Every year the Cannes film festival honours a great figure from the movie industry. This year, Meryl Streep is in Cannes to receive a lifetime achievement award at the opening ceremony – 35 years after she first set foot on the red carpet at the festival. Over the past 6 decades, Streep has played in dramas such as "The Deer Hunter", "The French Lieutenant's Woman" and "Kramer vs. Kramer" as well as family favourites like "Mamma Mia!" and "The Devil Wears Prada". Surprisingly, she has been to Cannes only once before – though she did manage to win best actress that year – for 1989's "A Cry in the Dark". Together with Oscar winning French actress Juliette Binoche they declared the festival open.

International groups have warned of ethnic cleansing and genocide in West Darfur, carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that's been at war with Sudan's government since April 2023.

Benin's position not to allow ships carrying Nigerien crude oil to enter the ports in Benin threatened the survival of Niger's military junta. More than 90,000 barrels of crude per day were earmarked for shipping to China through a pipeline that travels through Benin.

Fuel queues are gradually easing off in major cities like Lagos. However, Major marketers are demanding increased supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company as depots stock drops. Temitope Kolade, Senior Manager, Oil, Gas and Power Unit at Andersen Nigeria joins CNBC Africa for more.

Yusuf Zakariya Alkanawi created a new script for the Hausa language after discovering that the original had disappeared following centuries of interaction with Arabic and Latin scripts. The Quranic school student hopes that more Hausa speakers will embrace the new script.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Friday.