help explain the nutritional value of McDonald meals to the public. "What to Eat" author Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at the New York University, said because of McDonald's size as...

McDonald's profit jumps 11% By William Spain, MarketWatch Last update: 10:03 a.m. EDT Oct. 22, 2008 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- McDonald's Corp. said Wednesday it posted an 11% rise in third-quarter profit, helped by strong sales worldwide. Before the start of trading, McDonald's (MCD) said it earned $1.19 billion, or $1.05 a share, up from $1.07 billion, or 89 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 6% to $6.27 billion, with global same-store sales -- those at outlets open at least a year -- up 7.1%. The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research had been for...

OAK BROOK, Illinois, October 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The American Family Association (AFA) announced the end of a successful boycott yesterday against McDonald's Corporation. McDonald's has severed its ties to a homosexual business group and declared neutrality in the culture wars as per AFA's request.

Burger bars and budget stores: Credit crunch winners who are in the money 'I can't remember us ever being this busy,' said the chef as he prepared another Pepperoni Passion at the Domino's Pizza takeaway in southwest London. By David Harrison Last Updated: 12:27AM BST 05 Oct 2008 Domino's has seen half-year profits soar by more than a third to £8.3 million compared with last year Photo: PA "We used to envy the restaurant over the road because it was always packed with people spending lots of money. But now everybody seems to want to order in pizzas or have...

McDonald's, home of kids' Happy Meals and the Big Mac, has been cited by a boycott campaign for sponsoring conferences at which homosexuals are trained to be activists in advancing their own sexual preferences, according to the American Family Association. The AFA has launched a boycott campaign of the company for an anti-family agenda and public condemnation of traditional family supporters as being motivated by "hate." The AFA's petition and other outreaches have been assembled at the website BoycottMcDonalds.com. Now there's more reason for members and supporters of traditional families to be upset with the fast-food chain. "McDonald's does it...

Mainstream media outlets declined to cover a press conference held yesterday by conservative groups protesting a McDonald’s spokesman who accused them of “hatred.” A coalition of pro-family groups, spearheaded by the American Family Association (AFA), sponsored the press conference at the McDonald’s world headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. The coalition was accused of “hatred” by a company spokesman because they are boycotting McDonald’s for sponsoring the homosexual agenda. At the press conference, Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs for Liberty Counsel, explained what the McDonald’s spokesman said that infuriated the boycotters. “While referring to Christians and other people with traditional...

A NEW weapon in the battle against obesity was rolled out last month when the Los Angeles City Council decided to stop new fast food restaurants from opening in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Even in a country where a third of the schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the yearlong moratorium raises questions about when eating one style of food stops being a personal choice and becomes a public health concern. The Sisyphean struggle against poor diets has included booting soda from schools, banning trans fat and, more recently, sending New Yorkers into dietary sticker shock with a law...

Talk about taking a bite out of crime! For two years, a Brooklyn thug sat in an Oregon jail awaiting trial for a coldblooded murder, and all the fat felon could think about was food - a bucket of greasy chicken, a mouthful of lasagna, a slice of pizza. So when prosecutors offered to buy Tremayne Durham, 36, a fast-food buffet in exchange for a guilty plea that would land him behind bars, likely for the rest of his life, he bit right in. The 275-pound convicted rapist admitted he had shot a man to death over a failed business...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)-If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects. The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight....

A moratorium on the opening of new fast food restaurants in one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles moved one step closer to reality on Tuesday in a measure aimed at countering obesity.A Los Angeles city council planning committee unanimously approved a one-year ban, which could be extended for a further year, on new fast food outlets in a 32-square-mile (82-sq-km) area of Los Angeles.

A proposal that would place at least a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a broad swath of neighborhoods, mostly in South Los Angeles, won unanimous support from a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday. If approved by the full council and signed by the mayor, the law would prevent fast-food chains from opening new restaurants in a 32-square-mile area, including West Adams, Baldwin Village and Leimert Park. The moratorium would be in effect for one year, with the possibility of two six-month extensions. The measure, proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose 9th District includes much of South Los...

Exiling the Happy Meal Los Angeles Lawmakers Want to Escalate The War on Obesity (And Fast Food) By SARAH MCBRIDE July 22, 2008 Despite its health-crazy reputation, parts of Los Angeles are plagued by obesity rates that rival any city in America. Now, the city may join a growing roster of local governments aiming to put their residents on diets by cracking down on the fast-food industry. Jan Perry, a Los Angeles city-council member, is spearheading legislation that would ban new fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and KFC from opening in a 32-square-mile chunk of the city, including her district. The...

First, from the top of the Democrat Party, we had Howard Dean banning fried food at the Democrat Convention and authorizing only approved food colors. Of course, the caterers correctly thought Dean was a moron, and told him so. Now the Left Coast chapter of the Fraternal Order of Oral Limitations (FOOL), which enforces food consumption regulations as well as speech control laws, has decided that people in South-Central are too fat and unhealthy so they want a moratorium on any new fast food joints.

The American Family Association, whose earlier boycott of Ford Motor Co. over its promotion of homosexuality was dropped after company sales fell 8 percent per month for two years, now is asking consumers to stop buying Big Macs and Happy Meals at McDonald's. In a brief announcement today, AFA, whose constituents number in the millions, said it is "asking its supporters to boycott the restaurant chain." "This boycott is not about hiring homosexuals, or homosexuals eating at McDonald's or how homosexual employees are treated. It is about McDonald's, as a corporation, choosing to put the full weight of their organization...

First it was a proposed ban on plastic bags. Now, a member of the influential Madison Plan Commission wants to ban the restaurant drive-through -- or at least restrict the ubiquitous symbol of America's auto-centric lifestyle. "Given the concern about all the carbon going into the atmosphere, I'm not sure we should be building more places for people to sit idling in their cars," says Eric Sundquist, who was appointed to the citizen panel by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz this spring. A former newspaper reporter in Atlanta now working as a researcher at the UW-Madison's Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Sundquist notes...

It’s not likely dieticians will be endorsing his regimen, but a Virginia man demonstrated it is possible to regularly dine at a fast-food restaurant without being criticized for signing your own death certificate. Despite media attacks on fast-food for being unhealthy, ABC’s “Good Morning America” showed that healthier options are available without heavy-handed involvement from government in its June 19 broadcast. “Meet Chris Coleson – for years the Virginia man said he was eating too much and, of course, no diet seemed to work,” co-host Diane Sawyer said. “Then last December, he tipped the scales at 278 pounds and made...

<p>McDonald's french fries are now trans-fat-free in all its restaurants in the United States and Canada, the fast-food restaurant chain said Thursday.</p> <p>McDonald's has lagged other restaurant operators in switching over to a zero-trans-fat cooking oil out of worries it would compromise the taste of its trademark fries. It has been under increasing pressure from consumer advocates and some public officials to make the change.</p>

OAK BROOK, Ill. - Fast food chain McDonald's Inc. says it's giving out millions of free samples of its two new chicken menu items. On May 15th, the Oak Brook-based restaurant chain will give customers samples of its "Southern style" chicken biscuits and sandwiches. Customers can get the free lunch and breakfast items when they buy any medium or large drink at the company's 14,000 U.S. restaurants. The promotion's part of McDonald's efforts to convince customers to try their expanded chicken menu. McDonald's says it expects to give away 8 million breakfast and lunch sandwiches during the daylong event.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - With a possible U.S. recession looming, Colonel Sanders is turning to China to fill the breach, offering a menu of fried dough and preserved egg porridge alongside the chicken that turned KFC into an American icon. Beset by falling sales at home, Yum! Brands Inc, owner of the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut brands, is mounting an expansion drive in China that could make the country its biggest source of profit within a decade. But like many foreign firms in China, from mobile phone makers to clothing designers, the U.S. fast food giant has discovered it...