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.

German pharmaceutical company BioNTech has begun construction of an COVID-19 vaccine plant in Rwanda. When completed, it will be the first mRNA vaccine plant in Africa.

Relatives of murdered Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba attend a sombre ceremony in Brussels as Belgium returns his tooth. It's all that remains of him after his assassination in 1961. Also, Kenya has no reproductive health legislation but the public is going to have its say on a regional bill that could make a big difference to national sexual health services. And the refugee status of hundreds of thousands of Ivorians who fled post-electoral violence in the country in 2011 is coming to an end.

June is Pride Month, a celebration of the world's LGBTQ populations which also serves to continue the fight for equality and justice for the community. Activist Anna Sharyhina joined us on Perspective for a conversation about LGBTQ rights in Ukraine before and since the Russian invasion. Originally from Kharkiv, she co-founded the Ukrainian NGO "Sphere", which works to provide a safe space for the country's queer community and organised Kharkiv's first Pride parade in 2019.

Two localities in the German state of Brandenburg had to be evacuated as a large forest fire rages on the border with neighboring Saxony. Efforts to dampen the flames werre hampered because of old munitions in the area.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild war-scarred Ukraine. What does he mean by that?

A new judicial report claims Jacob Zuma is "a critical player" in a massive theft from state enterprises in South Africa. But the ex-president pledged to challenge the findings.

War, climate change, hunger, poverty and health will be on the agenda of the G7 summit in Germany. This will be a key opportunity for Chancellor Olaf Scholz to show strong leadership.

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.

Latvian singer Intars Busulis had millions of fans in Russia and a successful concert career. But he has given all that up now. He is writing pro-peace songs and using social media to try to show Russians what is happening in Ukraine. The move has come at some cost.

The war in Ukraine and inflation have Germans concerned about their standard of living. Those who have the least are likely to suffer the most.