DON EMMERT / AFP

Calls regulations in Bangladesh unnecessary.

The agreement on worker safety and building regulations in Bangladesh intended to prevent disasters like the factory fire in November and the factory collapse earlier this month will be missing one major retailer: Walmart. Even though major names like H&M, Zara, Primark, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and more signed the agreement, Walmart opted out, saying that the deal was “unnecessary to achieve fire and safety goals.” Instead, the retail giant created its own agreement, which it claims goes above and beyond the regulations outlined in the current deal. The difference: Walmart’s manifesto is not legally binding.

Read it at The Guardian

Jacquelyn Martin

A funny thing happened on the way to America’s becoming the next Greece. As D.C. was consumed with scandals, the fiscal 2013 deficit shrank. A lot.

On Tuesday, Washington was consumed with a series of scandals, nonscandals, and tail-eating—Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service, the AP. So much so that the biggest policy and political story of the day was largely ignored. You could search in vain on Politico’s front page for articles about the Congressional Budget Office’s bombshell report that the fiscal 2013 deficit would come in at $642 billion—$200 billion smaller than its February estimate, and down a stunning $447 billion, or 41 percent, from last year.

I agree with John Boehner: the dairy program in the farm bill is "Soviet-style." Therefore, it's a huge disappointment that a bipartisan effort to streamline the program just failed in the House of Representatives:An amendment to gut the dairy program sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) was defeated on a 20 to 26 vote. ...Goodlatte argued that dairy should have access to margin insurance without a requirement that farmers participate in a program to limit production.

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By Mark Koba Despite arguments to the contrary, giving unemployed Americans extended jobless benefits of up to 99 weeks didn't prevent them from taking jobs, according a new report.Released last month through the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the study says that the extended benefits given from 2009 to 2012 to the unemployed increased the overall employment rate by only 0.04 percentage points, which the report says is small in comparison to the peak recession unemployment rate of 10 percent.

Near Eiffel Tower on Paris on Tuesday. (Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty)

While Germany slowly picks up steam.

Maybe the French should have stopped protesting gay marriage and instead gone to work or bought some stuff. France slipped back into a recession as the entire euro-zone economy shrank more than expected in the first quarter of 2013, according to European Union data released Wednesday. France’s economy shrunk by 0.2 percent, its first decline in four years, and officials worried that France will continue to fall further behind throughout the year if it can only keep up the current pace. Germany, the largest economy in Europe, posted modest growth after suffering a sharp decline in the last quarter of 2012, with the EU Statistical Office commending Germany for “slowly picking up steam.” But things were especially bleak for Italy, the third-largest economy in Europe: its economy shrunk by 0.5 percent, putting the economy in recession for its seventh straight quarter.

Read it at Reuters

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High costs and a constantly expanding array of other options are spurring more Americans – especially young ones – to kick the long-running American car habit.

Cars, long a status symbol for American youth, are increasingly being passed-over by millennials the New York Times reports. According to a study released Tuesday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the driving boom of the past sx decades is over. Even though the U.S. population increases every year, 2013 marked the eighth year of declining driving. In aggregate, America’s vehicle owners are driving fewer miles than they used to. As federal data shows, total vehicle mileage driven in the U.

Ole Spata/AFP/Getty

Google hasn’t been known for its must-have consumer products. But by parceling out a small number of units of its revolutionary new device to developers and fans in advance of next year’s launch, it is creating an Apple-like mania.

The future is here, folks. Google Glass has rolled into beta testing phase and for the past few weeks, some lucky early adopters have been strapping thin wire frames onto their faces and seeing what’s otherwise limited to that old-fashioned glass on the iPhone screen. Nearly 10,000 total pairs will be sent out to Google’s “explorers”: comprised of winners of the #ifihadglass contest and developers who signed up for the program at Google’s IO conference last year.

Despite the rise of Facebook, the founder of Netscape says risk-averse public markets are hostile to technology startups. The result is likely to be fewer blockbuster initial public offerings.

By Cadie Thompson Don't expect a game changing tech initial public offering anytime soon. Private tech companies are steering clear of going public as long as they can manage, said Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, on CNBC's "Closing Bell" Monday."When you say what's the next big IPO, the brutal truth is I don't know and I'm not sure there is going to be one for quite while because the incentives are so strong to keep these companies private," Andreessen said.

Activist investor seeks breakup.

Hedge-fund instigator Daniel Loeb is calling for Sony to split its entertainment division from its electronics branch. Loeb’s hedge fund has acquired a 6.5 percent stake in Sony worth $1.1 billion. Notorious for disrupting companies in which he invests, Loeb thinks that by spinning off its entertainment arm, Sony could focus on electronics and increase profits. Time will tell if Loeb’s approach has any effect on the notoriously conservative Japanese corporate culture. 

Read it at The New York Times

Supply shock sidelines OPEC.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it! The International Energy Agency is predicting that growing U.S. oil production will meet the majority of new oil demand globally over the next five years. This means that even if the global economy grows faster than expected, OPEC will still be constrained by the threat of even lower prices in attempting to increase output. By 2015, the report predicted, the U.S. will overtake Russia as the largest non-OPEC oil producer.

Read it at Reuters