Step three: If you're carrying credit card debt, figure out a plan to pay it off as quickly as possible. For one, the faster you pay it off, the less interest you'll pay on that debt. But carrying debt—even if you're diligently paying the minimum or a little more each month—can actually hurt your credit score too.

"Most people don't understand the amount of debt on your card affects your score," explained John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at CreditSesame.com. "Paying the minimum is good, but it's hardly going to lead to better credit."

It's all about the debt-to-limit ratio. If you can't pay it all off within a month, which is ideal, be sure that what you owe is less than 30 percent of your total credit limit. How much you owe compared to the total credit you have, also known as your debt utilization ratio, counts for a whopping 30 percent of your percentage score.

Here's how the rest of your credit score breaks down: 35 percent is your payment history, 15 percent is your credit history, 10 percent is the mix of credit you use—creditors want to see that you can responsibly handle payments from utility bills to credit cards and student loans—and 10 percent is new credit. (Opening several credit accounts in a short period of time is seen as indicative of greater risk.)

Step four: Keep your cards active and don't close credit cards you've paid off. Make sure to use your cards at least a few times a year (and pay off the balance within 30 days to avoid paying interest), so that the accounts remain active. Card issuers may close accounts if cards remain inactive for too long, thereby removing it from your credit history.

If you paid off a credit card and don't use it, you might be tempted to cancel it. But don't. "It isn't good to close cards for your credit score. A very good strategy is to use it like credit score insurance, so if someday you want to use it you can," said Ulzheimer. In the process, it helps your credit history.

Read MoreDo you have the best credit card in your wallet?

When shopping for new credit, Lin cautions against applying for too many cards at one time, which can ding your credit, and recommends keeping a close eye on the interest rate for the card you choose.

If you're in your 20s, it can take a little time to build up history, but it isn't just about getting a card and using it. Paying on time is an important factor—whether it's a credit card, a cable bill or a student loan payment.

"Building good credit is so important because of its vast influence," said Ulzheimer. "It's not terribly hard [to do] and usually happens organically over time as you apply for and open accounts like credit cards, auto loans and mortgages."

But putting a little more effort into boosting your credit score now can save you big money later.

Summary: Outside of your Social Security number, your credit score may be the most important number you have. Here's how to improve it.


Mining stocks outperformed on Wednesday, with Anglo American closing up around 2.3 percent after it reported that it had met production targets for the last quarter.

However, Europe's top-performing stock was Electrolux. Its shares hit a record high and closed around 12 percent higher after the home appliance maker posted a slightly-better-than-expected rise in core earnings for its fourth quarter.

Another strong performer was Nordea, whose shares closed around 8.8 percent higher after the lender reported a profit rise and upped its dividend for the year.

Away from individual stock news, a forward-looking German consumer confidence survey hit a 13-year high for February, GfK reported on Wednesday morning.

Summary: European markets ended mixed on Wednesday after seesawing for much of the session, with indexes pressures by a staggering slump in Greek bank stocks.


Ghosn said he did not expect a Google - or even an Apple – vehicle to come to market any time soon.

Instead, he said Google's move into the area was more to do with it getting in on the "technological evolution" of the car industry.

Tech companies like Microsoft and Intel are interested in cars, "because they see it as a very important object, where quite a lot of technology can be put in," he added.

Mr Ghosn isn't the only car company chief to watch Apple and the speculation surrounding it building a car with interest. Talking to CNBC at the Geneva Motor Show, in Switzerland, Ian Robertson, member of the board of management at BMW, said "I look at all competition equally, whether they're new players or existing players."

"One thing about BMW is we tend to not look over our shoulder, we tend to look to the future and we tend to shape our own future."

Discussing Apple as competition, Robertson said "the barriers of the past are maybe lower, as we go into the future, but at the same time, the car market is a very complicated one. There are some new players in the market that are making some headway. Let's see what happens."

Read MoreGoogle and Apple battle for your car's dashboard

Summary: As tech giants Apple & Google edge towards the car industry, Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan's CEO, insisted that traditional automakers shouldn't worry.


Investors should not be overly worried that the dollar and the euro are flirting with parity, but rather with the speed at which they are doing so, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

"I think people forget that we've been there before and it was OK. There was also a really long period where we debased the dollar," he said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." But "even though this is historically OK, it's the velocity [that's concerning]. If we would see any good news coming out of Europe in terms of a strong economy … we would break the velocity."

The euro breached below $1.06 against the dollar for the first time in about 12 years on Wednesday, while the dollar index rose to another multiyear high when it reached 99.50. The euro zone currency traded at $1.05801 shortly before the U.S. markets began Wednesday's trading session.

These currency headwinds also threw U.S. stocks for a ride on Tuesday, losing nearly 1.5 percent.

Read More Strong dollar: Is another EM tantrum here?

Cramer added that the global economy is not ready for a quick Federal Reserve rate hike, as suggested by Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher.

Read MoreFed's Fisher calls for 'prompt' rate hike

"Thank God he's not voting," Cramer said. "Prompt tightening is going to send all of these currencies to the floor, and it's going to really put a stop to all of our exports."

Summary: CNBC's Jim Cramer says the real problem with the euro's plunge is its velocity.


This fall, CNBC's "Squawk Box" turns 20.

Twenty years of shows—the history, the hosts, the guest hosts, the guests, the mergers, the breaking news, the banter, the fun and the road trips.

Twenty years of my life. (Yes, co-host Joe Kernen and I have been working together on this show for two decades!)

Doing some quick math—at three hours every weekday (the show actually started as 90 minutes and grew over time, but if you add in specials, extended coverage and weekend programming it all probably averages out) 52 weeks a year for 20 years—the rough stats add up to more than 15,000 hours of live programming.

When first faced with the thought of what we should do for our 20 year anniversary, I honestly didn't know where to start. But luckily, before we could worry about how to celebrate, we had a more pressing issue in front of us we knew would dramatically improve the program. So we began our 20th year by moving, literally.

After 19-plus years in our New Jersey studios at CNBC World Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, (and before that Fort Lee, New Jersey), we took advantage of a great opportunity and made the next logical step in our never-ending evolution by moving across the river to the heart of Midtown Manhattan.

At the time, it felt like a leap of faith to leave a home we all knew so well. Now, nine months later, it looks like such a no-brainer that it made me wonder what the heck was I worried about and why did it take me so long to get on board? Our access to guests, the excitement and pulse of the Big Apple, and a new street-level live studio have raised our game.

This brings me back to our original mission: "Squawk Box" was the first real stock market "pregame" show. We designed the whole thing to "look forward" to the trading day ahead while also leveling the playing field by giving small investors real "access" to the experts, opinions and analyses that were once reserved for only the privileged few on Wall Street.

With that in mind, I go back to my original problem: What do we do for our 20-year celebration?

I started the process by saying let's resist the urge to spend most of our energy looking back. (Don't worry, we didn't totally resist. In the weeks and months ahead, we'll still show you Joe's hair style in 1995, all the classic bloopers and some of our finest moments.) Looking back is fun, and "Squawk Box" has had plenty of fun over the years. However, looking FORWARD has always been the real 20-year DNA of this program and the access to the best experts in their fields are literally the ingredients our anchors—Kernen, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin—use each morning to give investors an edge.

We decided to throw out the typical TV anniversary celebration playbook and forge our own path, in the true nature of "Squawk Box." Let's do what most "TV people" would instinctively say is exactly what you should NOT do. Everything in TV these days is about pacing (faster!) and attention span (shorter!) and volume (louder!).

With that in mind, for our anniversary we decided to do the opposite, and take it slower. We're not going to cram it all into one show or even one week packed with a live band, confetti and a huge cake. (OK, maybe one small cake). We thought maybe a window of over, say, two months sounded more comfortable than two days. And in a world of catchy 15 second soundbites, we decided one-hour panel discussions sounded more our speed.

Wow, pretty boring huh? Well, maybe. But what we wanted to do is raise the television bar, and when you see who we put together on these panels, we hope you agree that maybe we're just onto something special.

For instance, we're kicking off a series of topical roundtables "Conversations for the next 20 years" on Tuesday with two billionaires, hedge fund legend Leon Cooperman and buy-and-hold specialist Mario Gabelli.

Over a period of the next two months (or so), we've booked some of the smartest people in the world in their fields, with the goal of getting them to talk—and I mean really talk.

Here are some of the planned segments: Les Moonves, CEO of CBS, and David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Communications, on the future of media; former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on the current state of monetary policy; value stock investor Bill Miller on asset allocation; and management guru Jack Welch and Under Armour founder and chief Kevin Plank on corporate leadership 2.0.

We shot for the magical number of "20" of them for our 20 years (forgive me that TV convention), but ended up with many more. Guests started talking, and more and more wanted to get involved.

The goal is simple. Celebrate our anniversary by making original, smarter TV, and giving our viewers an exclusive look into the future, call it a pregame run of shows for the next 20 years. We hope it's a perspective you might not get otherwise, something you can't find anywhere else on television.

If we pull it off, I think we'll have honored what this show has always been about and hopefully will continue to be about when we do this again 20 years from now for our 40th anniversary. I think it's a cool idea. I hope it works. And I hope we all learn something from it. If we do, then we can say we moved the ball forward, and that's what this show is really all about.

Summary: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Squawk Box" this year, we've booked some of the world's smartest people to give investors an exclusive look into the future.


Weighing a career's risk versus its reward? This might help.

Jobs search website CareerCast.com released a list of its most and least dangerous jobs in America.

The site compiled the list using its in-house methodology to quantify different aspects of a career, including environment, salary, stress and others. The company also used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine projected salary growth as well as annual mean salary.

Here is a list of the 10 most—and least—dangerous jobs in the U.S. in alphabetical order.

Summary: Jobs search site CareerCast.com released its list of the 10 most dangerous and safest U.S. jobs.


The IFA consumer electronics show opened to the public over the weekend and companies from Samsung to LG to Huawei used it as a platform to launch devices they hope can give them the technological edge.

Smartwatches, smartphones, TVs and tablets were among the hardware launched.

Here's a rundown of the latest tech that you might want on your Christmas wish list.

Summary: Tech giants from across the globe launched an exciting variety of devices at the IFA consumer electronics show last week. Here's 11 of the latest products.


In 2006 I went to photograph the hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which every believer must take during his or her lifetime to be considered a true Muslim. I was taking part myself for the sixth time.

All photography during the hajj, particularly around the Kaaba (the black granite cube that is the holiest site in Islam), requires numerous Saudi permits, which are hard to get. So some of the time I relied on photography done by stealth.

It is not unusual to see pilgrims on stretchers or in wheelchairs. During the tawaf - the ritual of circumnavigation of the Kaaba - I was taken around on a stretcher held above shoulder height, allowing me to shoot the pictures from an elevated position, while being out of view. On this occasion, I was up on an observation tower during the namaz, one of the prayers performed by Muslims every day.

It is hard for me to remember much more about it; the hajj is so enthralling as a religious experience that the days blur into one and you lose track of time. Sometimes you forget to eat; I'd wake up in the morning and before I knew it, it was time for my evening meal.

What I love about the picture, though, is how it shows the great variety of pilgrims, all united in one ritual. There were hundreds of thousands of people around - the numbers are quite overwhelming - so the image also goes some way towards showing the scale of the event. I think it perfectly captures the harmony and grace of the hajj.

Inspirations: Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Tina Barney and Henri Cartier-Bresson

Low-point: "Covering the Iran-Iraq war. There were days when I would come across fallen colleagues and friends. Those days will be with me forever."

Pet hate: "The need for government permits, and social constraints in certain societies."

Dream subject: "I would ery much like to go to the cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq - site of some of the holiest shrines for Shia Muslims - and do a series on the worship at their shrines."

· Haj, an exhibition of Jamshid Bayrami's photographs, is at Xerxes Fine Arts, London SW1 (020-7839 3033), until July 25.

Summary: 'Days blur into one. You forget to eat'


But Alke Boessiger, head of commerce at UNI Global Union, which has coordinated the talks along with the International Transport Workers' Federation, accused Amazon of treating workers "like robots".

The unions at the meeting are planning to develop a coordinated strategy to increase wages and improve working conditions. They also hope to increase worker representation across Europe – especially in Poland and the Czech Republic, where the company is planning to open more distribution centers.

Amazon, however, said it "firmly believed" the best way to understand and respond to its workforce was directly with its employees.

"We have multiple avenues to listen to and respond to our associates, including employee surveys, anonymous helplines, voice of associate boards, All Hands meetings, roundtables, and other mechanisms," the company said in a statement emailed to CNBC.

Amazon has already been hit with a number of strikes by workers across Europe. In Germany –where the retailer employs around 9,000 people – workers' efforts to negotiate new pay deals have resulted in multiple strikes. The company has also been hit by industrial action in France and protests in Britain.

It follows a public backlash against the U.S. company for channeling its European revenues to Luxemburg in an effort to minimize corporate tax payments. For example, Amazon reported sales of $7.3 billion in Britain in 2013, but only paid £10 million ($17.2 million) in tax, according to Reuters.

Summary: Labor unions representing workers from across Europe met to discuss how best to take on Amazon, following what they describe as the "mistreatment" of its workforce.


Essentially this means that the liquidation of oil and gas MLPs that is happening has absolutely nothing to do with the actual fundamentals of the companies being sold. It is because of a moronic hedge fund that is out there selling everything it can.

With oil closing below $50 on Thursday, the lowest price since March, Cramer thinks that the U.S. needs all of the pipelines it can get. Oil transport by train costs $13 more per barrel than oil by pipe, thus with crude at these levels pipelines are especially needed.

It is clear to Cramer that the lower price of oil or gas will impact the MLPs that have direct exposure to pricing the most, and that is the minority of the group.

So, this gigantic liquidation of MLPs has nothing to do with the fundamentals of the companies and has everything to do with the fundamentals of money management. The issue here is etiquette!

In Cramer's perspective, the problem is that no one is publicly allowed to say "it's this fund, he's in trouble, he's doing the selling and we are going to destroy him by short selling all his positions into oblivion until he capitulates." But that is exactly what is happening.

Looking at the stocks of Williams Partners, Williams Companies and even Energy Transfer Partners itself, Cramer is sure it all traces back to one giant liquidation, because the actions taken by these companies indicate solid fundamentals.

These companies are not signs of problems in the industry. In fact, the lower some of these commodity prices go the more pipelines the U.S. needs. Especially as they begin to replace other fuels such as coal.

---------------------------------------------------------- Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: Can you guess why I'm crying? Cramer: China has peaked. Here's how to play it Cramer—Ambarella, GoPro & FitBit are headed higher ----------------------------------------------------------

But these master limited partnerships don't do buybacks and depend on their yields for support. That methodology is not working right now because of the forced selling. No one in the industry will talk, so investors cannot find out who is doing the selling or when it will stop.

"While we don't know when this forced selling will end, I do think that we will look back and wonder 'How did they ever get so low?' Which is why, if you are willing to take a few more days of pain, I think this is the time to buy the pipeline MLPs," Cramer said.

Summary: Jim Cramer sees a direct correlation between the price of crude and this group of oil stocks. Strike while the iron is hot!


Read More Boxing: What the stats say about Mayweather, Pacquiao

He also said he is not nervous about the upcoming bout, an event boxing fans have been demanding for years.

"I'm excited for the fight. I have peace of mind. I'm confident."

While Pacquiao should see at least $80 million from the fight, Mayweather is expected to make $200 million.

They aren't the only ones raking in money. Pay-per-view purchases could generate $300 million, a CNBC analysis found. Tickets for the bought at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas may haul in $70 million, according to The New York Times. Then there are international broadcasts, which could take in $35 million. Licensing fees for closed-circuit broadcasts could fetch $13 million, sponsorship revenue may reach $12 million and $1 million in merchandise could be sold.

Read MoreFloyd vs Manny: Breaking down the cash flow

Pacquiao said he plans to give some of his windfall to a foundation in the Philippines to help citizens there. He also bought land in the Philippines to build housing for those in need.

"I already bought the land but the problem is I need money so good thing it's a blessing this fight. I will earn big money and I can build a house for them," he said.

Summary: Manny Pacquiao is expected to get at least $80 million for his fight against Floyd Mayweather, but he says he's fighting for his fans.


(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices jumped more than 27 percent in three trading days between Thursday and Monday, which should convince even the most die-hard believers the oil futures market is neither efficient nor rational.

The rally has left traders, analysts and journalists struggling to make sense of the sudden change in direction after prices had fallen steadily for two months, hitting their lowest level since 2009.

Possible explanations range from a bounce in global stock markets, pipeline problems in Nigeria, new data showing U.S. oil production falling, and an editorial published in OPEC's monthly bulletin interpreted by some analysts as a call for a coordinated approach to cutting output ("Cooperation holds the key to oil's future", August 2015).

But it should be obvious none of these factors, singly or in combination, is sufficient to explain an increase in the price of U.S. crude from $38 to $49 in the space of less than a week.

Far more important was the unusually large concentration of short derivatives positions in U.S. crude still held by hedge funds betting prices would fall even further (http://link.reuters.com/pyk55w).

Large concentrations of hedge fund long or short positions have often preceded a sharp reversal in prices, as happened in March this year, when an unusual concentration of short positions preceded a sharp $18 rally.

Hedge funds and other money managers held short futures and options positions in the main U.S. crude equivalent to 157 million barrels of oil at the end of trading on Tuesday, Aug. 25, two days before the rally began.

Hedge fund short positions had barely been scaled back from a peak of 163 million barrels two weeks earlier and were almost three times greater than they had been two months previously, when they stood at just 56 million barrels.

The number of hedge funds with reportable short positions stood at 61 (down by just four from the peak) and the average position was 2.575 million barrels (down by just 287,000 barrels from the peak) (http://link.reuters.com/ryk55w and http://link.reuters.com/tyk55w).

With so many hedge funds so heavily committed to a strategy which relied on a further decline in prices, any factor that caused the market to start rising, however insignificant, had the potential to start a race to cover short positions.

The oil futures market is a voting machine in which countless individuals register their views about the future of prices based partly on reason and partly on emotion. It is not a weighing machine in which supply-and-demand fundamentals are recorded by an exact and impersonal mechanism ("Security Analysis", Graham and Dodd, 1934).

New data about supply and demand is filtered through the minds and decisions of buyers and sellers ensuring psychological factors play a decisive role in price formation. Traders' expectations are based partly on their own evaluation of supply and demand, and partly influenced by talking to colleagues, customers and counterparties ("Why stock markets crash", Sornette, 2003).

The oil market is a community, subject to the same fads and fashions as any other community, rather than a mechanical system governed by the laws of physics. Fundamentals always reassert themselves eventually, but psychological factors are more important in the short term, and the short term can last for a surprisingly long time, stretching from days into weeks and months.

Between the middle of June and end of August, hedge funds applied an increasingly bearish filter to market news, emphasising bearish developments in supply and demand while minimising bullish ones. As more and more hedge funds established larger and larger short positions, prices fell, seeming to validate their bearish expectations, a classic example of what billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros calls reflexive trading ("The Alchemy of Finance", 1987).

But this strategy depended on the news flow getting progressively more bearish and all the hedge funds remaining short. As soon as prices stopped falling and started rising there was likely to be a rush for the exits as everyone tried to buy back short positions before everyone else ("Predatory trading and crowded exits", Clunie, 2010).

In some sense, the precise trigger for the short-covering rally is irrelevant. It was bound to happen at some point, whether sparked by reported revisions to U.S. oil production, Nigerian pipelines or any other factors ("What might prompt a short-covering rally in U.S. oil price?", Aug. 17).

There is no need for a big cause to explain a large movement in prices such as happened over the last few days. In a complex system, a small trigger can result in an outsized movement in prices through positive feedback and a cascade effect.

Many market fundamentalists find this hard to accept. They are constantly searching for a logical and tidy explanation for price movements.

The need to answer the question "why?" and as a prelude to asking "what happens next?" are among the oldest and most basic human instincts.

For thousands of years, humans have told stories to make sense of the world around them.

Five thousand years ago it was stories told around a fire about gods and heroes. Now it is more likely to be about asset prices and feature complicated mathematics.

In the most satisfying stories, causes and consequences are usually proportional and proceed logically according to a predestined plan. Randomness, chaos and accidents are unsettling and have no place in a good narrative.

But because the oil market, like other financial markets, is a community made up of human traders it doesn't have to behave rationally and logically. There are all sorts of price spikes and crashes which are only very loosely if it all connected with fundamentals.

This chaotic behaviour is what makes markets so interesting and unpredictable. The most successful traders embrace it, even if it horrifies the tidy minds of the fundamentalists.

Summary: LONDON, Sept 1- U.S. crude prices jumped more than 27 percent in three trading days between Thursday and Monday, which should convince even the most die-hard believers the oil futures market is neither efficient nor rational. Possible explanations range from a bounce in global stock markets, pipeline problems in Nigeria, new data showing U.S. oil production...


"I decided to wind down Tudor Futures in recognition of my substantial ongoing responsibilities" as chief investment officer and co-chairman of Tudor Investment Corp., Tudor Jones wrote in a recent letter to investors, according to someone who has reviewed the remarks. "I'll continue to manage the firm's flagship fund," Tudor Jones wrote. The fund manager said also that, "I am and will continue to be the largest risk-taker for that fund for as far as I can see into the future."

Read MoreAfter a dazzling start, a star trader settles down

Tudor Jones was the only risk-taker in the Futures Fund, said people familiar with the matter, one of whom noted that it had had a volatile 2014. Indeed, the hedge-fund manager made no secret of the challenges he had faced in recent years, as central banks took actions that sometimes couldn't be anticipated and opportunities remained limited in the credit markets.

At an investor conference in May, Tudor Jones joked that macro trading had become so difficult, "I actually find myself daydreaming about winning 'Dancing With the Stars' on some days in the office."

Nonetheless, the Tudor B.V.I. flagship fund, where he will now focus his energies, managed to eke out an up year of 3.4 percent as of late December, according to an HSBC hedge-fund report. That fund manages $10.8 billion overall, according to the recent investor letter.

Read More'Perfect storm' benefits these hedge funders

Paul Tudor Jones did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Summary: The manager is closing the Tudor Futures Fund, the first hedge fund he ever opened, in order to focus on his far-larger flagship fund.


The swoon in China's equity markets has eroded confidence in Chinese officials' ability to handle the latest financial crisis, Evercore Partners Founder Roger Altman said Wednesday.

Asian stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Shanghai composite ending 1.3 percent lower despite an injection by China's central bank of nearly $22 billion into the banking system. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 3.2 percent, snapping a six-day losing streak. U.S. futures pointed to a sharply higher open.

"There was a long-standing sense that Chinese officials knew what they were doing, in terms managing their financial and economic systems. That sense was around for a long time," Altman said in a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview.

"Now there's a sense that they don't know what they're doing. That's a double-barreled negative as it relates to the perception of China, and it plays into the underlying sense that emerging market economies have been slowing," added Atlman, an assistant treasury secretary in the Clinton administration.

Overseas trade has been weighing on U.S. stocks recently and has contributed in part to some wild swings in the three major U.S. indexes.

In the waning hours of Tuesday's trading session, U.S. stocks not only gave back their gains, but recorded their worst reversal since October 2008 amid overwhelming uncertainty about what would happen in China trading, Charles Campbell, executive director at MKM Partners, said Wednesday.

Summary: "Now there's a sense that they don't know what they're doing," Roger Altman says of Chinese officials.


FORTUNE — If you were to list the factors with the biggest potential impact on the business world over the next few decades, you’d likely cite some common themes – evolving technology, the globalization of markets, and fiscal challenges in Western countries, perhaps. But here’s one you might not have considered: women.

According to our research, nearly 1 billion women will enter the global economy for the first time in the coming decade alone. And they will dramatically reshape the world of business and economies, globally.

Who are these women? We call them the “third billion,” in that their economic impact will be just as significant as that of the billion-plus populations in China or India, respectively. While these women have been overlooked in many markets — and actively suppressed in others — they are increasingly taking their place in the global economy, as both employees and entrepreneurs. It will not be long before they take their place as executives as well. Once these women begin to earn positions of leadership, they will change the economic potential and corporate culture of the world’s most esteemed organizations.

To date, these women have lacked the fundamental requirements needed to contribute to their national economies. They either haven’t had the necessary education and training to work, or — more frequently — they simply couldn’t, because of legal, familial, logistical, or financial issues. Of the roughly 865 million women who will be of working age (between the ages of 20 and 65) by 2020, according to the International Labour Organization, 812 million live in emerging and developing nations.

MORE: Can a mentor help you balance work and family?

For the private sector, this emerging workforce represents a significant opportunity. Greater participation from women — on the assembly line, on sales calls, in R&D labs, and in the boardroom — can inspire growth and open new markets. Companies that understand this are already taking measures to better integrate women around the world.

For example, Goldman Sachs GS launched the 10,000 Women initiative, a five-year, $100 million effort to provide business and management education to female entrepreneurs. These women have grown beyond microfinance but don’t yet have the track record to access traditional forms of capital. The program, now operating in 22 countries and working with more than 80 local partners, provides practical training in operations, human resources, and business plan development. As of May 2012, more than 6,000 women had enrolled in or graduated from the program, and Goldman has begun working with the public sector and nongovernmental organizations to increase the program’s reach.

For countries struggling to break out of economic doldrums, women represent an even bigger opportunity. Our estimates (which are conservative) show that if female employment rates were to match male employment rates in the United States, overall gross domestic product (GDP) would increase by 5%. In Japan, such a change could raise GDP by 9%.

In developing economies, the effect will be even more pronounced. The United Arab Emirates would see a boost of 12% in GDP, and the Egyptian economy would grow by 34%.

The rising tide of the third billion is being enabled, in part, by progressive-minded countries that recognize the economic opportunity that women present and are taking steps to empower them. They’re offering better access to education for girls, instituting policies regarding the care of children and the elderly, supporting entrepreneurs, and enforcing access-to-work policies for women.

All of these changes raise an intriguing question: As more women join the workforce over time, how will Fortune’s Most Powerful Women (MPW) list change in the coming decades? More specifically, what will it look like in, say, 2040? While no one knows for sure, we have some ideas.

First, the international MPW list will become far more diverse. As several developing economies continue to post growth rates far in excess of that of the United States, the world’s economic center of gravity will shift. The women who make up the list in 2040 will increasingly be from countries like Botswana and Brazil, Egypt and El Salvador, China and Chile.

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In fact, it’s possible that at some point, the list won’t have two main categories — U.S. women and international women — as it does today. Instead, with economic clout disbursed among a handful of strong economies, the list could change to geographically reflect and align to the new centers of power. There could be, say, a list for the most powerful women in Asia, another for Europe, a third for Latin America, and another for the U.S.

The list will also likely include far more entrepreneurs and self-made women, rather than those running long-established companies. Because the largest developing countries are growing so quickly (including the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China), their economies are more dynamic and vibrant than the developed economies in Europe and North America. Fueled by technology, the changes taking place in these markets make them ripe for disruptive ideas and world-changing businesses. This means that talented women will have the opportunity to rise faster.

Already, half of the world’s self-made female billionaires are in China, and a quarter of that country’s entrepreneurs are female. In Egypt, about 20% of all firms are owned by women, and — unlike the women-owned businesses in many other countries, which tend to cluster in local service sectors — these span a broad range of industries. In Egypt, women-owned companies account for 20% of firms in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry and 15% of firms in the food industry.

MORE: Marissa Mayer’s brief maternity leave: Progress or workaholism?

The Most Powerful Women list in 2040 will likely see greater turnover, as women appear on the list and are then surpassed by others. This is akin to a global version of the U.S. technology booms of the late 1990s and the one we’re currently in today. Good ideas can flourish relatively quickly, without requiring significant capital, and often their primary risk is in being overtaken by other, better ideas. On the global front, this translates into greater opportunities for women — as the world flattens — but also greater competition.

Finally, here’s a radical proposal: The most significant development of the Most Powerful Women list is that by 2040, it may not exist, because it won’t need to exist. If women continue the progress they’re making already in many markets around the world, and the business world becomes truly equitable, there won’t be a separate, stand-alone list of powerful women but rather powerful executives, period. The primary criteria for the men and women on that list will be performance, instead of gender. Now that would represent real progress.

DeAnne Aguirre is a senior partner with Booz & Company based in San Francisco. She is the global leader of the firm’s people and change team.

Summary: Nearly 1 billion women will enter the global economy for the first time in the coming decade alone, fundamentally shifting how the world works.


Aug 3 (Reuters) - Oil and gas producer Noble Energy Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as higher production helped offset the impact of a slump in crude prices.

Noble said on Monday that its total sales volumes rose 3 percent to 299,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the second quarter.

The company also raised its sales volume forecast for 2015 to 305,000-320,000 boepd from 300,000-315,000 boepd.

Noble and some other oil and gas companies have used the over 50 percent fall in crude prices in the past year to acquire assets.

The company said in May it would acquire Rosetta Resources Inc for about $2 billion to enter the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin in Texas.

Noble also said in April it would cut about 220 U.S. jobs to slash costs.

The company reported a net loss of $109 million, or 28 cents per share, for the quarter ended June 30 compared with a profit of $192 million, or 52 cents per share, a year earlier, as it recorded a derivatives loss of $274 million.

Excluding items, Noble earned 26 cents per share.

Total revenue fell 47 percent to $730 million.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 6 cents per share and revenue of $887.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The Houston-based company's shares closed at $35.23 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Up to Friday's close, the stock had nearly halved in value over the past year.

(Reporting by Shubhankar Chakravorty in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Kirti Pandey)

Summary: Aug 3- Oil and gas producer Noble Energy Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as higher production helped offset the impact of a slump in crude prices. The company said in May it would acquire Rosetta Resources Inc for about $2 billion to enter the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin in Texas. The company reported a net loss of $109 million, or 28...


British and US authorities say a Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt, killing all 224 on board, may have been brought down by a bomb planted by Islamic militants.

Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed just 23 minutes after take-off on Saturday, and the US yesterday said one of its military satellites had detected a "heat flash" over the Sinai region around the time the plane went down.

A statement from the office of British prime minister David Cameron said early inquiries were yet to determine the cause of the disaster, but pointed to an act of terror.

"While the investigation is still ongoing we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed," the statement read.

"But as more information has come to light, we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device."

An unnamed intelligence official has told US broadcaster CNN their evidence points to a bomb planted by Islamic militants.

British authorities say the crashed Russian jet may have been brought down by a bomb. (AAP)

The scene of the crash. (AAP)

"There is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane," the official told CNN.

Militants affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIL) group have insisted they were responsible for downing the plane, but have provided no details, initially prompting scepticism about the veracity of the claim.

"We recognise that this information may cause concern for those in Sharm and indeed for those planning to travel to Sharm in the coming days," the statement from Mr Cameron's office read.

The Metrojet Airbus A321-200 flight data recorder. (Russian Ministry of Defence)

All 224 people aboard the flight died. (AAP)

"We have deployed extra consular staff to Sharm who will be on hand at the airport, working with the airlines, to assist British holidaymakers there."

British aviation experts have been dispatched to Sharm el-Sheikh to assess the security situation and flights back to Britain from the resort are being held until the assessment is completed as expected later on Wednesday, the statement said.

Mr Cameron will also hold an emergency cabinet meeting on the issue today.

"We would underline that this is a precautionary step and we are working closely with the airlines on this approach," the statement read.

Summary: British authorities say a Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt, killing all 224 on board, may have been brought down by a bomb.


Israeli soldiers in tanks and bulldozers dug in across a mile-wide strip of Gaza's eastern frontier on Saturday as Palestinian officials said military strikes had killed more than 300 people, most of them civilians.

Israel launched a ground offensive on Thursday after 10 days of air and naval barrages

The military said its engineers were concentrating on a buffer-zone 2.5 km (1.5 mile) wide and were looking to destroy tunnels and concealed rocket launch pads dug by Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists after the last big flare-up of violence in 2012.

Hamas said its fighters used one such tunnel to slip into Israel on Saturday, inflicting casualties. The Israeli military confirmed the incident near central Gaza, saying it killed one militant, repelled the rest, and that two soldiers were wounded.

Read More Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza

Palestinian militants also fired at least 18 rockets into Israel on Saturday, killing a man and wounding four people, including two children, in the southern town of Dimona, police said.

Gaza officials said that at least 318 Palestinians, including 70 children, have been killed in the 12-day conflict. On Israel's side, a soldier and two civilians have been killed.

Read MoreNetanyahu vows 'significant expansion' of Gaza operation

Hostilities had escalated following the killing last month of three Jewish seminary students that Israel blames on Hamas. Hamas neither confirmed nor denied involvement. The apparent revenge murder of a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, for which Israel charged three Jews, further fuelled tensions.

Military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, said 13 tunnels, at least one of them 30 metres (90 feet) deep, and 95 rocket launchers were found and destroyed in the Gaza sweep.

Searches were continuing in what he described as an open-ended mission that had "severely impeded Hamas capabilities".

Responding to a Reuters inquiry, the military acknowledged that there was a de facto buffer zone in eastern Gaza but said other Israeli operations continued. Brigadier-General Moti Almoz, chief military spokesman, signalled that the forces conducting the unearthing mission would not stay permanently.

"I can't promise that when we leave the territory we will have exposed all of the tunnels," he told Israel's Army Radio.

Gaza medical officials said attacks overnight from Israel killed 26 Palestinians, mostly civilians, in the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and in Khan Younis in the south.

The military had no immediate word on the Beit Lahiya and Khan Younis incidents, though it confirmed carrying out 37 strikes. It said troops raiding a house in Beit Lahiya killed a gunman after he wounded three soldiers. The Palestinian faction PRC said it ambushed the Israeli troops in Beit Lahiya.

Read MoreMarket reaction to Ukraine, Israel concerns

Israel says more than 1,500 rockets have been fired at its towns and cities during this month's fighting. The death toll has been kept low due to the rockets' inaccuracy, an extensive Israeli network of air raid sirens and shelters and its anti-missile shield Iron Dome's 90 percent success rate.

The escalation of hostilities, and its toll on Gaza's 1.8 million Palestinians as well as on Israelis jarred by rockets that have reached Tel Aviv and beyond, have spurred so-far fruitless truce bids by Western powers and regional go-betweens.

"There will be no truce without an end to the war that the Occupation (Israel) began, a lifting of the blockade and a halt to all violations and killings in Gaza and the West Bank," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Egypt has no plans to revise its ceasefire proposal, which Hamas has rejected, Cairo's foreign minister said on Saturday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon planned to travel to the Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend. At an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Friday, U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman condemned the rockets from Gaza but voiced alarm at "Israel's heavy response".

The United Nations said that more than 50,000 Palestinians have taken refuge from the Israeli attacks in its Gaza shelters.

Palestinian officials said 90 percent of Gaza's electricity had been cut by Israel. The Israeli energy ministry had no immediate response. On Sunday, it said a Palestinian rocket had crippled a power line to Gaza from Israel and it would not endanger engineers by sending them to conduct repairs.

Hamas, Gaza's dominant Islamist group, refuses to hold fire unless embargoes by Israel and neighbouring Egypt are eased and other demands are met. The Israelis say they are ready to step up their Gaza assault, though they do not aim to topple Hamas.

U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who entered a power-share deal with his Islamist rivals in April, has been shuttling between Egypt and Turkey in search of a breakthrough.

Turkey serving as an intermediary looked unlikely, however, after Israel pared down its diplomatic missions in Ankara and Istanbul this week following sometimes violent pro-Palestinian street protests and what it deemed "incitement" against its by the Islamist-rooted Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

On Saturday, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem advised Israelis to avoid "non-essential" travel to former ally Turkey.

France has also mooted mediation by Qatar, which has helped fund Gaza projects in the past, but Israel is cool to the idea.

The Israelis prefer Egyptian intercession. Yet with Egypt having cracked down on its Muslim Brotherhood - Hamas's ideological kind - and viewing Hamas as a security threat, Cairo's clout with the Palestinian Islamists is in doubt.

Summary: Israeli soldiers in tanks and bulldozers have dug in across a mile-wide strip of Gaza's eastern frontier.


01/20/2016 AT 01:30 PM EST

If "romantic" isn't the first image presidential candidate

's heels for the Democratic presidential nomination is also a slow-dancing-in-the-living-room kind of guy, his wife Jane O'Meara Sanders tells PEOPLE.

And he's not a quitter.

In an expansive at-home interview for the new issue of PEOPLE, Jane, 65, recalls how she and Bernie, 74, met – at his first mayoral debate in Burlington, Vermont, in 1981. As Sanders was at the lectern, challenging the then-incumbent mayor, "I sat in the second row and I fell in love with Bernie's ideas," Jane recalls.

"We met eyes – a few times, which I thought was interesting."

At an election-night party weeks later, Sanders asked her to dance "and that was it," says Jane, then a divorced mother of three young children.

The couple dated for eight years before breaking up for about a year. "I wanted to get married and he didn't," Jane says. Then, evoking Ross and Rachel of TV's

, she adds, "We were on a break."

But Bernie did not give up – on Jane or her children.

"He still came over that Christmas to give them presents and be with them," says Jane. "And he made it a point to go out with them even though he and I weren't together anymore. He taught them basketball, baseball, checkers, chess."

"It wasn't that he just went away. When he finally asked me to marry him, I thought about that, about how he's somebody you can count on."

And, about that marriage proposal – Sanders himself winds up the story: "Look when you do a proposal, it has to be done with ambience. Proper moment, proper lighting. Right? I'll let Jane tell you the rest of the story."

Continues Jane: "We were on a break and he was trying to get me back and I said, 'No. I want to get married and you don't.' We finished our ice cream sundae at Friendly's and we walked out to the parking lot and he said, 'You want to get married?' "

"I said, 'You know I do. Let's not talk about this again.' "

"I wasn't getting it, so he took me by the shoulders and said, 'Will. You. Marry. Me.' And I said, 'When?' "

More than 27 years later, Jane says, the couple are still dancing together – at home in the living room.

"It just happens. Not around other people. Slow dance. Just swaying."

So, is Sanders a romantic? Says Jane, "He's romantic enough for me, believe me."

Summary: Bernie Sanders employed various methods, including playdates, Christmas presents and a fateful date at Friendly's


Fans are crossing their fingers they’ll soon see the swaggering, old JPMorgan again.

JPMorgan Chase JPM was the biggest winner in the financial crisis, scooping up Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual on the cheap and riding out the stock market collapse. Already well connected, Jamie Dimon & Co. got one more string to pull this month when longtime executive William Daley signed on to run the White House.

Yet lately the No. 2 U.S. lender has lagged behind its less impressive peers (see chart, right). Though the bank has gained market share in all six of its major businesses since the financial crisis erupted in 2007, says Mike Mayo of CLSA, the stock is trading at a discount to its historic valuation.

Mayo expects that to change, though, starting Friday morning when JPMorgan Chase is due to report fourth-quarter numbers. Wall Street analysts expect the New York bank to make 99 cents a share, up from 74 cents a year ago. But already investors are casting their eyes toward mid-2011, with varying degrees of anxiety.

“This year, we expect a dividend increase and issues with mortgage put-backs to get absorbed and become less of a consideration,” writes Mayo, who rates the stock buy and expects it to rise to $54 from a recent $44. “Further, the bank seems deal-ready, which at times has been a catalyst for the stock that underperformed last year.”

JPMorgan has made clear it is eager to start paying a bigger dividend, and backers expect it to be among the first big banks to get the OK from regulators to start paying out more to shareholders. The biggest U.S. lenders were due to submit the results of their latest internal stress tests to regulators last week, as part of an effort to make sure dividend payers don’t leave themselves vulnerable to an economic or market shock.

Dimon has spoken at length about the bank’s “fortress balance sheet,” which Jason Goldberg of Barclays believes will enable JPMorgan Chase to pay out $1.34 in dividends this year, up from 20 cents in 2009 and 2010.

Analysts also expect the bank to gain as it sets aside less money for credit losses. Like many other lenders, JPMorgan bolstered its third-quarter profit by releasing some previously set aside loan loss reserves. The bank is trimming its reserves as the economy improves and late payment rates stabilize.

But for all the improving signs, betting on the stock is as uncertain as ever, given problems in the economy, tightening regulation and questions about the legal implications of the banks’ foreclosure follies. Revenue is expected to have fallen 6% or so in 2010, and another decline looks likely this year as new rules governing all sorts of fees kick in.

Fans like Mayo say the bank should be insulated from those changes by its strong capital markets business, where JPMorgan has been moving smartly up the league tables. But those businesses can be plenty volatile, as we saw in the second half of 2010, even when all goes relatively well.

And there is no downplaying the impact of the foreclosure crisis, though Dimon has tried. Though decisions like last Friday’s Ibanez case seem unlikely to throw a major wrench into the banks’ recovery, neither will they bring the kind of certainty that tempts investors to pay more for each dollar of earnings, as Mayo & Co. are counting on.

“We expect mortgage put-back and foreclosure issues, Basel III, and Dodd-Frank implications to suppress earnings and returns until a sustained robust economy emerges,” writes JMP Securities analyst David Trone, who rates the stock hold. Given the state of the job market, that could be a good, long wait.

Summary: Fans are crossing their fingers they'll soon see the swaggering, old JPMorgan again. JPMorgan Chase was the biggest winner in the financial crisis, scooping up Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual on the cheap and riding out the stock market collapse. Already well connected, Jamie Dimon & Co. got one more string to pull this month when…


Both France and CanadaÂ acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians was a genocide.

The temporary recall of the diplomats was Turkey's latest move against increasing international pressure on the country to recognise the killingsÂ as genocide.Â

Turks say the death count is inflated and insist that Armenians were killed or displaced as the Ottoman Empire tried to secure its border with Russia and stop attacks by Armenian militants.

Turkey recently criticised Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, for remarks he made in support of recognising the mass killings as genocide, and said that such statements threatened Turkish-Canadian relations.

Turkey has also warned French politicians not to approve a draft law which would make the denial of the genocide a crime.

France's parliament is set to consider next week a one-article bill, which would make it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide of 1915. It is already an offence in France to deny the Holocaust ofÂ the second world war.

Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed as the Ottoman Empire forced them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923 - and that this was a deliberate campaign of genocide by Turkey's rulers at that time.

Summary: Turkey has recalled its ambassadors to <?xml:namespace prefix =


WASHINGTON — The head of the FBI, battling Apple over unlocking an iPhone used by one of the killers in a December rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., called on Congress Thursday to settle the question of when law enforcement officials should get access to citizens’ private data.

“The larger question isn’t going to be answered in the courts, and shouldn’t be,” FBI Director James B. Comey Jr. told lawmakers at a hearing of the House Intelligence Committee. “It’s really about who do we want to be as a country and how do we want to govern ourselves.”

Apple has argued that granting the government’s request to build software to unlock the phone at issue would compromise the security of all the devices used by its hundreds of millions of customers. But Comey said the case was “unlikely to be a trailblazer,” because encryption technology is changing so quickly.

“The San Bernardino litigation is not about us trying to send a message or establish some precedent,” Comey said. “It really isn’t. It’s about trying to be competent in investigating something that is an active investigation.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that the question of whether a company like Apple should have to unlock its encryption technology “is the hardest question I’ve seen in government, and it’s going to require negotiation and conversation.”

Here are six things you need to understand about the debate.

He said Congress was in the best position to establish clearer lines on such issues. “It is this body that should be determining the answers,” he said.

But answers from Congress appear doubtful. Several lawmakers who questioned Comey acknowledged that they were uncertain where the line should be drawn between consumer privacy and the needs of law enforcement. Other lawmakers said that, with Congress gridlocked on far less complicated issues, a resolution seemed highly unlikely.

Officials in the Obama administration drafted legislation beginning in 2011 that sought to address some of the encryption issues now being raised. But their proposals were effectively shelved in 2013 when leaks by Edward J. Snowden ignited public concerns about government spying.

The hearing Thursday was intended to discuss “global threats” with intelligence leaders government-wide but was instead dominated by questions for Comey about the Apple dispute.

In the San Bernardino case, the FBI is trying to get Apple’s technical assistance in unlocking the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife killed 14 people in December. A judge in California last week ordered Apple to cooperate, but the company has resisted.

Apple on Thursday filed a formal brief in opposition to the order, arguing that the Justice Department and the FBI were overreaching with their demands.

Microsoft will file a brief backing Apple next week in a federal court in California, the company’s president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith, said Thursday.

Microsoft was one of the few prominent technology companies that had not yet clearly backed Apple in the case. Executives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter have all backed Apple in the case. But Microsoft had previously supported Apple only indirectly through a statement issued by an industry coalition.

A report by The Financial Times, suggesting that Bill Gates, a Microsoft founder, had sided with the government in the case, caused a stir this week. Gates, who is no longer an executive at the company, later said the newspaper had mischaracterized his position in the interview.

Smith, the Microsoft official, was speaking Thursday at a congressional hearing tangentially related to the Apple case, one focused on international legal conflicts related to data flowing across borders. Microsoft is fighting cases in courts in the United States and Brazil related to law enforcement demands for data held overseas and is pressing Congress to modernize laws to reduce these conflicts.

Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, has suggested that Congress is a better place than a court to work out the conflicts arising in its case, and Smith said that “we agree wholeheartedly with Apple that the right place to bring this discussion is here to the House of Representatives and the Senate so people elected by the people can make these decisions.”

Summary: Microsoft Corp. backs  Apple Inc. in its fight with the US government over unlocking a terrorist’s iPhone, said President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith


Suburbia is the place people love to mock. It is the place whence writers and artists used to escape, so that they could make a career scouring its pettiness and restrictions. It is reviled by planners and architects. Suburbia, in which four-fifths of British people live (depending on how you define it), is accused of being stifling, ugly, boring, antisocial and environmentally destructive.

Planning policy, led by Lord Rogers's Urban Task Force of over a decade ago, has championed the opposite of suburbs: compact, dense, "vibrant" cities on the continental model. Now, though, there is a backlash or, rather, something more suburbanly genteel. A back-waft, perhaps, or a crooked little finger raised in a somewhat adversarial manner.

Paul Barker's recent book The Freedoms of Suburbia praised its "blessedly anarchic form". Trendy young architects now point out the virtues of the semi-detached and teach students at architecture schools to study the hidden social structures of suburbia. The mayor of London set up an Outer London Commission to support those commuter zones that largely got him elected. The country's smarter property developers are exploring what a contemporary suburban home could be.

The first purpose of the Painted House, in an outer area of north-west London, is to be a home for a family of 11 people spread over three generations, but it is also what its architect, Jonathan Woolf, calls a "model" for other developments. It shows what a large semi-d in a leafy avenue can be.

The Painted House occupies the exact footprint and volume of a pair of 1920s semi-detached houses that previously stood on its site, but is different in almost every detail from the suburban norm. Its owners had wanted a contemporary, flat-roofed house similar to others Woolf has designed, but local residents and planners insisted it follow the gabled, bay-windowed form of its neighbours.

This it now does, but without decorative trimmings. Its front is simplified and all brick, provoking a couple of double-takes. Is it an interwar semi or a sculptural image of one, a late derivation of Rachel Whiteread's concrete houses? And is it one house or is it two? One of the two front doors is half-concealed, allowing you to read it as a single dwelling, but the symmetrical pairing of its gables and bays makes it look like two houses.

The exterior is on the severe side and were it not for a certain quality in the brick and the details it might look like an austere postwar reconstruction of a doodlebug victim. The real surprise is when you go inside. Instead of a crabby, tricky assembly of parlours and halls, you find an expansive array of simple, generous, white-walled, light-filled rooms.

It all revolves around the kitchen which, in such a large family, is in use all day. Around here, different satellites orbit: a gym, a home office and the bedrooms and suites occupied by two brothers and their wives, parents and children. There is also a shrine to their Jain faith. Thanks to ample storage, all is exceptionally tidy, but not oppressively so, even in the children's rooms. "I think kids become tidy if you give them the right spaces," says one of the brothers.

There is, as yet, no art on the walls. "It's quite difficult to agree on art when there are 11 different opinions," he says.

The basic style is Shoreditch Loft Contemporary. It is superficially much as decent metropolitan architects have been turning out these last two decades, but it has a looseness, or a lack of uptightness, that sets it apart. On the top floor, the hipped, gabled roof of the exterior is allowed to shape a rich interior of triangles, slopes and facets that Woolf calls both "Elizabethan" and "well-mannered Frank Gehry".

Nor does the design fetishise materials, as other minimalist architecture does, as with rare pieces of oak, or pietra serena or Carrara marble imported at great expense. "People now can have whatever materials they want," says Woolf, "and they do. People use materials as a statement. But I wanted to achieve dignity and character without resorting to the emporium of world materials on our doorstep. I was just interested in form and paint."

This is why it is called the Painted House and Jonathan Woolf's approach contributes to the livability of the place and its absence of preciousness. As to whether it is one house or two, the question remains open. It is currently inhabited as a single, diffuse spread of differently proportioned and oriented rooms, but it has two staircases and a wall down its middle and it could easily be made back into two houses, if desired and required.

The question about suburbia is whether it is conformist and controlling or, as Barker claims, liberating. Is it a place of pointless etiquette and social codes, of competitive respectability and petty restriction, or does it allow people to do whatever they want, to be poets, or white witches, or the swingers of suburban myth?

The fact that the Painted House struggled with the planners suggests that conformity had the upper hand, but the virtues of the completed house are its openness to change and the freedom it offers to inhabit it in many different ways.

As to whether it is a model for others, its success is helped by its ample size – at about 750 square metres, it is four or five times as large as the average house. But its virtues of flexibility, adaptability and diversity within simplicity should be applicable anywhere.

• This article was amended on Tuesday, 9 March 2010 because we omitted to credit Bharat Patel as one of the people who "reimagined" the Painted House in conjunction with Jonathan Woolf.

Summary: Jonathan Woolf and Bharat Patel's radical reimagining of a north London semi-detached house calls into question all our notions about suburban living, writes Rowan Moore


updated 03/19/2016 AT 12:45 AM EDT

•originally published 03/19/2016 AT 01:00 AM EDT

information about her meeting with Mexican drug lord

ABC special with Diane Sawyer, the Mexican actress shared how she felt the first time she met the notorious El Chapo face to face.

"I didn't know how to react. He kissed me on the cheek and embraced me," Castillo, 43, said in the special. "His eyes penetrate you like a dagger. It's scary, you know? Because it's really strong.'

She also revealed that there was a "really scary" moment during their meeting in which she was left alone with the escaped convict and was unsure of what he might do, as Castillo didn't know what his intentions were. However, overcoming her fear, she reportedly mustered the courage to speak her mind.

Before leaving, she told El Chap, "You're a powerful man. You can do something good â¦ I was literally dying inside. I thought, if he gets mad, I don't know what I'm going to do â¦ I thought I was gonna faint."

in the meeting, Castillo told Sawyer that she was under the impression that he was accompanying her because he wanted to be a part of the film she was working on that was based on El Chapo's life,

In the interview, she maintained that she was completely unaware that Penn, 55, was actually preparing to pen an article for

Now at the center of an

for alleged money laundering in connection with El Chapo, Castillo apologized to her family for the attention that her involvement in his recapture has caused.

"I am an honorable woman," she added. "This does not define who I am."

Summary: Castillo was an open book in the 20/20 special.


04/08/2016 AT 09:00 AM EDT

Be careful with spoilers if you're ever around

star recently told PEOPLE and

editorial director Jess Cagle that because of a somewhat ironic quirk involving his father, the filmmaker Stephen Gyllenhaal, he missed out on the final moments of many childhood movies.

"My dad would tape stuff on VHS off the TV, and then it would run out," Gyllenhaal, 35, recalled during

. "So we'd see, like, the first 8/10ths of almost every movie and never know the end. Which has obviously informed most of my movie choices, if you can tell. The ending is always unresolved."

He added, "I remember watching

when I was a kid, and I'd just never know what happens at the end ... It was my favorite movie, I had a

shirt, and I still have no idea how that movie ends." (Gyllenhaal may be in luck, however, as Disney is releasing a remake of

Watch more of The Jess Cagle Interview with Jake Gyllenhaal this week on PEOPLE.comAs for television, the Gyllenhaals did enjoy one show to the end, at least for one season. "Beverly Hills, 90120, I remember seeing the first season with my sister [actress Maggie Gyllenhaal], and staying up late," he said.

Watch the Gyllenhaal chat about his favorite childhood movies, and check out his full interview with Cagle, in the videos above.

, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and costarring Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper, is out now.

Summary: The Demolition actor still doesn't know how Pete's Dragon ends because of an unusual family quirk


Jittery investors dumped shares of Alere Inc. on Wednesday amid sudden fears that its blockbuster $5.8 billion deal to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories might be in jeopardy.

The selloff, sending Waltham-based Alere’s stock down more than 12 percent by day’s end, was triggered by Abbott chief executive Miles White’s refusal to answer questions about the Alere buyout during a conference call with stock analysts. That fueled speculation that Abbott, a global health care company based outside Chicago, might be reassessing the takeover.

White cited Alere’s delay in filing a regulatory report with the Securities and Exchange Commission and its disclosure the Justice Department had subpoenaed documents from the Waltham company in a foreign corruption inquiry into its sales practices in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Alere last month disclosed it would miss the March 15 deadline for filing the SEC report because it was gathering information on how it recognized foreign revenue.

“Right now I would say it’s not appropriate for me to comment on it,” White said on Wednesday’s call.

Abbott vice president Scott Stoffel declined to elaborate on White’s remarks or respond to questions. Juliet Cunningham, an Alere company spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Waltham-based Alere has become a global leader in rapid medical diagnostics.

Alere, a medical diagnostics company spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2001, has quietly grown into a global leader in the fast-growing “rapid diagnostics” business, marketing devices used to perform point-of-care tests at doctors’ offices, clinics, pharmacies, and patients’ homes for everything from HIV to toxicology to cholesterol.

The company has nearly 10,000 employees worldwide, including more than 100 at its Waltham headquarters.

Chief executive Namal Nawana, who took over at Alere in 2014, has moved to divest several businesses. They included its management services unit Alere Health, which was sold to Optum, an arm of health insurer UnitedHealth Group, for $600 million in 2014.

But its Feb. 1 announcement that Alere would be acquired by Abbott for $5.8 billion signaled what would be the largest buyout of a Massachusetts medical technology company since Medtronic Inc. paid $50 billion for Mansfield’s Covidien PLC early last year. The announcement sent Alere’s shares up more than 45 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

White’s reluctance to discuss whether Abbott is still committed to the deal clearly rattled investors Wednesday, but the company wouldn’t say whether it is considering backing out of the Alere transaction. It had planned to operate Alere as a subsidiary.

Shares of Alere closed down $6.09 at $43.38 Wednesday, losing 12.3 percent. Abbott’s shares ticked up 12 cents to $43.97, a gain of 0.3 percent.

Summary: Jittery investors dumped shares of Alere Inc. amid fears that its blockbuster $5.8 billion deal to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories might be in jeopardy.


There could hardly be a clearer contemporary counterpoint to “Swan Lake” than “Mirrors,” the program Boston Ballet is presenting concurrently at the Boston Opera House. Two of the four pieces, former company principal Yury Yanowsky’s “Smoke and Mirrors” and Karole Armitage’s “Bitches Brew,” are world premieres, and José Martínez’s “Resonance” is just two years old. The evening gets off to a modest start, but the premieres are keepers, and the “mirror” theme runs throughout.

“Resonance,” a 30-minute Boston Ballet commission from 2014, looks just slightly more prepossessing this time around. Its Liszt score — four “Transcendental Études” and two Mozart Requiem transcriptions — is played by two pianists, Freda Locker in an alcove upstage center and Alex Foaksman just offstage, on the floor house left. The set is a series of large gray panels that the dancers — invisibly at first — roll about the stage, creating long diagonals and at times concealing Locker.

Martínez’s conceit is that the couple who start off in a dress and a sleeved shirt — Lia Cirio and Lasha Khozashvili opening night — wind up in a leotard and a sleeveless shirt, whereas the second couple — Dusty Button and Patrick Yocum — go in the opposite sartorial direction. The supporting ensembles, male and female, also change from one outfit to another, and in some cases back again. Martínez plays with mirror images: two pianos, two couples, two corps, shadows on the gray panels. But the choreography is more incidental than transcendental, becoming passionate only in the duet for Cirio and Khozashvili set to the Requiem’s “Lacrimosa.” Cirio begins and ends the piece, different outfit, same moves. Perhaps that’s the point.

Canadian choreographer Norbert Vesak’s duet “Belong,” originally part of his 1973 ballet “What to Do Till the Messiah Comes,” is set to Canadian electronic band Syrinx’s “December Angel” (1971), minus the first minute of outer-space caterwauling and gull shrieks. It’s an 8½-minute waltz to which the man and woman do a stately minuet. They start out on the floor, each lifting a leg in a mirror pose. They intertwine in maneuvers familiar from pair and dance figure skating; they separate for more mirror moves, but never for very long. Friday, Eris Nezha made the difficult lifts look easy, and Cirio recalibrated her usual sharp attack to match his easy command.

“Smoke and Mirrors” appears to take place post-apocalypse, in a smoky haze before three fragments of ruined wall. It’s choreographed for seven couples, four principal and three supporting, and the women wear corsets with lugs that the men can use to throw them around. The enticing score, by Yanowsky’s cousin Lucas Vidal, is all sirens and muffled voices, and the dancers look appropriately apprehensive, hunting or hunted. Friday’s opening couple, Ji Young Chae and John Lam, engaged in a kind of mating dance. Then came Anaïs Chalendard and Sabi Varga, athletic and troubled; Maria Baranova and Paul Craig, lyric and wistful; and finally Erica Cornejo and Isaac Akiba, resigned and sad. At the end, all seven couples disappeared, one by one, into the haze behind the wall.

“Bitches Brew” is set to the 27-minute title track from the legendary 1970 double album that Miles Davis recorded on New York’s East Side, even as, across town, future “punk ballerina” Armitage was attending the School of American Ballet. Certainly there’s more synergy, and energy, here than in “Ligeti Essays” and “Rave,” the pieces that Armitage Gone! Dance brought to the Institute of Contemporary Art in 2013. On a field of grays partitioned with black tape, the dancers, in reflective black leotards and tights whose shins and feet are painted varied hues, party like it’s still 1970, cool, hip, and a little spoofy. The piece is anchored by a woman with long black hair; the remaining women sport bangs and hair extensions that match the color of their feet.

The shape of “Bitches Brew” — both Davis’s composition and Armitage’s ballet — can be elusive. But Davis’s trumpet squalls and Bennie Maupin’s spectral bass clarinet beckon from the beyond, and on Friday, tossing her hair every which way, Chae combined extraordinary virtuosity with equally extraordinary spontaneity. It was as if she were improvising along with the musicians.

“Resonance,” by José Martínez. “Belong,” by Norbert Vesak. “Smoke and Mirrors,” by Yury Yanowsky. “Bitches Brew,” by Karole Armitage. Presented by Boston Ballet. At Boston Opera House, through May 28. Tickets: $35-$159. 617-695-6955, www.bostonballet.org

Summary: There could hardly be a clearer contemporary counterpoint to “Swan Lake” than the program running concurrently at the Boston Opera House.


It was the punch heard 'round North America. Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor punched Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista in the face after a late slide by Bautista at second base. The extended backstory is that Bautista uncorked his now famous bat-flip last postseason against the Rangers.

Bautista was also hit by a pitch just before his altercation with Odor.

.@rangers Roughned Odor clocks Joey Bautista. Holy. @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/XK5erdtP14

— Pat Doney (@PatDoneyNBC5) May 15, 2016

While Bautista messed with Texas, back in Toronto, the Raptors were closing out the Heat in seven games. The franchise will take on the Cavaliers in its first-ever Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll could not fully celebrate the team's victory, knowing city-mate Bautista was in trouble. He offered up any help Joey Bats needs.

"If he needs my help, my assistance, to come in and be a force, the junkyard dog…," Carroll begins. Then, TSN's Cabbie Richards asks Carroll about his overhand right to which he answers, "It's even better. I'm just telling Bautista, call me."

Carroll makes a hand motion like he is on a cell phone. Let's interpret this as a Drake Hotline Bling reference. Look at Carroll rocking the "6" hat.

Toronto and Dallas make for unlikely rival cities, but that's how this feud is shaping up.

More MLB: -- 30 Surgeries Later, Young Boy Hangs With David Ortiz -- Pitchers With 20 Strikeouts In MLB Game -- Bartolo Colon's Home Run Gets Mash-Up With 'The Natural'

Baseball, Basketball, Brawl, DeMarre Carroll, Jose Bautista, MLB, NBA, Rougned Odor, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Raptors

Summary: Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll will come to Jose Bautista's defense against Rougned Odor.


Before you go, we thought you'd like these...

Beyoncé and Blue Ivy busted out their Sunday best -- on a Monday.

The "Formation" singer, her 4-year-old daughter, and husband Jay Z made a surprise appearance at the White House's annual Easter Egg Roll on Monday. And you best believe that Queen Bey and Princess Blue slayed in their holiday ensembles.

WATCH: The Internet Is Losing Its Mind Over Beyonce's Bootylicious Friend

Beyoncé wore a black and white striped Alice + Olivia coat -- which perfectly matched Jay's own striped T-shirt -- over a mesh and lace floral Marco de Vincenzo dress, while Blue donned bunny ears and a giant fur coat.

The Carters stepped out to celebrate the Obamas last Easter in office, where Blue also got to meet Elmo and other Sesame Street characters in person and join the egg hunt.

Oh, and Blue Ivy with her little basket is officially the cutest Easter bunny ever.

PHOTOS: Beyonce, Blue Ivy and Solange Dress-up for a Super Cute Tea Party

Singers Chloe x Halle tweeted a photo with the GRAMMY winner, writing, "big thank you to our beautiful boss lady @beyonce for coming and supporting us at #thewhitehouse today!!!!!!"

Miss Tina Knowles, who was also in attendance, posted a photo with her man out front, captioning it, "We are at the White House ! What an honor!"

In other Beyoncé news, Rihanna recently addressed their supposed "rivalry." Find out what the "Work" singer had to say in the video below.

Summary: Beyoncé wore a black and white striped Alice + Olivia coat over a mesh and lace floral Marco de Vincenzo dress, while Blue donned bunny ears and a fur coat.


Matthew Weiner has officially spoken on the Mad Men season finale.

The showrunner followed through on his promised “decompression” of the final episode with a discussion with novelist A.M. Homes on Wednesday at the New York Public Library. The chat marked his first (and likely only) interview to touch on Sunday’s series finale.

“I can’t believe this happened, and I’m so grateful we got to do it and we were allowed to end it how and when we wanted to,” he said. “I wanted it to feel that there was a vision and a point to the entire thing. … I’m so pleased that people enjoyed it and seemed to enjoy it exactly as it was intended. You can’t get a 100-percent approval rating, or you’ve done something dumb.”

The Hollywood Reporter recaps the most intriguing revelations from the discussion (among them candid thoughts about literature, therapy, Al Gore and Richard Nixon):

Yes, Don Draper created the Coke ad. The last scenes of the series features Don hugging a stranger at a retreat and meditating with hippies, before the episode cuts to the 1971 Coca-Cola “Hilltop” commercial, to infer that Don returns to McCann-Erickson and creates that ad. “I have never been clear, and I have always been able to live with ambiguities,” said Weiner. “In the abstract, I did think, why not end this show with the greatest commercial ever made? In terms of what it means to people and everything, I am not ambiguity for ambiguity’s sake. But it was nice to have your cake and eat it too, in terms of what is advertising, who is Don and what is that thing?”

That commercial shouldn’t be read cynically. “I did hear rumblings of people talking about the ad being corny. It’s a little bit disturbing to me, that cynicism. I’m not saying advertising’s not corny, but I’m saying that the people who find that ad corny, they’re probably experiencing a lot of life that way, and they’re missing out on something. Five years before that, black people and white people couldn’t even be in an ad together! And the idea that someone in an enlightened state might have created something that’s very pure — yeah, there’s soda in there with a good feeling, but that ad to me is the best ad ever made, and it comes from a very good place. … That ad in particular is so much of its time, so beautiful and, I don’t think, as — I don’t know what the word is — villainous as the snark of today.”

Leonard was “probably the most important role in the series.” The post-war period in which the beginning of the show is set, “the word ‘depressed’ was not part of the vocabulary except for doctors, and men certainly didn’t express their feelings other than in bar fights,” Weiner explained. In casting Evan Arnold, “I needed someone who’s not famous and can cry, and really do it. … We believe it right away that he’s invisible.” He played the role of the everyman, “even if they’re not veterans, the alienation that was created by success, political racial tension, the technology — which is I think what’s happening right now — the isolation, these guys, they’re gonna crack. … I don’t think there’s enough empathy right now in the world.”

That hug between Don and Leonard had two meanings. “I hope the audience would feel either that he was embracing a part of himself, or maybe them, and that they were heard. I don’t want to put it into words more than that. … I liked the idea where he’d come to this place, and it’d be about other people and a moment of recognition. I don’t think I can put it into words, but I knew.”

Don’s road trip was inspired by The Fugitive. “I thought, I want to see Don on his own. I want to do an episode of The Fugitive where Don comes into town and can be anyone,” Weiner said, pointing to the ’60s series. “That netherworld of being on the run — I don’t know about you, but I think everyone has dreams of committing a crime and being on the run. Am I the only one? I think it’s very common. You’re lying!” he told the audience with a smile.

Weiner knew the series’ ending while wrapping season four. It’s well known that Weiner disclosed Don’s inspired idea to Hamm early on, but he also knew Betty’s fate at that point too. “People die of cancer in the US. It’s up there. I knew very early on. Her mother had just died in the pilot, and I knew this woman wasn’t going to live long, and we love the idea of her realizing her purpose in life right when she ran out of time. … I think there’s a lesson to be learned about the randomness of things, and also she has some predisposition and some fairly seriously cancer-causing behavior.”

… but he didn’t know all the characters’ fates. “I didn’t know Peggy and Stan would end up together — that had to be proved to me,” he admitted. But he did ask David Chase about if Peggy would ever confess to Pete about the baby, and if it’d be difficult for her to then look at kids. “She will have a psychological scar,” Chase told Weiner, who then decided that Pete would stay in the dark.

Altogether, Joan’s arc surprised him most. “I thought Joan was gonna go through with that abortion,” he admitted. “I definitely didn’t think Joan would end up this single-mom feminist, looking for childcare. I love the fact that it’s not philosophical for her. I’m not demeaning the philosophy of feminism, I’m just saying this woman made a practical decision not to take any shit anymore. … She biologically loves work.” He’s thankful Christina Hendricks took the job, a move for which she was fired by her manager. “Representation can be very destructive. They’re good when it’s going well though.”

The finale involved “fights” behind the scenes. “We were fighting over money for the finale. I made them a billion dollars — AMC went public, a billion dollars — and for the most part, all the wounds had healed.” Among the discussions was the choice to shoot the Esalen-like retreat in Anderson Canyon. “Scott Hornbacher forced me to get into that fight with Lionsgate to shoot there. ‘We can’t shoot this in San Pedro, we can’t do this in Malibu even.’ … It was a very special place to end of the show.”

“Person to Person” has a personal meaning. The final episode’s title refers to the three phone calls Don has with the three women in his life — Sally, Betty and Peggy — but Weiner said it’s also about the phone itself. “A lot of the most important things in my life have happened to me over the phone,” he said, remember that before texting and voicemails, “It’s a dramatic situation almost every time when you answer the phone — if you answer the phone.”

Don’s affinity for strangers wasn’t clear to Weiner until recently. “I didn’t realize until the end that Don likes strangers. He likes seducing strangers. … You’re gonna walk down the side of the road, and now we know each other. And once he gets to know you, he doesn’t like you. It’s gonna turn once they feel exposed. That’s why he picked Megan over Faye. He just tells Peggy, just move forward — that’s his philosophy in life.”

Weiner is still wondering where those awards are. “The actors on Mad Men behave like real people, and it has not been in style. I’m not saying this because they haven’t won awards. I just see when I sit through these clips — the big screaming, bulging vein through the forehead, burst into tears, big speechifying, ‘I can barely’ hoarse voice — actors are voting on it! I’m confused by it. But I believe in a more naturalistic style of behavior, and it’s not that showy because I never wanted people to be pulled out of the show. I think a lot of people’s issues with pace could’ve been changed if the actors were screaming more.”

Weiner doesn’t necessarily want to create for binge-watchers. When asked about returning to TV in the future, Weiner said that if he were to with Netflix, for example, “I would try to convince them to let me roll them out so at least there was just some shared experience. I love the waiting; I love the marination. When you watch an entire season of a show in a day, you will definitely dream about it, but it’s not the same as walking around the whole week, saying, ‘God, Pete really pissed me off.’ And then at the end of the week, saying, ‘When he said he had nothing, that really hurt.’ I remember people saying that. You can reconsider it. And you see it pop up in your life. … I feel like you should be able to be as specific as you possibly can, and let that sit with people. I loved having the period in between the shows, and it probably is the end of it.”

However, “I do love the idea of pressing that button and getting it right away and getting as many as you can take.”

This article originally appeared on Hollywoodreporter.com

Summary: Matthew Weiner confirms a theory about the 'Mad Men' finale


It's one thing Americans agree on: We hate robocalls and we want them stopped.

Companies realize this — and yet, they're asking Congress to weaken the rules and reduce the possible penalties for making illegal robocalls. Consumer groups vow that isn't going to happen without a fight.

In the first four months of this year, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 1.6 million complaints about unwanted calls. Sixty-four percent, or 1.1 million complaints, were for robocalls.

"In the last few years, we've seen an explosion of these illegal calls," said Bikram Bandy, who runs the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry. "Many of the complaints about robocalls are linked to companies that are trying to defraud consumers."

There are 220-million landline and cellphone numbers on the Do Not Call list, but scammers don't care who they call, when they call, or how many times they call.

Consumer Reports estimates that 35 percent of all phone calls placed in the U.S. are now robocalls.

Joel Fischman is one of nearly 33,000 people who have shared their robocall horror stories on the End Robocalls website run by Consumers Union.

Read More: Budget Deal Gives Debt Collectors Authority to 'Robocall' Cellphones

Fischman, who lives in the Washington, D.C. area, told NBC News that he is inundated with robocalls to his landline and cell phone. At one point, he was getting a dozen robocalls a day.

"It's an intrusion and I resent it very much," he said. "Many of these calls are offensive and sinister. All robocalls should be banned."

Federal regulations define robocalls as unsolicited pre-recorded telemarketing calls to residential landline phones, and all autodialed or prerecorded calls or text messages to wireless numbers.

All robocalls are not illegal. The rules are different for landline and mobile phones.

A business must have your written permission — on paper or electronically — to make a telemarketing robocall to your phone. Robocalls are allowed to a landline phone without this prior consent if the caller is not trying to sell you something. This would include calls from charities, political parties and survey companies. Informational messages, such as a school closing or flight delay are also exempt.

All autodialed or prerecorded non-emergency calls or texts to wireless phones are prohibited without prior written consent, regardless of the reason for the call.

The FCC does allow a few specific exemptions to this rule as long as the person receiving the call or text is not charged for it. These are for financial alerts — such as possible fraud on a bank account — and health alerts for something like a reminder about a prescription refill. Even so, the consumer has the right to opt-out of getting these permitted alerts at any time.

Brad Herrmann is founder and CEO of Call-Em-All, a company in Frisco, Texas that makes about 10 million legal robocalls to people who want to know about school closings or severe weather alerts and have given prior permission to be contacted. Clients include Amazon, The American Red Cross, Texas Tech University and H&R Block.

"There are times when people need to be contacted quickly and efficiently," Herrmann told NBC News. "Robocall is such a negative word, but people rely on us. They don't think of it as a robocall, it is just information they want."

Herrmann said robocalls are an important means of communication for schools, employers, neighborhood associations, apartment complex managers and religious groups and organizations.

"We loath spam phone calls," he said. "I desperately want the law to get these illegal robocallers, so my business can thrive."

A provision in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 made it easier for debt collectors to make robocalls when trying to contact someone about a federal debt, such as a student loan.

In response to this, the FCC has proposed rules that would give consumers the right to stop these unwanted debt collection calls, restrict who can be called (not friends or relatives of a debtor) and limit the number of calls per month. The Commission is taking public comment through June 6.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) gives the FCC authority to regulate robocalls. Violating the rules can result in fines ranging from $500 to $1,500 per call. Companies also face class action lawsuits from those who received the calls.

Consumer advocates say the ability to take robocallers to court encourages companies to follow the rules. Businesses say it's hurting their ability to communicate with their customers and punishes them for honest mistakes. And they're asking Congress for help.

At a hearing last week, Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota), chairman of the Commerce Committee, said TCPA litigation has become "a booming business." Robocall lawsuits are now the second most-filed type of cases in federal courts, he said. Last year, 3,710 TCPA lawsuits were filed, a 45 percent increase from 2014.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida), the ranking member on the committee said the TCPA is "one of the preeminent and most loved consumer protection statues" on the books. The idea of allowing greater access for robocalls to mobile phones without the customer's consent "is an idea that is dead on arrival with the American people," he said in his opening statement.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is asking Congress to make changes to the TCPA. The chamber says it does not want to abolish the law, just update it to balance consumer protection with the potential harm to legitimate businesses.

The "explosion of class action litigation" involving prohibited robocalls to mobile phones - with potential penalties that could reach into the billions — is a serious problem, said Harold Kim, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform.

"This litigation has created an enormous amount of risk and has had a chilling effect on legitimate businesses, large and small, who are trying to communicate with their customers," Kim told NBC News.

Read More: FCC Gives Phone Companies Okay to Block Robocalls, But Will They?

Faced with damages that could put them out of business, many companies prefer to settle rather than go to court, he said.

The Chamber argues that a law passed in 1991, when few people had cell phones and texting did not exist, needs to be modified to reflect reality. It's estimated that 90 percent of Americans have a cell phone and for nearly half of them, a mobile device is their only form of phone service.

Business groups want, among other things: a cap on damage awards, a statute of limitations, an exemption from legal action for a company acting in good faith or that called a reassigned mobile number that had belonged to a previous customer.

Consumer groups are opposed to any changes in the Telephone Communications Protection Act that would reduce liability for calling the wrong number. They say it could result in more robocalls or texts to cellphones.

"If robocalls were a disease, they would be an epidemic," Margot Saunders with the National Consumer Law Center told the Senate hearing.

Saunders testified on behalf of 10 major consumer advocacy groups. Most consumers who receive robocalls do not take the time to complain to a federal agency, and even a tinier percentage (less than two tenths of 1 percent) actually files a lawsuit, she said in her written testimony. She cited one lawsuit where the consumer took legal action after receiving nearly 28,000 unwanted text messages. The company refused to stop despite repeated requests.

"There's no constitutional right to make robocalls," Saunders told NBC News "The problem is not that there are too many lawsuits, the problem is that there are too many robocalls."

Consumer advocates see it this way: The consent requirement is not over-burdensome. A company can ask a customer if they want to be contacted via robocall or text. And they say, if you provide your mobile number as your contact number, you've given that company or organization — whether it's your utility, hospital or airline — permission to use that number to contact you.

They also suggest creating a database of reassigned wireless numbers that companies could check to update their customer robocall permissions.

"If there weren't any illegal robocalls, then there wouldn't be any lawsuits, would there?" said Tim Marvin, who heads up Consumers Union's End Robocalls campaign. "The law should not be weakened. There should not be more legal robocalls. If anything, we should do a better job of stopping these calls and restricting who can make them."

There are free services that can help you spot or block robocalls or spam text messages. NOMROBO works on Internet-based (VOIP) phone networks. It will roll out an app for both Android and iOS smartphones in early June.

These apps can also help: TrueCaller and Hiya (Android and Apple), and PrivacyStar (Android) and WhoApp (Apple). These apps all have access to your contacts.

You'll find tips for dealing with unwanted calls and texts and an online complaint form on the FCC website. The FTC also has information about robocalls and an online complaint form on its website.

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website.