The News

 Jay-Z, real name, Shawn Corey Carter, has officially been named as the alleged rape accomplice of Diddy.

An unknown woman, identified as "Jane Doe" in legal documents, refiled a lawsuit, claiming both rappers sexually assaulted her at a VMA afterparty in 2000.

However, Jay-Z has slammed the accusations as attorney Buzbee's attempt to blackmail him.

"My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a 'lawyer' named Tony Buzbee. What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle," the rapper said in a lengthy statement shared online. "No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!"

Jay-Z continued, "These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree? These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case."

He further noted that he had done "a bit of research" on Buzbee, claiming that the lawyer seems to "have a pattern of these types of theatrics."

"I have no idea how you have come to be such a deplorable human Mr. Buzbee, but I promise you I have seen your kind many times over. I'm more than prepared to deal with your type. You claim to be a marine?! Marines are known for their valor, you have neither honor nor dignity," Jay-Z added.

Jay-Z Says His 'Only Heartbreak' Is For His Wife And Kids

In his statement, Jay-Z brought up his wife and kids and how challenging the lawsuit would be for them.

"My only heartbreak is for my family," the rapper said. "My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence."

 Diddy's facing a mountain of lawsuits from anonymous accusers, but one accuser's name has now been revealed in court docs ... and she's the ex-wife of a professional hockey player.

 An Appeals Court on Friday upheld a law that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the popular short-form video app or see it banned throughout the country. The law doesn’t specifically ban TikTok but blocks app stores like Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store from distributing it unless ByteDance divests itself from the social network.

While the decision is a setback for TikTok, it’s not the end of the story. ByteDance is expected to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, which will make the ultimate call on the matter. If the law ultimately moves forward, it would be a huge blow to TikTok content creators, advertisers, and the app’s 170 million users.

But one company will undeniably benefit from a TikTok ban: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (META).

The tech giant is not only TikTok’s largest competitor but also the closest mainstream social media app with a similar user base and feature set. Meta designed Reels, which Zuckerberg has repeatedly talked up during the company’s earnings calls, as a means of combating the rise of TikTok.

Instagram introduced Reels in 2020, positioning it as a way for users to explore more of the content available on the photo- and video-sharing app. Since then, Meta has used AI to further tweak its recommendation feed, making Reels ever more compelling and ensuring users not only try out the feature but continue to scroll through video after video, just as they do on TikTok.

The moves are paying off too. During Meta’s Q1 earnings call in April, Zuckerberg said that Reels usage makes up 50% of the time users spend on Instagram. And during the company’s Q3 earnings call in October, CFO Susan Li said that 60% of Reels’ recommendations come from original content, which is exactly what gets people to stick around and keep scrolling.

Meta doesn’t break out exactly how much revenue Reels contributes to the company’s bottom line, but Li previously stated that the feature is a positive contributor to Meta’s overall revenue.

With Reels performing well, TikTok content creators will likely move over to the service if their app of choice is ultimately banned in the US. Users that follow those creators would then follow suit and advertisers along with them, ultimately helping to boost Meta’s revenue.

Shares of Meta jumped 2% Friday.

Meta certainly isn’t the only TikTok rival that could benefit if the app is banned. YouTube Shorts could also get a boost, which would similarly bring more advertising dollars to the Google-owned (GOOG, GOOGL) short-form video service.

The TikTok ban law spawned out of national security concerns related to the company’s parent company ByteDance and its ties to the Chinese government. US officials fear that the Chinese government could force TikTok to spy on American users or use the app to spread pro-China propaganda.

  French President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation Thursday following the resignation of ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier, a day after a historic no-confidence vote at the National Assembly left France without a functioning government.

Macron “took note” of Barnier’s resignation, the Elysee presidential palace said in a statement. Barnier and other ministers will be “in charge of current affairs until the appointment of a new government,” the statement said.

Macron is expected to focus on stabilizing the political crisis in his speech, though it is unclear when he will name a new prime minister to navigate the fractured parliament.

The no-confidence motion passed by 331 votes in the National Assembly, forcing Barnier to step down after just three months in office—the shortest tenure of any prime minister in modern French history.

Pressure to act swiftly

Macron faces the critical task of naming a replacement capable of leading a minority government in a parliament where no party holds a majority. Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly and a member of Macron’s party, urged the president to move quickly.

“I recommend he decide rapidly on a new prime minister,” Braun-Pivet said Thursday on France Inter radio. “There must not be any political hesitation. We need a leader who can speak to everyone and work to pass a new budget bill.”

The process may prove challenging. Macron’s administration has yet to confirm any names, though French media have reported a shortlist of centrist candidates who might appeal to both sides of the political spectrum.

Macron took more than two months to appoint Barnier after his party’s defeat in June’s legislative elections, raising concerns about potential delays this time.

Calls for Macron to step down

The no-confidence vote has galvanized opposition leaders, with some explicitly calling for Macron’s resignation.

“I believe that stability requires the departure of the President of the Republic,” said Manuel Bompard, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, on BFM TV Wednesday night.

Far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, whose party holds the most seats in the Assembly, stopped short of calling for Macron’s resignation but warned that “the pressure on the President of the Republic will get stronger and stronger.”

Macron, however, has dismissed such calls and ruled out new legislative elections. The French constitution does not call for a president to resign after his government was ousted by the National Assembly.

“I was elected to serve until 2027, and I will fulfill that mandate,” he told reporters earlier this week.

The constitution also says that new legislative elections cannot be held until at least July, creating a potential stalemate for policymakers.

Economic uncertainty

The political instability has heightened concerns about France’s economy, particularly its debt, which could rise to 7% of GDP next year without significant reforms. Analysts say that Barnier’s government downfall could push up French interest rates, digging the debt even further.

Rating agency Moody’s warned late Wednesday that the government’s fall “reduces the likelihood of consolidating public finances” and worsens the political gridlock.

Macron’s speech, scheduled for 8 p.m. local time, is expected to address these economic challenges while setting a course for the future government.

 The famous Hawk Tuah girl Haliey Welch’s HAWK memecoin has sparked controversy as its price dumps over 90% within hours. One of the key reasons behind HAWK price crashing was a finding of alleged snipers and insiders. 

HAWK memecoin was launched at 10 PM UTC on 4 December and it quickly surged over 900% and accumulated a market cap of $490 million. However, the memecoin price crashed nearly 91% in hours after accusations started to spread among investors.

As per DEXScreener data, HAWK was launched at the price of $0.005492 and it pumped to $0.04916 before crashing down. 

Onchain data shows that some snipers managed to benefit the most with selling over 135 million HAWK tokens at the right time and profiting over $1.3 million from single trade. 

The acquisitions from the community claims that some insider wallets and snipers combined have over 80% of the HAWK token supply. Although Welch denied that non such things have happened nor did they have assigned any tokens to KOLs. 

Besides, some users on X have also claimed that the launch of HAWK could put Hailey Welch in legal tension as several investors who lost money in the memecoin are filing complaints with the SEC. 

Hailey Welch’s social media posts were also bombarded with comments on her potential involvement with insider wallets. Many of her posts on X were also flagged by community notes citing that 96% of the HAWK supply is held by 10 inter-connected wallets and they have been selling gradually since the launch. 

 Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) was in focus on Thursday as research firms Guggenheim and Jefferies upped their price target on the IT giant ahead of its fiscal second-quarter results, set to be released after the close of trading on December 9.

Shares rose 0.6% in premarket trading.

"We expect Oracle to at least meet F2Q25 expectations and guide F3Q25 in line," Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci wrote in a note to clients. "Our field checks indicated solid F2Q25 momentum in Oracle’s Cloud business as the company leverages its unique technology advantages across SaaS and IaaS, while pipelines for the second half of the FY are highly optimistic."

DiFucci continued: "ORCL’s AI strategy of embedding incremental services within its core platform is also becoming a meaningful differentiator and is accelerating the pace of on-premise application migrations to SaaS where customers can realize those benefits."

DiFucci, who reiterated his Buy rating and upped his price target to $220 from $200, added there has been more traction with Oracle Database via partnerships with hyperscalers, including several deals with Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) Cloud and another one coming with Amazon (AMZN) Web Services, according to a partner. This is notable, given there has not been much out of the Microsoft (MSFT) Azure partnership that went live about a year ago.

"Consensus revenue estimates generally imply reasonable New ARR growth, though IaaS requires New ARR to double, which was the case last quarter (and Oracle did better than that) but we have trust in management’s visibility," DiFucci added.

Jefferies analyst Brent Thill also upped his price target to $220 (from $190), as he noted recent checks suggest "modest pipeline improvement."

"[Fiscal second-quarter] expectations are elevated coming out of a bullish Sept analyst day and LT rev targets that imply a multi-year growth [acceleration]," Thill, who has a Buy rating on Oracle, wrote in a note to clients. "Continued backlog momentum & better backlog-to-[revenue] conversion are needed to keep the stock on its run."

A consensus of analysts expect Oracle to earn $1.48 per share on $14.12B in revenue.