Beyonce declared a billionaire by Forbes magazine

US singer Beyonce is now a billionaire, Forbes magazine said Monday, becoming only the fifth musician to achieve such a milestone.The 44-year-old entertainer joins a select club that includes her husband, rapper Jay-Z, as well as Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Rihanna, according to the publication, known for its rankings of the world’s richest people.Beyonce reached the landmark after several very lucrative years.In 2023, her Renaissance World Tour grossed nearly $600 million. She then reinvented her musical profile in 2024 with the Grammy-winning country album “Cowboy Carter” before staging the world’s highest-grossing tour of 2025.Combining these earnings with income from her music catalog and other deals, Forbes estimated that Beyonce brought in $148 million in 2025 before taxes, making her the third highest-paid musician in the world.The publication did not provide a more specific estimate of the former Destiny’s Child member’s net worth, who founded Parkwood Entertainment to manage her career and productions.Forbes said that while Beyonce has expanded her business empire with ventures such as a hair care brand, a whiskey label and a clothing line, most of her personal wealth derives from her music, along with her global tours and controlling the rights to her back catalog.

Precious metals slump as stocks near end of banner 2025

Silver and gold tumbled Monday in a round of profit-taking as oil prices strengthened and global equities opened the final trading week of 2025 in lackluster fashion.After a string recent records, silver prices sank around 10 percent while gold and other metals also pulled back.”What goes up must come down, and the pullback in silver has been rapid, as investors book profits before year end, after the silver price has surged more than 150 percent in 2025,” said a note from Kathleen Brooks of XTB.While “there is undoubtedly a bubble in silver,” stockpiling by China could limit the downside from here, said Brooks.”The sell-off in silver is leading to a general risk off tone elsewhere,” she added.Some of the same dynamics appeared to drive activity on Wall Street where all three major indices spent the day in the red.The broad-based S&P 500, which has risen more than 17 percent so far in 2025, finished 0.4 percent lower.”People are probably just taking profits at this point” especially in the big tech stocks, said CFRA Research’s Sam Stovall.”Investors are really just sort of trimming their book, aligning their portfolio the way they would like it to look as they enter 2026.”In Europe, London and Frankfurt were both flat at the close while Paris barely inched into the green.While this week’s calendar is light as far economic releases, the minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting are to be published Tuesday and traders will be poring over their contents for any indication about the Fed’s plans for 2026.The prospect of interest rate cuts has helped push world stock markets to multiple record highs this year, offsetting worries about stretched valuations in the tech sector.”Concerns about overvaluations and an AI bubble look set to continue to dominate market chatter into next year,” Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, noted on Monday. Oil prices rose more than two percent, reversing a similar-sized Friday dip after a weekend meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky did not lead to an immediate breakthrough.An end to the war could see sanctions on Russian oil removed, adding to an oversupplied market.- Key figures at around 2115 GMT – New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 48,461.93 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.4 percent at 6,905.74 (close)New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.5 percent at 23,474.35 (close)London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 9,866.53 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 8,112.02 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 24,351.124 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 50,526.92 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 25,635.23 (close)Shanghai – Composite: FLAT at 3,965.28 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1766 from $1.1772 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3504 from $1.3550Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.06 yen from 156.57 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.00 pence from 87.22 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 2.1 percent at $61.94 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $58.08 per barrel

UK orders urgent review after Egyptian activist’s violent posts spark uproar

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday ordered an urgent review into what she said were “serious information failures” in the case of a British-Egyptian activist who was awarded citizenship despite “abhorrent” past social media posts.Alaa Abdel Fattah earlier Monday apologised over the resurfaced posts in which he called for violence against Zionists and police, as opposition lawmakers urged the UK government to revoke his citizenship.The posts, dating back to 2010, came to light just days after Abdel Fattah returned to Britain following years of diplomatic efforts by London to secure his release from detention in Egypt.Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously said he was “delighted” he had been reunited with his loved ones. His office has now said he was unaware of the tweets until after he arrived in the country.In a letter to the chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee later Monday, Cooper said she had ordered a review as it was clear there had been “an unacceptable failure” in the handling of the case.She said this had led to successive ministers and prime ministers, including Starmer, being unaware of the posts when they made public statements.Starmer added in a separate post that the historic tweets were “absolutely abhorrent”.”With the rise of antisemitism, and recent horrific attacks, I know this has added to the distress of many in the Jewish community in the UK,” he wrote.Abdel Fattah apologised in a statement.”Looking at the tweets now — the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning — I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise,” he said.”I must also stress that some tweets have been completely misunderstood, seemingly in bad faith,” he added.Abdel Fattah was a leading voice in Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising.He was detained in Egypt in September 2019, and in December 2021 was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of spreading false news.  He went on hunger strike this March while behind bars and was later released after being pardoned by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in September.- ‘Abhorrent’ posts condemned -The foreign ministry on Sunday said it had been “a long-standing priority under successive governments” to work for his release, while condemning the content of the posts.Abdel Fattah was granted UK citizenship in December 2021 when the Conservatives were in power.He obtained it through his British-born mother, who herself went on hunger strike during her son’s imprisonment.”If the Prime Minister really was unaware that El Fattah was an extremist, he should immediately retract his comments expressing ‘delight’ at his arrival and begin proceedings to revoke his citizenship and deport him,” the Conservatives’ justice spokesman, Robert Jenrick, posted on X.Anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, wrote a letter to interior minister Shabana Mahmood urging her to “order” the deportation of Abdel Fattah.”It should go without saying that anyone who possesses racist and anti-British views such as those of Mr el-Fattah should not be allowed into the UK,” Farage wrote.Starmer’s official spokesman told reporters citizenship can only be revoked from Britons who obtain it “by fraud, or against the most dangerous individuals, such as terrorists, extremists and serious organized criminals”.”There is a high bar to meet these thresholds,” the spokesman said.Abdel Fattah arrived in the UK last Friday after Egypt’s attorney general lifted an apparent travel ban.Abdel Fattah was nominated for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize in 2014 but the group backing him withdrew the nomination for the human rights award, saying they had discovered a tweet from 2012 in which he called for the murder of Israelis.bur-tc-har-pdh/phz

CAN-2025: le Maroc se qualifie sans trembler face à la Zambie

Sous pression devant son public, le Maroc n’a pas dérogé à son statut de favori de la CAN-2025 en surclassant la Zambie (3-0) pour finir premier de son groupe et filer en 8e de finale, lundi à Rabat.Après une victoire inaugurale face aux Comores (2-0) et un match nul décevant contre le Mali (1-1), les demi-finalistes du dernier Mondial étaient soumis à forte pression lors de l’ultime journée du groupe A. Pas indispensable pour valider la qualification, la victoire était impérative pour le sélectionneur Walid Regragui, cible récurrente des critiques des supporters du royaume chérifien, pays hôte de la compétition.Pour calmer les esprits, Regragui a décidé de lancer Achraf Hakimi, son capitaine blessé depuis le 4 novembre et préservé lors des deux premiers matches. Le latéral du Paris-SG est entré en jeu à la 64e minute et s’est montré rapidement en jambes avec un extérieur du pied détourné in extremis par le gardien zambien Willard Mwanza (81e).- Hakimi entrant et en jambes -Les Lions de l’Atlas avaient de toute façon déjà plié le match. D’abord après une tête plongeante d’Ayoub El-Kaabi (9e), avant que Brahim Diaz ne double la mise (27e). Buteur lors de chacun des trois matches de poule d’une CAN, le joueur du Real Madrid a égalé la performance de la légende marocaine Ahmed Faras, Ballon d’or africain en 1975 mort en juillet dernier.Dans l’antre du stade du Prince Moulay Abdallah, chants, loupiotes et ola géante ont salué la prestation virevoltante des Lions face à des Chipolopolos (littéralement “boulets de cuivre”) zambiens aux jambes bien lourdes.Le clou du spectacle a été un ciseau retourné d’El-Kaabi (51e), qui a mis les Marocains à l’abri et permis à l’attaquant de l’Olympiakos de devenir co-meilleur buteur de la compétition avec son coéquipier Diaz et l’Algérien Riyad Mahrez (trois buts).Walid Regragui s’est dit “satisfait” à l’issue de ce “match complet” au micro de BeIN Sports. “On a toujours dit qu’il fallait monter en puissance. Le plus important est de finir premier. C’est une nouvelle compétition qui commence.”Avec sept points en tête du groupe A, le Maroc termine loin devant le Mali (3 pts), qui a été tenu en échec 0-0 par les Comores, lundi à Casablanca. Un troisième match nul consécutif pour les Aigles (après leurs 1-1 contre la Zambie et le Maroc), suffisant toutefois pour se hisser en huitièmes de finale.Pour cette nouvelle phase à élimination directe, le Maroc jouera dimanche contre le meilleur troisième du groupe C, D ou E. Le Mali affrontera samedi le deuxième du groupe C, qui comprend notamment la Tunisie et le Nigeria.

Le Hamas réaffirme qu’il “ne renoncera pas” à ses armes, avant une rencontre Trump-Netanyahu

La branche armée du mouvement islamiste palestinien Hamas a réaffirmé lundi que le groupe islamiste “ne renoncerait pas” à ses armes, avant une rencontre Trump-Netanyahu aux Etats-Unis consacrée notamment à l’avenir de Gaza.Les Brigades Ezzedine al-Qassam ont également confirmé la mort de leur porte-parole Abou Obeida, qui avait été annoncée par Israël en août.”Notre peuple …

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Iran: des commerçants ferment boutique pour dénoncer l’hyperinflation

Des commerçants ont fermé boutique lundi à Téhéran pour le deuxième jour consécutif, protestant contre la dégradation de la situation économique en Iran, entre sanctions occidentales et rapide dépréciation de la monnaie nationale.Le rial a encore atteint dimanche un plus bas historique face au dollar, selon le taux informel au marché noir, à plus de …

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