The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates 10,000 products ranging from apparel to household appliances, inspects less than 1 percent of imports under its jurisdiction. With the odds stacked against being detected, cost-cutting foreign manufacturers continue to supply dangerous goods to U.S. retailers.

What began as a slow-simmering disagreement over the use of government subsidies - one that has lasted for years - has recently mushroomed into a thunderhead of angry rhetoric, threats of lawsuits and proposed legislative action to roll back open skies agreements. The major U.S.-based carriers continue to accuse Middle Eastern airlines of exploiting the American market with an unfair advantage.

The Federal Aviation Administration is so slow to approve drone permits that the aircraft become obsolete while waiting, an Amazon executive told a Senate panel last week.

Corporate America usually hasn't viewed hot-button social issues as any of its business. Then came Indiana. The controversy over the state's religious rights measure signed into law recently has been striking for the parade of well-known businesses that not only joined in the opposition to the law but took the lead in voicing their disapproval.

Drop a pebble into a fishpond and it creates a tiny ripple. What starts as a local event instantly surges outward, causing a ring of disturbance that grows as it travels across the water. Beneath the surface, the goldfish scatter as a mallard above beats a rapid retreat. And for those who may be dozing on the shoreline, a chain of events has begun that forces change in every direction.

The American Association of Exporters and Importers has signed a memorandum of understanding to form the Global Shippers' Alliance (GSA).