Niger Govt. sacks 80 civil servants for fraud, Lagos State pledges 20 cars to outstanding teachers and more

The European Commission has recommended candidate status for Ukraine. Just over three months after being invaded by Russia, Kyiv has cleared the first hurdle on the road to membership.

Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief has called for Russia to end its blockade of Ukrainian ports. His comments come ahead of a meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers.

With young Indigenous people leaving the Amazon in search of jobs the rainforest is losing one of its best lines of defense. Could ensuring they have economic opportunities at home help protect biodiversity?

Texas official Steven McCraw said that officers searched for a key that was not needed and waited an hour outside classrooms. Relatives of schoolchildren and staff are angry over how police responded to the shooting.

Noise rang out across Senegal's capital Dakar on Wednesday evening as people honked car horns and banged on pots and pans in an unusual form of protest organised by the political opposition ahead of legislative elections next month. Senegal's main opposition coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi, asked its supporters to come to their windows, balconies and doorways and clang lids together at 8pm to signal their anger over the disqualification of their candidates list in the upcoming poll.

UK's Johnson says he would defend Rwanda policy to Prince Charles

EU leaders are in Brussels to discuss the membership bids of Ukraine and Moldova. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has voted heavily in favor of the two countries' getting candidate status.

In tonight's edition: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defends his controversial deal to expel migrants to Rwanda, telling critics to "keep an open mind". Whilst most members of the bloc are former British colonies, Gabon and Togo are expected to join Mozambique and Rwanda as the latest nations to join the Commonwealth despite few historic links to the UK. Plus we take a closer look at some the major shifts needed to finance Africa's essential transition to reliable energy.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine four months ago, the cost of living crisis has become a global issue. Prices have gone up around the world. In Europe, the countries that use the euro saw an average of 8.1 percent inflation in May. Pressure on prices, combined with stuttering economic growth, has sparked fears of a recession. These concerns could still come into play regarding the EU's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this programme, we're joined by two MEPs to discuss how the EU should balance sanctions against Russia with the risk of recession.

This week on Talking Europe we take a look at some of the other countries, aside from Ukraine, that are knocking on the EU's door to join the bloc. EU leaders held a summit on Thursday with the Western Balkan states to discuss their accession process. For Albania, that started back in 2008 and still hasn't advanced to the negotiations stage. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke to FRANCE 24’s Luke Brown on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans leaders' meeting in Brussels.

In India, over a million female healthcare workers known as "ASHA" ("hope" in Hindi) work tirelessly to help the country's poorest. Last month, the WHO honoured their hard work with its Global Leaders Award. Over the last 16 years, these women have become the backbone of India's healthcare system, especially for the hundreds of millions of Indians who live in rural areas. But today, they are fighting for better pay and recognition from the government. Our correspondents report.

Although EU candidacy for Ukraine and Moldova has been hailed as historic, frustrations among other candidates years into their own membership bids should serve as a reminder that the path ahead won't be easy.