Meet Canva, the $3.2 billion design start-up backed by Owen Wilson and Woody HarrelsonAt 32, Melanie Perkins is one of the world’s youngest female tech unicorn founders. CNBC’s Karen Gilchrist caught up with the entrepreneur to talk about her journey.

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and Prince William have instructed their aides to reach a “workable solution” for the future roles of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, within the British royal family, according to a new report. The senior members of the royal family have asked their teams to work “at pace” with governments and the Sussexes, a Buckingham Palace source told Press Association, a British national news agency. The queen and other key members of the royal family were

Smoke billows during bushfires in Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia, December 30, 2019 in this picture obtained from social media. People in high-risk regions in New South Wales and South Australia were also urged to think about leaving, but officials did not say how many. Here are key events in the crisis:* Of 158 fires ablaze across New South Wales (NSW), about 39 were uncontained. * Health officials in New South Wales urged extra precautions to avoid heat-related illnesses. * Just shy of 2,000

Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg unveiled a trillion dollar infrastructure plan on Friday, pledging to direct federal funds to state and local governments to revitalize the nation’s transport networks, clean water supply and broadband internet. “Under my administration, local governments will finally have a partner in Washington,” Buttigieg wrote in the plan. As a first-time candidate, Trump campaigned on a $1 trillion infrastructure package. Buttigieg wrote in the plan that the

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to a statement released Friday. The statement, from the office of the Iraqi caretaker prime minister, said the request came in a telephone call between Abdul-Mahdi and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday night. The Iraqi leader asked Pompeo to “send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism t

Wall Street set for more gains at the open45 Mins AgoU.S. stock index futures were set to open at record levels Friday as world markets rally on the back of easing tensions in the Middle East. CNBC’s Frank Holland reports.

Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Beatrice, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Amanda Thirsk at the Royal Ascot on June 22, 2018. in Ascot, England. Prince Andrew’s top aide has reportedly reached a legal settlement with Buckingham Palace to end her 15-year tenure with the Royal Household. Sky News reported Friday that Amanda Thirsk, the Duke of York’s private secretary, agreed the terms of her departure with the palace on Thursday. Thirsk reportedly pushed for Prince Andrew’s interview with the BBC

Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. If the U.S. or Canada were to present incontrovertible evidence that the plane was shot down by Iran, even if unintentionally, it could have a dramatic impact on public opinion in Iran. But sentiments in Iran are still raw over the government’s crackdown on large-scale protests late las

Taiwan heads to the polls on Saturday with the island sitting in the center of a struggle for regional dominance between the United States and China. In the race are incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party’s Han Kuo-yu, also the mayor of Kaohsiung city. The presidential vote on January 11 is seen as a referendum on Taiwan’s identity, sovereignty and Chinese influence. Communist China has never ruled over Taiwan, but B

The leaders of Australia, Canada and the U.K. all believe evidence suggests an Iranian missile brought down a Ukrainian passenger plane earlier this week, killing all 176 people on board, with analysts expressing concern that intensifying international pressure against Tehran will trigger a diplomatic crisis. Most of the passengers on Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 were from Iran and Canada. Government officials from Australia, Britain, Canada and the U.S. have since said they belie

US President Donald Trump arrives for a “Keep America Great” campaign rally at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, on January 9, 2020. President Donald Trump scored a “modest win” this week in the way he handled escalating tensions with Iran, according to a former American ambassador to Singapore. “It’s not over yet, but I think Trump has more or less prevailed this past week,” said Frank Lavin, who is currently the CEO and founder of business consultancy Export Now. “I think it is a modest win,

Sanur, Bali. A noticeboard at the Power of Now Oasis in Sanur, Bali. The sound of silenceBali Silent Retreat turned out to be the highlight of my trip. View of the mountains from Bali Silent Retreat. Water meditation at Bali Silent Retreat.

India’s Supreme Court said on Friday that the indefinite shutdown of the internet in Kashmir was unwarranted, rebuking the government for the communications lockdown imposed after it withdrew the Muslim majority region’s autonomy in August. The court said the indefinite suspension violated India’s telecoms rules, and ordered authorities in Kashmir to review all curbs in a week’s time. “Freedom of Internet access is a fundamental right,” Supreme Court justice N. V. Ramana said, delivering the rul

Investors are worried about possible attacks on oil facilities in Southern Iraq that could affect crude supplies into Asia, an analyst told CNBC on Thursday. “That southern facility is right at the heart of the geopolitical risk world at the moment,” he said referring to oil facilities in Iraq’s southern province of Basra. Basra, which is near the Umm Qasr port, accounts for nearly 85% of Iraq’s crude oil production, according to the Associated Press. The attacks did not destroy major energy inf

European stocks traded cautiously higher on Friday as world markets rally on the back of easing tensions in the Middle East. The pan-European Stoxx 600 inched up 0.1% during morning trade, with travel and leisure stocks surging 1.7% while banking stocks retreated by 0.4%. Global market sentiment has improved in the latter half of the week amid a de-escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions. Still, stocks worldwide have been boosted by the easing tensions, as well as optimism over U.S.-China trade relatio

U.S. government debt prices were higher Friday morning, as investors awaited a fresh batch of key economic data. Market focus is largely attuned to geopolitical developments after the U.S. and Iran appeared to edge away from the brink of further conflict in the Middle East. On Wednesday, Trump said Iran appeared to be “standing down,” adding that Washington would “immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the state.” That would be a slowdown from November, when the economy ad

India’s oil demand growth is set to overtake China by mid-2020s, priming the country for more refinery investment but making it more vulnerable to supply disruption in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday. “We see India definitely as a key driver for oil demand growth,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told Reuters, but added that the country’s oil demand growth may slow down slightly, in line with slowing global economic growth. India is highly dependent on Mi

Trevor Hagan | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe highly-anticipated extradition trial of Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou kicks off on January 20. Meng’s extradition battle is one of the many headwinds Huawei faces in 2020. Meng’s extradition case has already become highly politicized. Just days after her arrest in 2018, President Donald Trump said he could intervene in Meng’s case if it helped secured a trade deal with China. The professor also pointed to a fraud case related to SNC-Lava

The pound will react more to U.K. economic indicators than the twists and turns of Brexit in the first half of 2020, and will likely remain supported, according to currency strategists. U.K. lawmakers on Thursday approved legislation allowing Britain to leave the European Union with an exit deal, following three years of stalemate over the terms of the departure. Analysts are suggesting, however, that the pound is unlikely to reattach itself to Brexit developments until later in the year when pr

Three of China’s biggest technology companies — Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent — have had mixed fortunes in 2019. Baidu: intense competitionBaidu is China’s biggest search engine with roughly 70% market share. But in 2019, the company faced some strong headwinds in the domestic market causing shares to fall by about 20% last year. This has weighed on the market and also hit Baidu, which relies heavily on advertisement revenues. “We remain conservative on the progress of pushing mobile traffic and mo