London
CNN
 — 

British comedian and actor Russell Brand was granted conditional bail during a court appearance on Friday, after he was charged last month with rape and sexual assault.

London’s Metropolitan Police charged Brand, 49, with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, and one count of oral rape, as well as two counts of sexual assault. The charges relate to four separate women.

The alleged incidents took place between 1999 and 2005. He has denied the allegations.

The hearing, which gave further details around the allegations that Brand is facing, took place at Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London. Brand spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, address and that he understood the bail conditions.

He is now due to appear at the Old Bailey court in the British capital on May 30.

The Metropolitan Police described Brand as living in southern England when announcing the charges in April. However British news agency PA Media has previously reported that he is now understood to live in the United States.

Detectives began investigating the comedian, who more recently has repositioned himself as a social commentator, in September 2023 after receiving allegations following a joint investigation led by three British media outlets – The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s “Dispatches.”

According to the Metropolitan Police, it is alleged that one woman was raped in 1999 in Bournemouth, southern England; one woman was indecently assaulted in London’s Westminster area in 2001; a woman was orally raped and sexually assaulted in Westminster in 2004; and a woman was sexually assaulted between 2004 and 2005, also in Westminster.

Brand has appeared in numerous Hollywood films and hosted radio and TV shows in the United Kingdom. He was married to US pop star Katy Perry between 2010 and 2012.

London
CNN
 — 

Mo Abudu has a vision for Africa’s creative economy, and the next stage will start in an old lecture hall in South London. The Nigerian media mogul plans to turn the building into a hub for Nigerian food, culture and cinema.

Abudu has built a media empire across Africa, with a mission to give the continent a platform on the global stage. “For me it was just about ensuring that we have a voice,” she told CNN’s Larry Madowo.

Abudu first found fame in 2006 as the host of the Nigerian talk show “Moments with Mo,” before starting pan-African network EbonyLife TV in 2013, and EbonyLife Films in 2014. In 2019, she launched EbonyLife Place in Lagos, Nigeria, the twin of her new cultural hub, EbonyLife Place London.

Setting up in London was an obvious step for Abudu, who was born there and moved to Nigeria when she was seven to live with her grandmother. Her father died when she was 11, and she returned to the UK, moving back to Nigeria when she was 30.

Abudu had a successful career in HR, but, as she entered her fifth decade, she realized she wanted something different. “I woke up at age 40 and I said, ‘I’m done,’” recalled Abudu.

Her friends thought she was having a midlife crisis, but Abudu says that she had just been too scared to switch careers earlier. The fear is still with her now with her London venture, she says, but her attitude has changed.

“You may be scared and afraid of doing it, but you’re going to have to just be bold and do it anyway.”

Now, Abudu sees opportunity for Nigerian films in the UK – but only if they are given the right opportunities.

“Our films are traveling across the continent but they’re not really traveling to the UK for theatrical releases simply because we don’t have the cinemas here that are ready to take those films on,” Abudu said.

She is intent on making African cinema a business that can deliver returns, and says capacity building is central to that vision. Abudu developed the $50 million Afro Film Fund alongside actor Idris Elba. It will open at the end of 2025 and Abudu believes it can fill some of the gaps in the African creative economy, part of her vision of “completing the value chain” of African cinema.

“We’re training, you’re getting funding, your film is getting distributed, you’re monetizing,” she said.

Monetization is the ultimate aim in Abudu’s development of the media ecosystem. “If we don’t build it, we can’t scale the industry,” she said. “If we can’t scale the industry, we can’t monetize.”

Abudu turned 60 last year and, by all measures, seems to be only speeding up. By the end of this year EbonyLife Place London, the streaming platform EbonyLife ON, and the Afro Film Fund will all have launched. She was named as one of TIME’s 100 most influential people this year.

Elba, who worked with Abudu worked on the short film “Dust to Dreams” and is currently developing a feature film with her, penned her biography for TIME, writing: “She wastes no time. She has an infectious, can-do attitude and the tenacity to overcome any obstacle in her way.”

Despite her focus on the business of media, Abudu believes deeply in the need for more African representation in films and television outside of the continent. “It is time for us to wake up and realize that we need to push out,” she said.

“We have to tell our own stories,” she added. “We have that responsibility to tell them and, as we tell them, they must travel.”

President Donald Trump’s commencement remarks at the University of Alabama tonight bore a sharply political tone as he touted his accomplishments and offered as many jabs at his perceived enemies as lessons for the class of 2025.

The crowd of graduates, their families and Alabama alumni responded overwhelmingly throughout the speech, cheering the president louder than former football coach Nick Saban, who introduced Trump.

Trump waded into culture war issues and highlighted what he sees as wins from his first 100 days in office, receiving raucous applause as he vowed to “always protect women’s sports.” He touted his administration’s efforts to crack down on immigration and lower the price of eggs and energy and increase military recruitment. And he vowed that Americans will be seeing the results of his tariff policies “pretty soon.”

The president acknowledged the graduates’ “difficult senior year” of high school during the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that many of them came to Tuscaloosa for “freedom” as he praised the state’s leaders for choosing “liberty over lockdowns.”

“You are the first graduating class of the golden age of America,” he told the class, who stood for the entirety of his speech, calling it an “exciting time for our nation – a period of both extraordinary change and incredible potential and what will be unbelievable growth.”

He repeatedly criticized former President Joe Biden and what he described as a “failed establishment.”

“The last four years were not that good for our country, but don’t let that scare you, it was an aberration… we were run by people who didn’t have a clue,” he said to laughter, later lambasting the “Biden economy” as he touted progress against inflation.

Trump then asked the audience if they’d like to hear his wisdom for the graduates.

“That’s got to be more interesting than all of the other stuff – which was slightly political,” he said.