CNN
 — 

The governing party called it a ceremonial passing of the baton. But the opposition lambasted it as a “passing of the scepter.”

Constitutionally barred from running for reelection, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sought to show last month, in a very public way, that presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum has his blessing. So he handed his hoped-for successor an actual baton, in a ceremony outside a Mexico City restaurant not far from the National Palace – the seat of the country’s executive power.

Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor and longtime political ally of Lopez Obrador, hit all the right notes in thanking him. Accepting the baton along with the leftist Morena party’s presidential nomination, Sheinbaum said she would assume “the full responsibility of continuing the course marked by our people, that of the transformation initiated by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.”

When Mexicans go to the polls next June, they will choose between two women for president – a first in the country’s history. Only four days before Morena nominated Sheinbaum, Mexico’s opposition coalition Broad Front chose another formidable female candidate, former senator Xochitl Gálvez from the conservative PAN party.

It’s not the first time Mexico sees women running for the presidency; before Sheinbaum and Gálvez, were six other female presidential candidates. But with the two major political sides nominating women, this is the first time that it’s practically a given that starting in December 2024, Mexico, a country previously known for machismo, will be run by a woman.

Still, some critics say the outgoing Lopez Obrador’s shadow looms over the contest.

Meet the candidates: Sheinbaum and Galvez

Gálvez’s rise in Mexican politics has been meteoric; this spring, she said she wasn’t even the favorite of the PRI, PAN and PRD, the parties that now form the Broad Front coalition. It was a public spat with Lopez Obrador himself – who regularly attacked her as a “wimp,” “puppet,” and “employee of the oligarchy” in news conferences – that ultimately rocketed her into the spotlight.

In June, Gálvez went viral when she attempted to enter the National Palace with a judicial order that granted her the right to reply to the president, after successfully suing López Obrador. “This is not a show,” she told reporters at the doors of the National Palace. “The law is the law, period.”

The daughter of an indigenous father and a mixed-race mother, Gálvez served as the top official for indigenous affairs under former President Vicente Fox before becoming a senator. Unfiltered and irreverent, she described herself in an interview with CNN en Español as “an all-terrain, 4-by-4, kind of woman.”

In some respects, she appears progressive. Gálvez has advocated in the Mexican Congress for the rights and welfare of indigenous groups and Afro-Mexicans, and in a regional forum earlier this year in Monterrey, said that oil-rich Mexico should shift to renewable energy. “We haven’t done it because we are dumbasses,” Gálvez unapologetically said.

She has also said leftist Lopez Obrador’s pension for all senior citizens should continue, and proposes what she calls a “universal social protection system” of welfare programs for a large portion of the middle and lower classes.

But when it comes to security and the fight against organized crime, Gálvez’s three-pronged plan is muscular, based on what she describes as “intelligence, heart and a firm-hand”: strengthening local and state police and giving them access to intelligence, advocating for and protecting victims, and respecting the rule of law.

Macario Schettino, a political analyst and Social Science professor at ITESM, a renowned Mexican university, describes Gálvez’s political momentum as impressive, considering that only a few months ago, she wasn’t even considered a candidate with a national profile. “She barely begun to register in political terms, and she’s already had great growth. Many people in Mexico still don’t know her. She is going to grow [..] in popularity,” Schettino said, “While Claudia Sheinbaum can no longer move from where she is because she is already known by most Mexicans.”

Sheinbaum, a physicist with a doctorate in environmental engineering, would also be the first president with Jewish heritage if she wins, although she rarely speaks publicly about her personal background and has governed as a secular leftist.

She is currently ahead in most polls, and will be a formidable opponent to beat. Not only does Sheinbaum have the full support of the governing party, she has also long enjoyed the spotlight as mayor of Mexico’s most important city for the last five years until her resignation in June to run for the presidency.

On policy, Sheinbaum has vowed to continue many of Lopez Obrador’s policies and programs, including a pension for all senior citizens, scholarships for more than 12 million students and free fertilizers for small farm owners. But the high-profile ex-mayor rejects criticism of her close political alignment with the president. “Of course we’re not a copy (of the president),” she said in July.

Still, she does not shy away from touting the principles they share: “For everybody’s good, let’s put the poor first. There cannot be a rich government if the people are poor. Power is only a virtue when it’s used to serve the people,” Sheinbaum said, repeating the same campaign slogans Lopez Obrador has used for years.

Schettino believes the immensely popularly Lopez Obrador views Sheinbaum as his extension in power. He points to their party Morena’s roots in the authoritarian Institutional Revolutionary Party that governed Mexico for more than seven decades until 2000, which came to be known as “The Dinosaur,” and the Party of Democratic Revolution that branched off from it.

In 2012, Lopez Obrador created Morena as a political party. Schettino describes the party today as a “tyrannosaurus” under Lopez Obrador’s influence – representing what he says is the current leader’s desire for a successor to hew closely to his own agenda. “President López Obrador, a dinosaur who not only is a dinosaur, but also has the vocation of a tyrant. He doesn’t want to go. He wants to stay in power,” Schettino said.

“I believe that he built Claudia’s candidacy,” Schettino said.

López Obrador however has repeatedly dismissed accusations of authoritarian leanings or that he favors a candidate he will be able to control. Earlier this year, Lopez Obrador denied he had any favorites among his party’s hopefuls or that he was pushing for one candidate or another behind the scenes.

He has also said that he is going “retire completely” after his six-year term in office comes to an end. “I am retiring, I will not participate in any public event again, of course. I am not going to accept any position, I do not want to be anyone’s advisor, much less am I going to act as a chief. I am not going to have relations with politicians. I am not going to talk about politics,” the president told press in February.

CNN
 — 

The United Nations Security Council has greenlit the deployment of an armed multinational force to Haiti, as the Caribbean nation wrestles with rampant gang violence and political paralysis.

The decision follows repeated calls for military assistance by Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the United States have also strongly urged the international community to back such a mission.

Thirteen members of the council voted in favor of the resolution, with Russia and China abstaining.

Though approved by the powerful UN Security Council, the force would not formally be under UN control. It is expected to be led by Kenya, which has pledged 1000 police to spearhead the mission. Several of Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors – Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica – have also offered support to the mission.

The “multinational security support” force will have a 12-month mandate in Haiti. The timing of its arrival is not set yet and more countries have been invited to participate. The resolution also calls for a global stop to arms sales to Haiti, except for approved security purposes.

An adviser to Haitian Prime Minister Henry, Jean-Junior Joseph, told CNN that the government welcomed the vote, adding, “We await with impatience the mission to combat general insecurity.”

Warring gangs control much of Port-au-Prince – Haiti’s capital city and main port – choking off vital supply lines to the rest of the country. Gang members have also terrorized the metropolitan population, forcing some 200,000 people to flee their homes amid waves of indiscriminate killing, kidnapping, arson and rape.

The mission is expected to strengthen local security and to reinforce the Haitian National Police in its pursuit of the gangs. Haiti’s security forces already receive some international support but remain understaffed and outgunned.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, Prime Minister Henry told fellow nations that it was “urgent” that the Security Council approve a military mission to reestablish order. Violence has exacerbated broader instability across the country, Henry said, noting that inflation has soared past 50%, leaving 4.9 million Haitians struggling to eat – a dismal new record for the country.

In a statement the same day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the international community to support the plan and to provide assistance, including personnel, and said Washington was ready to provide “robust” financial and logistical assistance.

The Security Council has found itself in repeated deadlock in recent years amid deepening geopolitical rivalries. A statement by the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, described Monday’s decision on Haiti as “historic” and said the mission “speaks to the UN’s ability to galvanize collective action.”

Speaking in the Security Council after the vote, China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun said his country had “a cautious and responsible approach” toward authorizing the use of force – but that in the case of Haiti, China’s abstention represented a “constructive position” toward the resolution.

Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia criticized the move in remarks to the council, saying “that sending the armed forces of another state to any country even upon its request is an extreme measure that must be thoroughly thought through,” but noted “some positive elements” to the approved resolution.

Both Russia and China expressed approval of the resolution’s arms embargo.

Critics of the mission have previously pointed to scandals associated with UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti, including allegations of sexual abuse and the introduction of a deadly cholera epidemic, which killed nearly 10,000 people. Some Haitians also question the mandate of Prime Minister Henry, who took leadership of the country after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021.

Henry has said that Haiti’s long-overdue elections cannot be held until the country reaches a basic level of security.

The United Nations’ special representative in Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, said her office would support the mission “within the limits of its mandate,” while emphasizing that “unlike recent international missions deployed in Haiti, the MSS mission is not a UN mission.”

CNN
 — 

At least 11 people were killed and two people seriously injured on Sunday after the roof of a church in northern Mexico collapsed, officials said.

Preliminary reports indicate that about 100 people were inside the building in Ciudad Madero at the time of the incident, according to a statement from security services in the state of Tamaulipas. Thirty people were believed to be buried in the rubble, Reuters reported.

At least 60 people were injured, with two people sustaining serious injuries, Tamaulipas security spokesperson said.

Units from the National Guard, State Guard, Civil Protection and the Red Cross were assisting in the rescue operation.

Bishop Jose Armando Alvarez, from the diocese of Tampico, said the roof of the church collapsed while worshipers were taking communion, Reuters reported. He urged other members of the community to pray for survivors.

“In this moment the necessary work is being carried out to pull out the people who are still under the rubble,” Bishop Armando said in a recorded message shared on social media, according to Reuters.

CNN
 — 

Two people are dead after a suspected grizzly bear attack in Canada’s Banff National Park, officials said.

Rescuers were first alerted to the incident around 8 p.m. Friday after receiving “an alert from an inReach/GPS device indicating a bear attack,” the national park said in a statement.

The alert said the incident happened in the Red Deer River Valley area of the park, which is in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

“Parks Canada immediately mobilized a Wildlife Human Attack Response Team whose members are specially trained in responding to wildlife attacks,” Banff National Park said in the statement. “Weather conditions at the time did not allow for helicopter use, and the response team travelled through the night to the location by ground.”

The response team arrived at the site around 1 a.m. Saturday and found two people dead and a grizzly bear displaying aggressive behavior, the statement said.

Parks Canada staff euthanized the bear “to ensure public safety,” and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrived at the scene to assist in transporting the victims to Sundre, Alberta, about 75 miles northwest of Calgary, officials said.

“This is a tragic incident, and Parks Canada wishes to express its sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” the statement said.

The deadly suspected grizzly attack in Canada happened just weeks a grizzly bear linked to the death of a woman in July near West Yellowstone was euthanized in Montana after breaking into a home through a window with a cub and taking a container of dog food.

In 2020, the same bear was also involved in an encounter that injured a person near Henrys Lake State Park in Idaho, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a news release.

The male cub who was near the adult grizzly was captured and was being held in Helena at the agency’s wildlife rehabilitation center before it was set to be transferred to a zoo, officials said.

And last month, portions of Custer Gallatin National Forest near Big Sky, Montana, were closed after a person was attacked by a grizzly bear while hunting, officials said.

Banff National Park, Canada’s first national park, is a popular attraction for tourists, known for its picturesque turquoise waters. Parks Canada notes the park is “home to hundreds of species, including grizzly bears, wolves, elk and more.”

Mexico City
CNN
 — 

At least 10 Cuban migrants died and 17 others were injured when the truck they were traveling in overturned in southern Mexico on Sunday, Mexican authorities say.

The truck was “irregularly” transporting 27 Cuban nationals on the Pijijiapan-Tonalá highway in the southern state of Chiapas when the accident occurred, Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) said in a statement.

Officials said initial reports suggested the driver had been speeding and lost control of the unit, fleeing the scene after it overturned.

The 10 victims were female and included a minor, authorities said. All the injured are being treated in hospital.

“The INM will establish communication with the consular authorities to initiate the administrative process for the repatriation of the bodies to their country of origin and is aware of the evolution of the health status of those seriously injured,” the statement said.

Migrants from Central America and the Caribbean sometimes travel through Mexico in trucks and trailers in the hope of reaching the United States.

In 2021, 55 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a truck also believed to be carrying migrants overturned in Chiapas state, which borders Guatemala.

CNN
 — 

Center-right candidate Daniel Noboa, the 35-year-old son of a banana tycoon, will become Ecuador’s next president, following an election driven by concerns over rising violence and a worsening security situation in the Latin American nation.

More than 10 million people have voted in the presidential election, and data from the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE) shows Noboa obtained 52.3% of the votes (4,829,130).

His main political rival, leftist candidate and first round front-runner Luisa González, obtained 47.7% of votes (4,404,014), the CNE said.

Noboa was a lawmaker before outgoing President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the legislature and called for early elections.

The Acción Democrática Nacional party’s candidate, he has pledged to create more work opportunities for the young, bring in more foreign investment, using technology to fight crime, and has suggested several anti-corruption measures including sentences for tax evasion.

Speaking to reporters after the result, Noboa thanked his wife, parents, and God for allowing him to serve his country.

“I also thank all those people who have been part of a new, young, improbable political project, a political project whose purpose was to give back a smile to the country,” he said.

“Starting tomorrow, Daniel Noboa, your president of the republic, starts working.”

His rival, González of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana party, a protégé of former leftist President Rafael Correa, ran on a promise to enhance public spending and social programs and wants to address the security crisis by fixing the root causes of violence, such as poverty and inequality.

González was the frontrunner in the first round of voting.

She conceded to Noboa after the result was announced, saying she would congratulate him on his victory.

“To the candidate now president-elect, we offer deep congratulations because it’s a democracy; we have never called for a city to be set on fire, we have never come out to shout fraud,” she said.

Security was tight throughout Sunday’s vote with tens of thousands of police officers and army personnel stationed at polling stations across the country.

Crime remained at the forefront of Ecuador’s run-off vote, months after the high-profile assassination of another presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, who was slain days before the August 20 first-round poll.

The killing became a tragic symbol of the country’s worsening security situation, where rival criminal organizations have been meting out brutal and often public shows of violence in the country’s streets and prisons in their battle to control drug trafficking routes.

Voter turnout was “historic” at 82.33% despite initial security concerns, CNE president Diana Atamaint said after polls closed Sunday.

“The transmission of the results has been fluid and constant; the Ecuadorians have permanently followed the votes obtained by each of the candidates, which are the result of the popular will expressed at the polls,” she Atamaint after the results came out.

“We have complied with a historic electoral process. The country gave us this mission, and today, we say to Ecuador and the entire world, ‘task accomplished;’ today democracy won, today Ecuador won.”

Before Ecuador, a nation of nearly 17 million, was transformed into one of the most dangerous countries in the region, it was known as a relatively peaceful place that was nestled between two of the world’s largest narcotics producers, Peru and Colombia.

Its deep ports, dollarized economy, and corruption have since made it a key transit point for drugs making its way to consumers in the US and Europe. The mounting violence, paired with a lack of economic prospects, have also compelled many Ecuadorians to leave the country.

“We are not sure [what] will put an end to this because we cannot live with that fear” of crime, small business owner César Ortiz told CNN en Español in Quito ahead of the poll.

Ortiz said he hopes the new president will focus not just on security but on the economy because “there are so many people who are unemployed, that is why crime [is] abound.”

Whoever wins on Sunday may gain a cursed chalice, say analysts covering the region. “Governing Ecuador right now is hell – this presidency is designed to eliminate you from political life,” Freeman said.

The new president will have relatively little time to work on a solution to the country’s woes. They will hold office only until 2025, which would have been the end of Lasso’s term – a short window for even the most seasoned politician to turn things around in the country.

How Afrobeats has become an unstoppable musical force

Afrobeats is a term often used to describe music coming out of West Africa. But in reality, music industry veterans and emerging stars say the sounds coming from the continent’s top artists shouldn’t be confined to one particular genre.

Editor’s Note: Know someone who inspires you? Click here to nominate them as a CNN Hero.

CNN
 — 

Growing up in poverty in rural Kenya, Nelly Cheboi watched her single mother, who had only completed fifth grade, work tirelessly so Cheboi and her three sisters could attend school.

From an early age, Cheboi realized that her family, along with others like hers in their village, was stuck in a cycle that left them little hope.

“She was working really hard, and I was still going to bed hungry. I was still sent home for tuition. I was still living in a house that was flooding,” said Cheboi, now 29. “Looking at the poverty in the household, looking at the community and suffering, it just became so clear that I needed to do something.”

Cheboi attended college on scholarship in the United States, worked odd jobs to support her family, and discovered her passion for computer science. She credits computer literacy for her ability to find job opportunities and make money doing what she loves. She knew she wanted to share it with her community back home.

Today, she’s giving 4,000 kids the chance for a brighter future through her nonprofit, TechLit Africa. The organization, whose name is short for Technologically Literate Africa, uses recycled computers to create technology labs in schools in rural Kenya.

“I know the pain of poverty, and that’s why I feel so passionate about it,” said Cheboi, a software engineer who splits her time between the US and Kenya. “I never forgot what it was like with my stomach churning because of hunger at night.”

In 2012, Cheboi received a full scholarship to Augustana College in Illinois and began her studies with almost no computer experience. She handwrote papers and struggled to transcribe them on a laptop. She said she never felt comfortable using a computer until her junior year when she took a Java course required for her mathematics major.

“When I discovered computer science, I just fell in love with it. I knew that this is something that I wanted to do as my career, and also bring it to my community,” she said.

Cheboi switched to a double major and earned a bachelor’s degree. Yet she says skills like touch-typing that came seamlessly to some were still a steep learning curve for her. At one point after college, she had to practice for six months before she could pass a coding interview. It’s a skill that is now a core part of the TechLit curriculum.

“I feel so accomplished seeing kids that are 7 years old touch-typing, knowing that I just learned how to touch-type less than five years ago,” she said.

Cheboi made inroads with businesses in her profession, and in 2018 she began accepting recycled computers from them. She started small, carrying the machines to Kenya in check-on bags and handling customs fees and taxes herself.

“At one point, I was bringing 44 computers, and I paid more for the luggage than I did for the air ticket,” she said.

TechLit Africa now works with freight and shipping companies to transport the donated computers so it’s more cost efficient. The donated hardware is wiped, refurbished and distributed to partner schools in rural Kenya, where students aged 4 to 12 receive daily classes and frequent opportunities to learn from professionals and gain skills that will help improve their education and prepare them for future jobs.

“We have people who own a specific skill coming in and are just inspiring the kids (with) music production, video production, coding, personal branding,” Cheboi said. “They can go from doing a remote class with NASA on education to music production with our artists.”

Cheboi’s organization maintains online and onsite ownership of the computers, providing tech support, software updates and troubleshooting. TechLit Africa installs new customer operating systems geared towards children, and schools are asked to pay a small fee for the services, which includes TechLit educators onsite from 8am-4pm.

The organization currently serves 10 schools, and by early next year, Cheboi hopes to be partnered with 100 more.

“My hope is that when the first TechLit kids graduate high school, they’re able to get a job online because they will know how to code, they will know how to do graphic design, they know how to do marketing,” Cheboi said. “The world is your oyster when you are educated. By bringing the resources, by bringing these skills, we are opening up the world to them.”

Want to get involved? Check out the TechLit Africa website and see how to help.

To donate to TechLit Africa via GoFundMe, click here

Abuja, Nigeria
CNN
 — 

Every morning at 7am Nigerian time, Pastor Jerry Eze can be seen on a YouTube livestream fervently praying over thousands of stacks of requests he has received from his followers around the world.

Flanked usually by his wife Eno, and an associate, Eze’s passionate prayers are delivered in an urgent staccato, as he prays for cures to ailments and challenges such as illnesses, court cases, and financial issues.

Eze touts miracle healings with the slogan ‘What God cannot do does not exist,’ and midway through the live broadcast, cuts to pre-recorded videos from his followers sharing testimonies they say are the results of his prayers.

They range from healings from terminal illnesses to conception after years of infertility.

Eze describes the testimonies as the “strange acts of God.”

“It’s way beyond science and technology,” he says.

CNN has not independently verified the content of the videos.

The broadcasts on the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations channel (NSPPD) have propelled Eze to become one of the most watched preachers on YouTube.

With more than 90,000 peak concurrent viewers, Eze’s daily broadcasts rank among the most streamed globally on YouTube, according to the analytics website Playboard, which collates data for YouTube channels.

His YouTube platform also ranks second among gospel channels with the most live viewers worldwide – trailing behind Brazilian preacher Bruno Leonardo, Playboard’s data shows.

Eze also rakes in large amounts of donations from his broadcasts. He is one of YouTube’s top-earning preachers who are leveraging the platform’s Super Chat donations that help creators earn revenue.

YouTube’s Super Chat feature allows viewers to pin their comments on live streams for a fee that ranges from $1 to $500.

Eze’s YouTube channel receives one of the highest Super Chat donations in the world, according to Playboard.

Among his ardent fans is award-winning Nigerian singer D’banj who tells CNN joining Eze’s morning prayers has become a routine.

“Waking up every day to NSPPD … has become part of my daily routine. I hardly miss it. It’s part of my family’s morning devotion,” adds D’banj, whose real name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo.

The singer says he has had his own share of miracles from prayers on the platform.

“I remember last year Pastor Jerry said we should write seven things we want to see happen, and we prayed and I believed. I checked the list the other day and … all seven have been answered.”

Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh says she also connected with Eze’s ministry early last year. She’s now “addicted,” she tells CNN.

Eze, who turns 40 on Monday, has come a long way from the days he and his single-parent mother struggled to find food to eat.

“I came from a family where poor people will describe my family as poor,” he says. “There were days my mum and I had no food to eat, and my mum would hold my hand and pray and give thanks to God. My mum was a single parent and a petty trader who sold groundnuts in the market … There were days she’d come home crying having not made any sales, so unable to buy us what to eat.”

Born on August 22, 1982, in Bende Local Government Area of Abia state, Eze tells CNN his education was funded by a benevolent couple who had noticed his active engagement in a church in his early years.

“I was just doing things in church like sweeping, singing, and reading the Bible – doing what most of my mates did not want to do. I had just finished junior secondary school at the time before they took me in,” he says of the couple.

Eze excelled in his studies and obtained a degree in history and international relations from Abia State University. He also went on to complete a master’s in human resource management.

Before venturing into ministry, Eze previously worked with a local TV station before joining the World Bank project for HIV/AIDS and later worked as a communications specialist with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“I was very excited about the job (at the UNFPA), but my mum wasn’t. She said it wasn’t what God told her. According to her, God told her I was going to be a preacher,” says Eze.

“I never shared those aspirations (to be a preacher). I wasn’t even listening to her. She and I lived in poverty, so I always asked why God didn’t first help us out of poverty before asking me to quit a job that was giving us money to be a preacher. The money I was giving her was coming out of the job (with the UN), so it didn’t make sense.”

He eventually quit his job and entered full-time ministry but sadly his mother died of heart failure before he fulfilled her ambition for him, he says.

“It was when she died that the reality of my assignment began to dawn on me,” he adds.

Entering into full-time ministry has come with huge sacrifices and Eze says he spends long hours praying into the night to prepare.

“I don’t have friends, I don’t hang out, I don’t have spare time. I can’t tell what my hobbies are anymore because there’s no room for hobbies,” he says.

Eze has two children with his wife Eno, who is also a pastor. He said his marriage hasn’t been perfect due to the demands of ministry.

“It hasn’t been 100 percent, but because my wife and I do the same thing (ministry), we bond the same way. The things that matter to other people don’t matter in our family. Our conversations are about ministry and how next we’ll fulfill God’s will for our lives. If I had married the wrong woman, I’ll be boring the person.”

Eze may have become an internet phenomenon, but insists his fame is accidental.

He had started livestreaming hoping to inspire his congregation when the pandemic shut down all church services and attendance at his fledgling ministry, Streams of Joy International, dwindled.

“It wasn’t a goal to reach the world,” Eze says. “During the (peak of) Covid, there was a palpable fear everywhere and I noticed that a lot of my church people were very scared of coming around the church. So, every morning, my wife and I will come online, spreading encouragement to people,” he tells CNN.

“I just wanted to speak hope,” he adds.

Eze’s daily messages of encouragement later morphed into a daily online prayer network every weekday on YouTube and other video-sharing services.

The live streams proved a hit and now in its third year, Eze’s YouTube channel has 880,000 subscribers as of this publication, and his broadcasts have garnered more than 122 million views over a three-year period, according to figures from his channel.

Viewers from the UK and the US jointly make up 25% of his live streams on YouTube, with more than one million views from the UK and over 700,000 views from the US between July 20 and August 16, 2022, according to figures from the platform.

Nigeria has the highest with over two million viewers. His broadcasts are also viewed in other African nations and countries such as Italy, Germany, Canada, France, Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands, the chart showed.

Digital analyst Edward Israel-Ayide tells CNN Eze’s success can be linked to the “recent boom in digital churches and online religious movements.”

Israel-Ayide says this is because of the fallout from Covid-19.

“With lockdown restrictions in place, the need for community and a sense of belonging drove Nigerians at home and abroad to seek digital platforms that could provide them with direction and hope,” he says. “Post-Covid, many people are still seeking purpose and direction due to the socioeconomic challenges brought on by Covid-19 and the ongoing global economic crisis. This is one of the main reasons why religious movements like Pastor Jerry Eze’s NSPPD thrive.”

While many people now know him because of his online platform, “that’s not where it began,” Eze says. “There was a physical church before the online one.”

Eze founded the Streams of Joy International church in the suburbs of Nigeria’s eastern city of Umuahia many years before he shot to prominence.

Eze is now based in the Nigerian capital Abuja and his church has expanded beyond Nigeria to include branches in the UK, US and Canada.

Attendance in his Abuja church has also risen. But it is with the online community he has gained the most traction, and it is here to stay.

“People all over the world are accustomed to waking up and finding Pastor Jerry online,” Eze says. “It’s like a virus that has come stay.”

Watch: Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi on his plans to transform Nigeria’s economy

Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra, is running in Nigeria’s presidential race. He discusses his objectives for the country with CNN’s Zain Asher.

CNN
 — 

Afrobeats – the pulsating, fusion sound coming out of West Africa and the diaspora – has been on the rise globally for the better part of a decade. In recent years, the genre has gained a foothold in Western pop culture, and the Grammys are taking notice.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. recently said that the Grammys were considering adding an award category for Afrobeats. Speaking to reporters in Ghana over the weekend, Mason said he had been meeting with players in the genre to explore the possibility.

“We called in producers, songwriters, artists, executives and we had a virtual listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators,” he said at a September 24 news conference. “[We] just talked about, ‘What are the different subgenres? What are the needs? What are the desires?’”

It would likely take a while for such a change to be made, though. Throughout the year, the Recording Academy – the group of music industry professionals that presents the Grammy Awards – accepts proposals for new categories from its members. Those proposals are then reviewed by a committee and voted on by the Recording Academy Board of Trustees.

For example, at an April 2021 meeting, the Recording Academy approved the addition of two new categories in the global and Latin music fields, but the change didn’t take effect the 2022 Grammys. This year, the Recording Academy announced five additional categories, including songwriter of the year and best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media, which will take effect at the 2023 Grammys.

“My goal is to make sure that we represent all genres of music, including Afrobeats, at the Grammys. But it has to be done properly,” Mason said during the news conference. “I think the listening session last week was very important, very valuable, and a step towards that path.”

Afrobeats artists have crossed over into mainstream pop through collaborations with Beyoncé, Drake, Ed Sheeran and other stars. But they’ve also achieved mainstream success on their own. Burna Boy, Wizkid and Tems have each notched Grammy nominations (though they’ve typically been relegated to the global music field), while Burna Boy garnered a win in 2021 for his album “Twice as Tall.” CKay’s “Love Nwantiti” dominated on TikTok last year before eventually showing up on the Billboard charts.

The UK’s Official Charts Company launched an Afrobeats singles chart in 2020, while Billboard debuted a US-based Afrobeats chart this year, further nodding to the genre’s growth outside of Africa and the diaspora.

CNN reporter: Report of Nigerian mass abortion program could affect US relations

Since at least 2013, more than 10,000 pregnancies were aborted as part of a “secret, systematic and illegal” abortion program allegedly “conducted” by the Nigerian military, a Reuters investigation has found. CNN’s Nima Elbagir has more.

CNN
 — 

On a busy weekend in Freetown, Sierra Leone, dozens of people gather to watch an afternoon football match not unlike countless others you’d find anywhere else in the world. But there’s one striking difference – these players are all amputees.

They’re members of the Single Leg Amputee Sports Association (SLASA), an organization co-founded by pastor Mambud Samai in 2001 after he returned home toward the end of Sierra Leone’s deadly civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2002 and killed at least 50,000 people across the country. Thousands more were left with missing limbs during a brutal campaign to terrify the civilian population.

After coming across a refugee camp filled with hundreds of amputees, Samai felt compelled to help. “At that time, there were no activities like trauma recovery for them. So, amputees believed that once they lost their limbs and their legs, they have no future, they have no opportunity. So, I volunteered myself to give them confidence,” he said.

While at the refugee camp, he met an American missionary who introduced him to a form of adaptive football. After showing the amputees how to play, the response was overwhelming and SLASA was formed, “to give hope to the amputees, to give confidence to the amputees, and to allow them to become ambassadors of peace,” Samai said.

According to the World Amputee Football Federation, players cannot use prosthetics and instead power across the field on crutches. Each team has seven players on the field at a time, with outfield players only having one leg and goalkeepers only having one arm.

Several SLASA players have since gone on to compete in international programs including the World Amputee Football Championships, Amputee Africa Cup of Nations, and the Open European Amputee Football Championship.

Related: Football saved his life. Now this former Ghana star is scouting the next generation of underprivileged talent

“Most of them are now very proud that they can represent their country at international competitions,” Samai said. “They are contributing something back to society.”

Samai says the sport is not only a good form of exercise, but it unites players and serves as a “therapy” for war victims to face their shared trauma. “We try to give them hope and then give them the credibility that they are useful, they are important to society,” he said.

Ali Badara Kamara is a goalkeeper in the SLASA league. He says he’s grateful for the life-changing opportunities he’s received. “My mother was afraid (for) me to play football because she sees me as an amputee. She thought that if I fell on the floor, I would have another problem,” he says. “But SLASA (has) taken me to Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania.”

Kamara is one of the more than 80 million people with disabilities living across the continent. According to the United Nations, that figure includes those with mental health conditions, birth defects and other physical impairments. With assistive devices often unavailable or unaffordable, many find employment hard to come by and are left begging on the streets.

While football matches only last 90 minutes, Samai’s latest mission is to find a way to help amputees beyond the pitch.

“My passion (is) to make sure that every life, irrespective of your disability or irrespective of your background, that you are able to be happy and you are able to smile at the end of the day,” Samai said.

To achieve that, SLASA works closely with the National Rehabilitation Center in Sierra Leone and partners with international organizations like SwissLimbs to provide prosthetics for amputees and train local technicians.

In 2018, Samai traveled to Japan to study sustainable agriculture leadership and community development. Upon his return, he began offering classes on sustainable agriculture through SLASA.

Related: From child soldier to boxing champion – Mohamed Kayongo on why he’s using boxing to teach life lessons

SLASA also assesses members’ education and provides learning resources to those in need. Its goal is to get more amputees off the streets and provide them with a safe way to make a living for themselves and their families.

To date, Samai says SLASA has directly assisted 350 amputees, and hopes to grow that number. The ultimate goal is to build a regulation pitch and rehabilitation center of its own.

“We want Sierra Leone to compete with another countries in terms of development,” Samai said. “We believe that disabled people should not be left behind.”

Watch the full episode of African Voices featuring Mambud Samai here.

CNN
 — 

March 11 marked the start of the Basketball Africa League, the continent’s premier basketball competition. Ahead of its third season, president Amadou Gallo Fall reflected on the rise of the sport on the continent. “It’s been an evolutive journey,” he said.

This year’s competition will be held over three months, starting in Senegal’s capital, and Fall’s hometown, Dakar, and will feature 12 teams from across Africa

Launched in 2019 as a partnership between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, the inaugural BAL season was postponed as a result of the Covid pandemic, finally taking place in 2021. It was the culmination of the work Fall has been doing for almost a quarter century.

Read: ‘This is a dream’: Burna Boy, Afrobeats stars take center stage at the NBA All-Star game

In 1998, while studying in the US on a basketball scholarship, Fall founded the SEED Project (Sports for Education and Economic Development) – a non-profit that uses basketball as a platform to engage youth in academic, athletic and leadership programs. He was later involved in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, which develops players from outside the US, and the opening of the NBA Africa office in 2010.

“All the programs that we’ve launched … are the milestones that ultimately led to the Basketball Africa League,” Fall said.

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

23:02

Those initiatives are helping to introduce more young Africans to the sport, and giving them an opportunity to pursue a basketball career on the continent.

“The best will always, hopefully, get to the NBA and that’s what we want. But if they don’t make it to the NBA, we want to make sure their next best choice is right here,” Fall adds.

At the start of the 2022-2023 season, NBA rosters included 16 players born in Africa, while 35 players had at least one African parent.

When the Toronto Raptors faced the Philadelphia 76ers last October, it was the first time an NBA court had been shared by three players from Cameroon: Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Christian Koloko, who have all taken part in the Basketball Without Borders camp.

It was a historic moment for African basketball and for Koloko, the Raptors rookie center.

“It was one of my first games in the NBA,” he recalled. “I was like wow; we really have three Cameroonians at the same time. Embiid was one of my favorite players (growing up),” he says.

That admiration is shared by others. Embiid was voted the third most likely player to win the MVP award this year, as part of an NBA survey of the league’s general managers.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri was raised in Nigeria and in 2010 became the first African general manager in US professional sports when he joined the Denver Nuggets. He joined the Raptors in 2013 and won the NBA championship with them in 2019. The team’s current roster features eight Africans – more than any team in the NBA.

Ujiri believes that, as the only NBA team based outside the US, it has a unique opportunity. “I think Toronto is global. We’re a team of the world,” he says.

Nonetheless, he is working to grow the game in his home continent. His Giants of Africa non-profit has hosted basketball camps for more than 5,000 children in 16 African countries since 2003 – and he is currently on a mission to build 100 basketball courts across the continent.

It ties in with efforts in the NBA and BAL to create an ecosystem to foster talent at in Africa. The rosters for this season’s 12 BAL teams will include 12 players from the NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal,

Raptors Cameroonian forward Siakam believes the future is bright for African talent. “We all know that this is something incredible that we are achieving,” he says. “At the end of the day Africa is winning.”

Look through the gallery above to see some of the NBA’s African stars.

CNN
 — 

March 11 marked the start of the Basketball Africa League, the continent’s premier basketball competition. Ahead of its third season, president Amadou Gallo Fall reflected on the rise of the sport on the continent. “It’s been an evolutive journey,” he said.

This year’s competition will be held over three months, starting in Senegal’s capital, and Fall’s hometown, Dakar, and will feature 12 teams from across Africa

Launched in 2019 as a partnership between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, the inaugural BAL season was postponed as a result of the Covid pandemic, finally taking place in 2021. It was the culmination of the work Fall has been doing for almost a quarter century.

Read: ‘This is a dream’: Burna Boy, Afrobeats stars take center stage at the NBA All-Star game

In 1998, while studying in the US on a basketball scholarship, Fall founded the SEED Project (Sports for Education and Economic Development) – a non-profit that uses basketball as a platform to engage youth in academic, athletic and leadership programs. He was later involved in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, which develops players from outside the US, and the opening of the NBA Africa office in 2010.

“All the programs that we’ve launched … are the milestones that ultimately led to the Basketball Africa League,” Fall said.

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

23:02

Those initiatives are helping to introduce more young Africans to the sport, and giving them an opportunity to pursue a basketball career on the continent.

“The best will always, hopefully, get to the NBA and that’s what we want. But if they don’t make it to the NBA, we want to make sure their next best choice is right here,” Fall adds.

At the start of the 2022-2023 season, NBA rosters included 16 players born in Africa, while 35 players had at least one African parent.

When the Toronto Raptors faced the Philadelphia 76ers last October, it was the first time an NBA court had been shared by three players from Cameroon: Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Christian Koloko, who have all taken part in the Basketball Without Borders camp.

It was a historic moment for African basketball and for Koloko, the Raptors rookie center.

“It was one of my first games in the NBA,” he recalled. “I was like wow; we really have three Cameroonians at the same time. Embiid was one of my favorite players (growing up),” he says.

That admiration is shared by others. Embiid was voted the third most likely player to win the MVP award this year, as part of an NBA survey of the league’s general managers.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri was raised in Nigeria and in 2010 became the first African general manager in US professional sports when he joined the Denver Nuggets. He joined the Raptors in 2013 and won the NBA championship with them in 2019. The team’s current roster features eight Africans – more than any team in the NBA.

Ujiri believes that, as the only NBA team based outside the US, it has a unique opportunity. “I think Toronto is global. We’re a team of the world,” he says.

Nonetheless, he is working to grow the game in his home continent. His Giants of Africa non-profit has hosted basketball camps for more than 5,000 children in 16 African countries since 2003 – and he is currently on a mission to build 100 basketball courts across the continent.

It ties in with efforts in the NBA and BAL to create an ecosystem to foster talent at in Africa. The rosters for this season’s 12 BAL teams will include 12 players from the NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal,

Raptors Cameroonian forward Siakam believes the future is bright for African talent. “We all know that this is something incredible that we are achieving,” he says. “At the end of the day Africa is winning.”

Look through the gallery above to see some of the NBA’s African stars.

CNN
 — 

Mercy Esther was eight years old when she left home.

Raised by her grandmother in rural Tanzania, Mercy Esther and her siblings were born into poverty, sometimes without money for food, let alone schoolbooks. When their grandmother was approached with a job offer for Mercy Esther in Kenya, and the promise that money would be sent home, she accepted. The money could help Mercy Esther’s siblings. They might have a better future.

The job offer turned out to be a lie – the first of a string of broken promises that would deprive a young woman of her childhood and her family.

Mercy Esther was born with a deformity in one foot, causing a pronounced limp. On the streets of Nairobi she and other children were forced to beg. She was told to pretend she could not walk, to elicit sympathy from the public. Each day, what money she collected was taken from her.

One day, while begging, Mercy Esther was approached by a woman who offered her domestic work and more promises: a new home, a wage and good treatment. She went with the woman, but instead Mercy Esther was abused and received no money for her labor. It would be six years before she ran away.

More from the CNN Freedom Project

With the support of the Nairobi police and Kenyan and Tanzanian governments, Mercy Esther returned to the country of her birth, but without details of the village where she was raised, authorities put her in the care of WoteSawa Domestic Workers Organization, which runs a shelter for trafficked children in Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria, in the north of the country.

“Tanzania is a beautiful and a peaceful country, but there is a dark side,” said Angela Benedicto, the organization’s founder and executive director.

“Many people live in poverty, and forced labor is a very big problem,” she added. “The most common form of human trafficking in Tanzania is domestic servitude, young girls forced into domestic work. They face abuse, exploitation, and are not paid for their work.”

Around one million children – mostly girls – are engaged in domestic work in Tanzania, according to the non-profit Anti-Slavery International.

WoteSawa was set up in 2014 and every year takes in around 75 children who have escaped trafficking. Space is tight: children sleep two to a bed. Some stay longer than others, says Benedicto, particularly those involved in criminal cases, as prosecutions can take time. So far, the non-profit has helped hundreds of survivors, but the needs are greater than the resources available. Benedicto dreams of building a bigger haven for more children.

Her mission is to empower domestic workers and advocate for their rights. It’s an issue that’s close to her heart; she is herself a former domestic worker. “I faced abuse and exploitation, but I was able to speak out,” she explains. “Many domestic workers, they can’t speak out. Who is going to speak (for) them?”

“I’m using my story to tell them, ‘Don’t give up.’”

WoteSawa means “all are equal” in Swahili. At the shelter children are housed and provided with counseling and legal support. They also receive an education in literacy and numeracy, and vocational skills such as needlework. Reintegrating children back into education works in step with efforts to reunite children with their loved ones, “so that when they go back to their families, they can help not only themselves, but they can help their families,” said Benedicto.

Lydia lives in the Ngara district in the mountains of Western Tanzania. She left home to become a domestic worker aged 16, but was beaten by her employer and not paid for her work. She escaped and was helped by WoteSawa, where she learned how to sew. Lydia returned to her family with a sewing machine provided by WoteSawa and today she is a dressmaker with dreams of a shop of her own.

“She is making enough money to provide for her family,” said Benedicto. “Her dream is to help other young girls to know how to sew. She has a plan to give back to the community.”

As well as helping survivors of trafficking, WoteSawa works to prevent it from happening. Benedicto coordinates with bus depot agents on the lookout for young children, and with local police who have powers to intervene.

“My mission is to make sure (the) offense of human trafficking is stopped – totally. And it is through education we can achieve (that),” said police commander Juma Jumane. “We have to educate families. We have to educate the victim, him or herself. We have to educate also society in general.”

When Mercy Ester arrived at the shelter she was reluctant to share the name of her village because she feared being trafficked again if she returned there. But eventually she changed her mind.

CNN met Mercy Esther through the Poland-based Kulczyk Foundation, which supports WoteSawa.

WoteSawa was able to find her family, and took her grandmother and siblings to the shelter. It had been eight years since they had last seen each other. “It was so emotional,” said Benedicto. “They cried, they hugged. I think every one of us was so emotional. We were in tears of joy.”

Mercy Esther is still uncomfortable with the idea of returning to her village and has chosen to stay at the shelter until she is older, and skilled enough as a seamstress to start a business to help provide for her family.

“Her future is so bright,” said Benedicto. “I can see that she will be a light to her siblings.”

CNN
 — 

Five-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has been announced as one of three 2023 Polar Music Prize recipients, putting the Benin-born singer-songwriter in rare company.

Founded in 1989 by ABBA manager Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, the Sweden-based Polar Music Prize has been awarded since 1992 and is considered to be among the most prestigious honors in the music industry. Past winners include Paul McCartney (1992), Elton John (1995), Stevie Wonder (1999), Björk (2010), and Sting (2017).

“Having a beautiful voice is one thing,” Kidjo told CNN’s African Voices in a 2018 interview. “You always have to think about what you want to do with that voice.”

She will join only two previous recipients from the African continent: South Africa’s Miriam Makeba in 2002, and Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour in 2013. Honored alongside Kidjo this year will be Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records in the UK, and Arvo Pärt of Estonia, the world’s most performed living composer, according to a Polar Music Prize press release.

“To be awarded the Polar Music Prize is humbling,” Kidjo says in the release. “I have no words to say how important this is for me. It comes with a sense of responsibility that is bestowed upon me as an artist to continue to do great work. I will do my best to be a proud recipient of the Prize through my work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, on behalf of the children, and as an ambassador of music, to help create a world in which we can all live in peace.”

The ceremony will take place on May 23 in Stockholm.