North Korea is threatening a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States as the United Nations prepares to vote this morning on a resolution that would boost economic sanctions on North Korea. Facebook is unveiling changes to its ‘Newsfeed’ later today in an effort to sell more ads. The company and its rivals are also exploring location based advertising, but it turns out determining your exact location isn’t as easy as it sounds. And, what’s got automakers down in Europe?

The Dow sits at a record high this morning and looks like it could go higher today. What does it mean for ordinary investors? Global oil markets are steady this morning after the death of the Hugo Chavez in Venezuela which has the world’s second largest oil reserves. And, Harley-Davidson factories just got a little less cool. The company is no longer allowing music to be played on the assembly lines because of safety concerns.

Perhaps no state will feel the sequester more than Virginia, which relies heavily on federal spending because of its proximity to the nation’s capital and its role as the home of the military industrial complex. Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell shares his expectations for the months ahead. As China’s National People’s Congress gets underway, the current Premier of China, Wen Jiabao, has announced an ambitious 7.5 percent economic growth target for the country. And while we’re talking China, incoming President Xi Jinping has proposed a new food and drug safety agency.

As Kenyans head to the polls today to elect a president, there are already reports of violence. A disputed election back in 2007 led to weeks of tribal bloodshed. Voters in Switzerland have approved a referendum to curb executive pay. The move comes less than a week after the European Union announced plans to cap banker bonuses. And the late Larry Hagman will make his final appearance as J.R. Ewing on TNT’s version of the show ‘Dallas’ tonight.

The dreaded sequester is finally here, and the Pentagon is facing a $50 billion budget cut. What does that mean for places that depend on defense spending? It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first sequester in U.S. history. If you ask people who were involved in sequesters-past, you’ll find the bureaucratic challenges involved in carving up the budget can be tricky to deal with. And chef Tom Colicchio joins us to discuss his new documentary about hunger in America, A Place at the Table.

We are just a day away from the sequester, which is Washington-speak for $85 billion worth of  federal spending cuts. The people who will feel the pinch first will likely be federal workers, some of whom could lose 20 percent of their pay. After the closing bell on Wall Street yesterday, J.C. Penny reported plunging sales and a half a billion dollars in losses for the last quarter. What’s got the retailer down? And bankers in Europe are facing a cap on their bonuses as early as next year.

As the we near the sequester deadline, how are other countries around the world such as China viewing the budget cuts? While President Obama made political waves with his call for an increase to the federal minimum wage during the State of the Union address, Germany is having its own debate about whether to have a minimum wage at all. And Cablevision is suing Viacom because the cable company says it shouldn’t have to pay for channels that aren’t popular with subscribers.

Global stock markets are falling this morning after Italian voters gave the world’s eighth largest economy a dose of political uncertainty. No political party won a clear majority in parliament. One of the biggest threats American companies are grappling with right now is the threat of a cyber attack. But the way the business community has responded to a recent string of hacking incidents thought to be coming from China is attracting criticism. And the price of lumber is up again, but does that mean we will see more trees falling?

Barring an eleventh-hour settlement, the British oil company BP will be in court today in New Orleans fighting tens of billions of dollars in civil claims related to the 2010 Gulf oil spill. India is launching seven satellites into space today, but the country’s space agency has its eyes on Mars. And, the sequester is an idea that most politicians agree is a bad one. And the term ‘sequester’? No one likes it. So where did the word come from?