The European Commission is set to present its strategy for a united effort to ensure gas supplies for the coming winter. Meanwhile, the European Council has adopted a plan to ensure gas storage capacity is filled.
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.
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.
South Africa's small businesses, still reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and squeezed by inflation at a five-year peak, are now taking further strain during the worst power cuts in over two years.
The remains of Congolese icon Patrice Lumumba, the country's first prime minister, are laid to rest in Kinshasa. Belgium returned a tooth belonging to the murdered independence hero earlier this month. Also, African ministers of education were in Paris on Thursday for a UNESCO summit on tackling the devastating effect that the pandemic has had on education.