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  Aya Nakamura was born in the former French colony of Mali, raised in France and is widely considered the most streamed female Francophone artist in the world. The 28-year-old,   as well as being Malian, is a French citizen, and a multiple-platinum-selling pop star who was brought up in the Parisian suburbs. However, ahead of Paris 2024, Nakamura finds herself at the center of France’s culture wars. Amid widespread rumors the singer would perform at the Games’ Opening Ceremony, singing an Edith Piaf song, some members of France’s far-right have questioned   whether she embodies French heritage, values and identity. Piaf is a key figure in France’s musical – and national – identity. “There’s no way Aya. This is Paris, not the market in Bamako,” said fringe and extreme far-right group Les Natifs (Natives) on X, formerly known as Twitter, in March, referring to Mali’s capital. Nakamura has defen...

    Ditching the US and relocating close to the French Pyrenees wasn’t part of Taylor Barnes’ life plan. But as the cost of living in the US increased, and the Los Angeles artist, in her 60s, struggled to find an affordable space where she could support other artists, she began thinking about a new life abroad. In 2021, Barnes, who is divorced with one daughter, moved to the medieval village of Saissac, in the Aude region of France near the Montagne Noire mountain range. ‘Visually inspiring’ “I considered, among many things, where I would like to live out the last quarter of my life,” Barnes tells CNN. “I felt the village was visually inspiring, surrounded by forests of oak and pine trees, so many wild bird species I can’t count, and two rivers running down the gorges on both sides of the castle.” Relocating to another country is rarely simple, but Barnes felt this remote spot in southern France would be an ideal place to hold her residency programs, providing artists with a p...

 Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated 11th studio album will debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart tomorrow, marking Swift’s 14th debut at the top of the chart and capping the album’s record-breaking first week.  With “The Tortured Poets Department” No. 1 debut, Swift now ties Jay-Z for the solo artist with the most No. 1 albums, though Swift is still chasing The Beatles, who have 19 chart toppers. “The Tortured Poets Department” had 2.61 million equivalent album units, with each unit equal to one album sale, 10 tracks sold from an album or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid audio or video streams of songs from the album. In just one week, Swift’s album easily became the top-selling album of the year, Billboard reported, with the second best-selling album—Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter”—selling just 228,000 copies, Billboard reported. “My mind is blown,” Swift said on social media after Billboard announced the album debuted at No. 1. “2.6 million ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS??...

  “Challengers” took the top spot at the box office this weekend drawing in $15 million, about what was expected of the R-rated tennis drama, according to multiple reports, though the trend of a slow box office continued.  “Challengers”—starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist—opened in 3,477 theaters across the U.S. and Canada this weekend after bringing in about $1.9 million in Thursday previews, Variety reported. The movie has received largely positive reviews, garnering an 87% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. “Unsung Hero,” a faith-based movie starring Daisy Betts, took the second spot at the box office this weekend with about $7.8 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which was above the $5 million to $6 million it was expected to bring in. The third spot went to “Godzilla x Kong,” which brought in an estimated $7.2 million in its fifth weekend in theaters, multiple outlets reported. Movies starring Zendaya made up more than a quarter of the box office this...

 The Yemen-based Houthi Rebels said this weekend they shot down a U.S. MQ-9 reaper drone, according to multiple reports, which would make it the third U.S. drone that’s been downed in six months as concerns of escalation in the Middle East continue.  The MQ-9 drone—which costs about $30 million, according to the Congressional Research Service—was part of the U.S.’s effort to defend ships in the Red Sea from ongoing Houthi attacks. The Houthis, a Hamas-aligned rebel group, said they took the drone out with a surface-to-air missile and released footage of the incident, the Associated Press reported, as part of ongoing attacks related to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Defense Department spokesperson U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry told Forbes in a statement Sunday “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen” on Friday, and there were no injuries and there is an investigation underway, but would not confirm it was shot down. $90 million. That’s about how much...