AI-backed phone service gives offline answers in Nigeria

Almost 700,000 Macedonians – about a third of the population – live abroad. The reason: no work, too much corruption, and no prospects back at home. North Macedonia has one of the highest emigration rates in the world.

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.

France has declared a state of emergency in its overseas territory of New Caledonia. Violence over a planned constitutional reform is threatening its already struggling economy. Plus, Boeing may face the criminal prosecution it had avoided back in 2021, with the US Justice Department accusing the planemaker of violating the terms of the deferred prosecution deal.

Approximately 100 students at Duke University have been accused of anti-Semitism after staging a walkout during Jerry Seinfeld’s graduation speech. Organisers of the walkout states the reason for the protest has nothing to do with Seinfeld’s religious identity, but rather his open pro-Israel stance.