U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer remained tight-lipped on the future of NAFTA, nor would he say if his country would re-enter the TPP trade deal when asked by CNBC. More clarity, pleaseIt seems that everyone here at the APEC trade ministers meeting is looking for a little clarity from the U.S. side. Canada’s trade minister seems confident they’ll get a deal done. New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay, whose country is one of two (along with Japan) to have already ratified the TPP, sa

Mr. Cohen’s unexpected appearance at a Las Vegas hedge fund conference this week. Mr. Cohen, 60, was rolling the dice with Ilana Weinstein, a sister of the hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein, at a table with a maximum bet of $5,000. Mr. Cohen last attended in 2011, when he was interviewed onstage by the conference’s founder, Anthony Scaramucci. In settling with federal prosecutors and the S.E.C., the hedge fund paid $1.8 billion in fines and restitution. Mr. Cohen left without speaking, but two w

Why top Silicon Valley VC George Zachary is placing all of his bets in biotech Saturday, 20 May 2017 | 9:00 AM ET | 03:10Silicon Valley investor George Zachary has a knack for betting early on Internet successes, with Twitter and Microsoft-owned Yammer among his lucrative wins. Based on a preliminary analysis of the image, the doctor said that it looked like sarcoma, a rare cancer found in connective tissues. “I nearly fell off my chair,” recalled Zachary, a general partner at Charles River Vent

Neither Russia nor the U.S. can be relied upon to stump up what will be a hefty reconstruction bill in Syria, according to the EU’s foreign policy chief. “If you look at the state of the Russian economy today it is difficult to call it a superpower,” said Mogherini, who is also the high representative of the Union for foreign affairs and security policy. She noted that its gross domestic product (GDP) was smaller than that of most of the individual European Union member states. “My impression is

“What it comes down to is women retire with two-thirds the money as men, and women live 5 to 8 years longer,” said Sallie Krawcheck, founder of Ellevest, an online advisor for women. Krawcheck calls the retirement savings crisis a woman’s crisis. “It is the woman who at the end of her life, is left trying to figure out how much money she can spend so she doesn’t run out before she dies,” she said. While finances plays a role, for women like Mariam Ephraim, 69, it came down to no longer wanting t

Analysis by marketing technology firm Amobee reveals the new and rebooted TV shows generating the most interest on social media around Upfronts, the weeklong blitz when networks show off their programming to advertisers. Those entries were followed by Fox’s “The Orville,” a space comedy from Seth McFarlene that’s a send-up of “Star Trek.” Two more comedies, CBS’s “Young Sheldon” and the return of NBC’s “Will & Grace” rounded out the top five. While “new shows around familiar franchises often mak

The message to Americans from most news outlets this week could not be much more urgent, or clear: President Donald Trump is in big, big trouble. In the last week, Politico, for example, has headlined: “Trump scandals threaten GOP agenda” and “Dems escalate talk of Trump impeachment” and — on Wednesday’s hiring of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Trump’s Russia ties — “Trump’s Worst Nightmare Comes True.” That’s the dominant narrative out of Washington, but there is another one p

Millennials aren’t as interested in buying diamonds as their Baby Boomer counterparts — and an increasingly agitated diamond industry is trying to win them over. Slowing sales in recent years have led the diamond industry to look outside of the once-bulletproof engagement ring market to attract millennial customers. But a closer look shows that it’s not that millennials have altogether stopped buying diamonds. They spent $26 billion on the stones in 2015 alone, more than any other single generat

Google recently launched its version of Siri, named Google Assistant, on the iPhone. We’ve found it to be much smarter than Siri and, to prove it, we recently put it head-to-head with Apple’s assistant. We asked Google Assistant and Siri the same questions to give you an idea of what you can expect from both. Each of the commands below was asked to both assistants. Take a look at how each responded.

An investment group that includes Japan’s SoftBank and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth arm announced on Saturday it had closed $93 billion in capital, committed to what is expected to be the largest technology investment fund ever. In addition to SoftBank and the Saudi kingdom’s public investment fund, whose roles were previously announced, investors in Softbank Vision Fund include the Mubadala InvestmentCompany of the United Arab Emirates, Apple, Foxconn Technology Group, Qualcomm and Sharp. Th

Brazilian President Michel Temer on Saturday angrily challenged a recorded conversation implicating him in a corruption probe, saying he would continue as president and ask the Supreme Court to verify the integrity of the recording. The recording, which some local media have said shows signs of editing, is part of plea-bargain testimony by JBS executives that was disclosed this week. The disclosure rattled Brazilian financial markets, cost Temer key congressional allies and led to widespread cal

The agreement, which is worth $350 billion over 10 years and $110 billion that will take effect immediately, was hailed by the White House as “a significant expansion of…[the] security relationship” between the two countries. Simultaneously, Saudi Arabia is in a broad-based push for economic reform, and as part of that effort signed a flurry of deals with private U.S. companies worth tens of billions of dollars. For the Saudis, Trump’s visit represents a diplomatic and public relations coup for

And while there’s never 100 percent probability in forecasting political risk, it seems the likelihood of health-care reform by the summer and tax reform by year end (or early 2018), is quite high. Paradoxically, special counsel Robert Mueller will provide cover for President Trump, as it will take him many months to complete his investigations. Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe told Congress there’s been no interference in the FBI’s investigations and no request for additional funding. He think

Iranians yearning for more freedom at home and less isolation abroad have emphatically re-elected President Hassan Rouhani, throwing down a challenge to the conservative clergy that still holds ultimate sway. We showed them that we still exist,” said 37-year-old Mahnaz, a reformist voter reached by telephone in the early hours of Saturday. Rouhani has been unable to secure the release of reformist leaders from house arrest, and media are barred from publishing the words or images of his reformis

National oil giant Saudi Aramco expects to sign $50 billion of deals with U.S. companies on Saturday, part of a drive to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil exports, Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser said. Nasser was speaking to reporters at a conference of scores of senior U.S. and Saudi business executives, coinciding with the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to Riyadh. He said 16 agreements with 11 companies would be signed, including memorandums of understanding for joint ventu

The Trump administration is exploring whether it can use an obscure ethics rule to undermine the special counsel investigation into ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russia, two people familiar with White House thinking said on Friday. Legal experts said the ethics rule can be waived by the Justice Department, which appointed Mueller. Even if the Justice Department granted a waiver, the White House would consider using the ethics rule to create doubt about Mueller’s ability

Microsoft on Friday unceremoniously revealed new prototype augmented-reality (AR) glasses that look like a normal pair of thick-framed glasses. The paper comes a few weeks after Facebook talked about building AR glasses. Snap, which sells camera sunglasses for its Snapchat messaging app, has introduced AR software features, although it has not yet indicated it’s working on proper AR glasses. The researchers did explore using their display prototypes for VR, although they noted that their more am

In short: If you want to become a millionaire, the earlier you start investing, the better. But it can give you a good estimation of whether or not you’re saving enough to retire comfortably. The simplest starting point is to invest in your employer’s 401(k) plan, a tax-advantaged retirement savings account. Next, consider alternate retirement savings accounts, such as a Roth IRA, traditional IRA and/or a health savings account. Don’t miss: If you want to be a millionaire, start thinking like on

Plus, getting their friends on board right away made it easier to decline social activities that came with a price tag. “They were really supportive and understood that we couldn’t go out for drinks or go bowling on a Friday night,” Cahill says. A few small changes here and there, such as asking someone to provide accountability, can make a big difference. “With the appropriate mindset and willingness to adopt the correct strategies, anybody can replicate what we did.” Don’t miss: How a teacher

Kirill Tatarinov grew up in the former Soviet Union, the son of a government computer architect. The family didn’t swallow state propaganda: His grandfather once spent ten years in a Soviet gulag. To achieve his dreams, young Kirill would have to get out and move to the other side of the world. Tatarinov is now the CEO of Citrix Systems, a tech company with tools that make it easier to share information and get work done from anywhere. It also included a wake-up call about what it really takes t