The Debate

Rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and live rounds: can Kenya's police beat the defiance of a new generation into submission? Monday's Saba Saba Day marches, marking 35 years since the spark of the movement that led to a return of multiparty rule, were the latest protests to turn deadly.

We ask about the 31 people killed on the day, the increasingly heavy hand of authorities since last year's anti-tax demonstrations and the demands of the so-called Gen Z movement.

Ahead of Saba Saba Day was the funeral in his home village of 31-year-old blogger Albert Ojwang, who died last month in police custody. How much of a test is this for Kenya's democracy, one of the few in the region?

President William Ruto, who in a past life was cleared over post-electoral violence at the International Criminal Court, had managed to recast himself as a mainstream politician courted on the world stage. He's defiant in the face of those calling for his departure before the end of his mandate in 2027. What next for Ruto and the largely leaderless movement defying him?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri and Ilayda Habip.

His post may be largely ceremonial, but his messaging is crystal clear. The first state dinner at the palace of King Charles's reign goes to France's Emmanuel Macron, not the United States' Donald Trump. At a time when the United Kingdom is forced to rethink its role in an uncertain world, is it turning its back this time on Winston Churchill's adage that "if Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea"?

On that point, Macron was even handed the microphone at Westminster as the first European leader honored with a state visit since Brexit. We ask about his message and the symbiotic ties that bind the continent's only nuclear powers.

On one of the highlights of the three-day visit, the French president and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will on Thursday jointly host a virtual summit of the "coalition of the willing" on Ukraine from the NATO base at Northwood, England. Will it be a symbolic show or a new chapter?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Alessandro Xenos.

Benjamin Netanyahu has done it before: making positive noises about a Gaza truce before boarding a plane to America, only for it all to unravel after he lands. For the Israeli prime minister's third visit to the White House since Inauguration Day, the noises are more positive than they've been in a while, but hard evidence of progress is thin and these meetings with Donald Trump always feel loosely scripted; perhaps even improvised.

The last time Netanyahu visited the Oval Office, he was ambushed by his host who gushed about Turkey's leader and announced direct talks with Iran. What about this time, after that 12-day war that roped in US fighter planes? We ask about an eventual deal.

And how to feed Palestinian civilians forced to risk their lives each time they approach one of those US and Israeli-backed aid distribution centres, the ones that bypass international aid agencies? Could Sunday's announcement that Israel's war cabinet approved aid for northern Gaza Strip signal call time on that concept?

Read more'Blood for food': The US soldier-spies sidelining UN aid work in Gaza

And then there's the rebuilding of a territory that’s been flattened. Does Trump still cling to his Gaza Riviera real estate development plan? Does Israel want to occupy Gaza? The US wants normalisation between Israel and the likes of Syria and Saudi Arabia. How badly? And where do Palestinians figure in all the grand bargaining?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Alessandro Xenos.

Remember last week and that collective sigh of relief among allies that Donald Trump had a) showed up at the NATO summit and b) agreed to a sidebar meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, after which the US president gushed that Volodymyr Zelensky "couldn't have been nicer". It was quite the contrast with that February White House ambush on live television that so spooked Europeans.

But that was a week ago. Now comes a double whammy: a pause in US arms shipments to Ukraine – officially to replenish stockpiles – but the freeze includes weapons and ammunition already in neighbouring Poland.

Add to that news the fact that Washington's lifting of sanctions on Syria also includes Russian oligarchs and entities implicated in the invasion of Ukraine. We ask about the ways Russia keeps exporting oil and cashing checks from abroad.

Read moreArms deliveries, sanctions loopholes: How Trump's recent moves benefit Russia

As Ukraine figures out how to resist without Washington's help, we ask about Europe's efforts. On that score, what to make of Tuesday's first phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022?

Produced by François Picard, Aurore Laborie, Ilayda Habip and Alessandro Xenos. 

We've seen this movie before. US President Donald Trump is talking up a ceasefire initiative, only for the killing to continue in Gaza; killing that is relentless and off-the-scales ever since the rollout of a US-Israeli aid delivery scheme that bypasses traditional international agencies. 

We ask about Trump's claim that Israel has agreed to his 60-day truce and the reaction of a Hamas that's down but not completely out.

We also ask what's changed since Benjamin Netanyahu walked away in March from a phased agreement that was to lead to a permanent ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages. For starters: Israel's 12-day war with Iran, where it was the US president who told Netanyahu to declare victory and go home. Will Trump twist the Israeli leader's arm again when Netanyahu travels to Washington next week?

All bets are off: will it be the Trump who gushes about a Gaza Riviera construction scheme that kicks out Palestinians, or the one who forces Netanyahu's hand by announcing Iran negotiations or recognising Syria's government?

More broadly, when is enough enough?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Aurore Laborie, Ilayda Habip and Yann Pusztai.

It's the first day of July and already France and parts of Europe are enduring their second major heatwave with no respite. From the shores of the Mediterranean, warmed by waters at an alarming 26°C, to the rooftop of Europe – Mont Blanc – where the mercury's got no business venturing above freezing this early in the summer, how to adapt to the new normal?

With poorly adapted schools forced to shut, the French far-right's Marine Le Pen is advocating air conditioning for all. But A/C begets higher energy consumption. And with the same far-right party against wind farms and the switch away from gasoline-powered cars, is air conditioning a basic necessity or do alternatives exist on the planet's fastest-heating continent?

Read moreAir conditioning: Welcome relief from climate change, but part of the problem

We ask about France's claim that nuclear power is the carbon-free answer: just look at the Golfech plant located between Toulouse and Bordeaux. It has been forced to suspend activity because at 28°C, the Garonne River's waters are too hot to cool its reactors.

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip and Yann Pusztai.

Where else but the city of merchants, one whose fortune was founded on global trade, to host the celebrity wedding of the digital age's king of ecommerce? In Venice, Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of online trading platform Amazon, is tying the knot with journalist-turned-TV personality Lauren Sanchez in a spectacle that's drawn both paparazzi and protesters. What does this spectacle out of a Fellini movie say about the age we live in? 

Organisers are tempering the extravagance with pledges of giving to good causes. For the world's third-richest man, who now owns The Washington Post newspaper, what does money buy?

We ask about the pushback, and the look for a city that hardly needs more publicity, what with its 150,000 visitors per day. Is the issue Bezos' obscene wealth or the advertisement it brings to Venice, a bucket list destination that's already heaving under the weight of record amounts of tourists? 

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri and Ilayda Habip.

Allies can breathe a sigh of relief. The same Donald Trump who left the G7 summit early showed up on time for the NATO summit in the Netherlands – an abridged summit to curry favour and keep his undivided attention. The US president played with members' nerves, entertaining suspense over the United States' commitment to NATO's Article 5 but in the end reaffirming support for the Alliance's "all for one and one for all" clause in case of attack. After a victory lap over Iran, Trump was all smiles over Alliance members' commitment to boost defence spending to 5 percent of GDP. 

It also emerged that Britain is buying 12 F-35A fighter jets made in the USA. That's music to Trump's ears, but how will the announcement go down with the likes of France, which has been arguing for Europe to reduce its dependency on Washington?

And then there's Ukraine. Trump, in the end, took the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. But there, too, there were mixed messages: both when it comes to Russia's relentless campaign of aggression and the benefit of the doubt so often granted by Trump to Vladimir Putin.

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

Donald Trump went all-in with B2 bomber raids against Iran's nuclear installations over the weekend and then surprised allies and adversaries alike with a ceasefire announcement late on Monday. All this for a victory lap at the NATO summit that's opening in the Netherlands? Whether it's strategy or impulse that's driving the US president, we attempt to make sense of an operation that was resisted for decades by all of his predecessors, including Trump himself in his first term.

Why did Israel finally get its wish of a US-backed direct confrontation with Iran? Will it reshape a region where it's as much Israel as the United States that's imposed its will on Tehran's proxies and allies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza? Who owns this one? And what does this seeming once-in-a-generation shift in the balance of power mean for the Middle East and for the planet?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

There's the plan – and then there are the unintended consequences. The United States talks diplomacy, then bombs Iran. It suggests the targeting of nuclear sites may have been a one-off, yet leaves the regime uncertain: is regime change the real objective? Following its most significant show of force since the invasion of Iraq, will Washington take ownership of what comes next? For now, the US asserts itself as the sole superpower capable of projecting force in a region where China appears reduced to the role of chief oil customer, and Russia remains preoccupied with Ukraine. And with Israel now striking Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, it's clear this goes far beyond nuclear ambitions. We look at the options left to a weakened Iran – and the consequences of toppling a militarised theocracy.

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Guillaume Gougeon and Ilayda Habip.