It is not clear how the cease-fire or “de-escalation zones” will be enforced in areas still to be determined in maps to emerge a month from now. It said some maps of the “de-escalation zones” that were released are not accurate and will not be accepted because the armed opposition did not negotiate them. The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media reported there was “relative clam” Saturday morning in the “de-escalation zones” nine hours after the deal went into effect. “Despite some

A top Apple executive revealed he is not a fan of either Amazon’s Echo or Google Home’s speakers, amid speculation that the company could be releasing its own rival product. In a recent interview with Gadgets 360, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, took a dig at the devices—which have voice assistants built in. Apple has yet to release its own product, but a noted analyst recently said that the company is working on a device to rival Amazon and Google. “So the

In an unusually personal speech, Janet L. Yellen, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, said Friday that policies making it easier for women to work could significantly improve the nation’s economic growth. Bringing more women into the work force with policies like expanding the availability of paid leave, affordable childcare and flexible work schedules, she said, could help to lift the American economy from a long stretch of slow growth. “Evidence suggests that many women remain unable to achieve th

Who is regulating the pet food industry? “Pet food isn’t food. “There is no required testing of product by pet food manufacturers…. “I had no idea what shelf life was, [and I] called the pet food company…They proudly told me this pet food would stay fresh for 25 years,” Thixton told CNBC. According to the FDA’s website, “The pet food canning industry utilizes undecomposed animal and marine tissues from various sources.

Above: Berkshire-owned Justin Brands cowboy hats for sale at the Berkshire Hathaway 2017 Annual Shareholders Meeting. No music festival is complete without branded merchandise, and at the “Woodstock for Capitalists” in Omaha, Nebraska, this weekend is no exception. Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting attendees can snag limited edition products branded with the “Oracle of Omaha”Warren Buffett, and his right-hand man, Charlie Munger. Here’s what’s for sale at the CenturyLink Center, courtesy of

A year ago the University of California at Berkeley hosted a retirement celebration for David Patterson, who was hanging it up after a 40-year academic career in computer architecture. From writing two books with Stanford University’s John Hennessy to chairing the Computing Research Association, Patterson told the audience that a key to his success was doing “one big thing at a time.” His next big thing could be enormous. It’s called the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), and Patterson has emerged as

The process is aimed at ensuring “the new strategy is directed against the pre-eminent terrorist threats to our nation, our citizens, our interests overseas and allies,” Anton said. Combating Islamic extremism was a major issue for Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. The draft strategy paper, which officials said was still being fine-tuned at the White House, describes the threat from Islamic militant groups in stark tones. “If you do see additions elsewhere, they will be in keeping wit

At the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey recently, a casual observer could be forgiven for mistaking the floating object within for a giant onion, or perhaps even a UFO. However, the bulbous device, which bears more than a passing resemblance to a weather balloon, was neither of those things. It was the Halo, the latest in a generation of drones. Unlike other unmanned aerial vehicles, however, the helium filled device is neither as sleek nor as compact as its cohorts that take to the skies to

To get ahead, it’s often not enough to make good professional choices in your job. It helps to make solid relationship choices, too. So says Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook and co-author, with Wharton professor Adam Grant, of the new book, “Option B.” In a wide-ranging interview with Hannah Kuchler of the Financial Times, she makes clear that individual success is often best achieved in a stable context. “You can date whoever you want, but you should marry the nerds and the

Mark Cuban is a Dallas-based tech entrepreneur who is obsessed with basketball, so a Chicago-based start-up selling saffron produced in Afghanistan may seem outside his investment sweet spot. Yet the billionaire made a deal with precisely that on a “Shark Tank” episode that aired Friday. Rumi Spice appeared on “Shark Tank” seeking a $250,000 investment for five percent equity. They learned that the war-torn country is covered with the purple flowers that make saffron, one of the most expensive s

When asked about volatile Chinese stocks, investing legend Warren Buffett said Saturday that markets can sometimes resemble a “casino.” “Markets have a casino characteristic that has a lot of appeal to people, particularly when they see people getting rich around them,” Buffett said. In contrast, the Shanghai Stock Exchange opened in 1990. Shanghai composite 3-year performanceThe Shanghai composite plunged more than 40 percent in the summer of 2015 after rampant speculation came to a sharp end.

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Protectionist rhetoric may be in vogue in among some Western politicians, but many of the top economic leaders in Asia are saying they aren’t worried. These officials suggest trade will become more open and free, and globalization is the solution to many of the world’s problems. “Trade is going to find ways and means — either by way of multilateral arrangements, plurilateral arrangements, or bilateral arrangements — of moving forward,” he added. Even Japan and China — which hav

Warren Buffett, who’s avoided technology businesses for most of his lauded investing career, pointed out at his annual meeting Saturday that the five companies worth more than his largely industrial conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, take basically zero capital to run. Buffett called these kinds of companies, where one gets very high returns for very little capital, the “ideal business.” He has generally has invested in more capital-intensive businesses like railroads, utilities and manufacturers

Driverless trucks will one day hurt railroads and auto insurers, Warren Buffett said Saturday. “Driverless trucks are a lot more of a threat than an opportunity to Burlington Northern,” Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Berkshire owns the Burlington Northern railroad company and auto insurer Geico. “Autonomous vehicles widespread would hurt us … if they spread to trucks, and they would hurt our auto insurance business,” Buffett said. “If they m

The French electoral commission has warned the media they can be prosecuted for publishing false information. And Macron’s team put out a statement Friday night, just minutes before midnight, stating some of the documents were false and that journalists should not cover them. He explains to the recipient of the email that he must reimburse him for a donation that is larger than allowed by France’s campaign finance laws. Another is from a lawyer explaining to a campaign worker how the campaign la

Warren Buffett admitted to shareholders Saturday that he made a mistake by not buying Google shares years ago when the company was getting $10 or $11 per advertising click from Berskhire Hathaway consumer insurance company subsidiary Geico. Buffett has often said he avoided tech stocks in the past because he didn’t really understand how they were making money and whether they would be able to do so over the long term. In the case of Google, however, Buffett said he could have figured out the com

Cook revealed that to fund Apple’s advanced manufacturing project, Apple will have to borrow $1 billion, so it does not have to pay taxes on its $256 billion it has stashed overseas. The CEO said that both repatriation and comprehensive tax reform would help make sense of this convoluted system. “If you sell globally, you earn money globally. If you earn money globally, you can’t bring it back into the United States unless you pay 35 percent plus your state tax,” Cook said. You want people to us

The headline unemployment rate might not be the best measure of jobs Friday, 5 May 2017 | 11:26 AM ET | 00:45The national unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent in April, the Labor Department said Friday. But relying on that one headline number as an indicator for the economy as a whole ignores important information just below the surface. Economists look past the official unemployment rate — that 4.4 percent figure, also known as the “U-3” — to other metrics that give their own view of jobs in t

Gates is an tennis avid player, “but it is one thing to practice drills with your coach or go up against a friend,” he writes. “No one wants to watch a match where two of the players keep double-faulting and returning serves into the net,” he writes. Whether you’re playing tennis or running a company, there are always going to be intangibles. “During the match, I tried to just stay focused on what I was doing,” Gates writes. Don’t miss: Maria Sharapova is returning to tennis—here are the top 3 t

Just days after the November election, bond prices tumbled as bond yields increased dramatically. And in an extremely unusual occurrence, pre-tax municipal bond yields have actually been higher above Treasury yields. What’s driving this unusual behavior in the municipal bond market? How will proposed tax reform affect the role of municipal bonds? Municipal bond funds offer relative stability and income potential, something your clients may be seeking in this period of political and economic unce