The sequester and its federal budget cuts are just four days away. If Congress and the White House don’t act this week, $85 billion will be slashed from the federal budget on Friday. As the government gets closer to that deadline, the warnings about what the budget cuts would mean are getting louder.

Martha Stewart is back in court next week. She will be testifying in a lawsuit between Macy’s and JC Penney. The retail chains are battling over who has the right to carry Stewart’s line of products. Last year Martha Stewart renewed an agreement giving Macy’s exclusive rights to sell her line of cookware, home décor and textiles. Under that agreement the only other place Stewart could sell those products is in her own stores. Stewart’s lawyers argue that she is simply doing what her contract allows — selling her products in her own store. At issue is the location of the store.

When it comes to public sector corruption, which of the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — ranks the best and the worst?