In France, the parliamentary elections are almost seen as a simple procedure that confirms the president's hold on power with a majority in parliament. Indeed, the polls take place just a few weeks after the presidential election. But will this year be different? Emmanuel Macron secured his second term as president fairly comfortably, with over 58 percent of the vote in the second round. But this may have been less of an endorsement and more of a resigned move to block the far right.

Talk about competing narratives. Russia's foreign minister is in Turkey's capital, where his hosts talked up the prospect of a UN-brokered plan to free up the Black Sea and the food supplies blocked by the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin wants the waters de-mined and the West to lift "sanctions" on food supplies that are critical to the developing world.

From Friday's boos at St. Paul's Cathedral for his entrance to the Queen's jubilee thanksgiving service, to a Monday morning leadership challenge at Westminster, the Conservative revolt against the prime minister has suddenly gone into overdrive. With two big by-elections coming up, why set the wheels in motion now?

Do monarchies still matter? Britons have four days to celebrate 70 years of the country's longest reign. It's a very different United Kingdom from the one where Queen Elizabeth II first saw the light of day in 1926. What is the Platinum Jubilee all about in post-Brexit Britain?

First it was a stadium fiasco, then a blame game. Now will political football lead to sackings? French senators are questioning Emmanuel Macron's interior minister after the tear-gassing of Liverpool fans shut out of last Saturday's Champions League final, as well as the claim that up to 40,000 English supporters showed up with forged tickets or no tickets.

It took one month of haggling for the European Union to agree on a Russian oil embargo that offers an exemption for holdout Hungary. How big or how small a caveat? After all, the EU is reducing dependency on Russian oil by 90 percent. In the long run, it's a further incentive to accelerate the continent's move away from fossil fuels.

The EU is weighing up more sanctions against Russia. In Brussels, a special summit has been examining a sixth round of sanctions against Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. Is this the moment an oil embargo comes into play?

Is a peace generation coming of age in Colombia? Six years after the FARC rebellion laid down its arms and one year after student-led protests against inequality and police brutality, citizens will vote on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election where the 2016 peace deal that ended the Americas' longest civil war is but one factor. For the very first time in the country's history, the left could come to power.

Twenty-seven school shootings have taken place since the start of the year in the United States. Ten days after Buffalo, the news cycle turns to Texas with the familiar ritual of shock, grief and outrage before counter-arguments about mental health and the responsibility of parents.

How the world has changed in 90 days. Remember the eve of the Russian invasion? Even after a massive troop buildup, and even as Vladimir Putin was questioning Ukraine's very right to exist as a sovereign state, it still beggared belief that war was imminent.