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Russia is denying paying fighters linked to the Taliban in Afghanistan to kill U.S. troops.

The allegation is triggering renewed debate on Donald Trump's strategy to end the war, and his relationship with Vladimir Putin.

The New York Times says investigators focused in part on a Taliban attack last year that killed three U.S. Marines and an Afghan contractor near an American army base.

President Trump denies being told about intelligence reports dating back to February.

Members of Congress want to know why they weren't told either.

A Kremlin official told Inside Story the bounty killing claims are ''fake news''.

How could the controversy shape efforts to end America's longest war?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Richard Weitz - Defence Expert at Wikistrat Global Consultancy

Nikolay Surkov - Senior Research Fellow at the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations

Omar Zakhilwal - Former Ambassador of Afghanistan in Islamabad, and a former Minister of Finance

The killing of Black American George Floyd last month triggered protests across the U.S. and elsewhere against police brutality.

People are demanding justice and drastic changes to policing.

Activists say officers routinely discriminate against minorities, and use excessive force when making arrests.

The protest demands include cutting funding for law enforcement agencies, stripping police of military gear such as armoured trucks, and even abolishing police altogether.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a police reform bill to ban chokeholds, combat racial profiling, and establish a national database to track police misconduct.

But the Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to pass the law.

So is there a political will for genuine change?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:
Jamira Burley - Human Rights activist

Steven Rogers - Retired police lieutenant

Elisabeth Anker - Professor of American Studies and Political Science at George Washington University.

For thousands of years, the Nile has been the backbone of civilisations and a source of conflict.

The latest dispute is over the the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam project in Africa.

Ethiopia's government says its $4 billion project on the Blue Nile will provide power to its more than 100 million citizens and create huge opportunities for its economy.

It wants to start filling the dam's reservoir in July when its rainy season begins.

But Sudan and Egypt downstream first want a legally-binding agreement on how long it will take to fill the dam, and the way it will be operated.

The African Union is mediating.

Ethiopia's government says the parties could finalise an agreement within two to three weeks.

Can they find a way to bridge their differences?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Gedion Asfaw - Head of the Technical Committee of the Ethiopian Negotiating Delegation.

Osman El-Tom - Former Sudanese Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation.

Mac Sharkawy - Political Writer and Researcher on Egyptian Affairs.

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After months of anti-government protests and political uncertainty, Iraq is now grappling with its worst fiscal crisis in decades.

The country's economy and state budget are heavily reliant on oil income, and have been hit hard by the sharp decline in global oil prices.

The World Bank has projected Iraq's GDP to contract by 9.7 percent, with the fiscal deficit expected to reach almost 30 percent of GDP.

Iraq's newly appointed government, led by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, is now faced with a challenging task of implementing long-overdue structural reforms, such as reducing public sector employment while also keeping popular unrest at bay.

But what are the root causes of the current economic crisis and what needs to be done to tackle it?

And how can the new government overcome entrenched political interests that oppose reform while also winning over a public that has lost all trust in the political establishment?

Ramzi Neman, the World Bank's special representative to Iraq, talks to Al Jazeera

In 1968, African American civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.

"Fifty-two years later, all over the streets of America, Blacks and whites and others are saying 'Black lives matter'," his son, Martin Luther King III tells The Bottom Line's Steve Clemons.

"We're still saying to the nation 'Treat us with dignity and respect and like the human beings that we are'."

Although King believes there is a long way to go, he is also optimistic that "we may have turned a corner" in American race relations after the killing of George Floyd by police in May.

"We've had individuals marching in cities and towns for a few years now, but this one incident galvanised all 50 states ... and all over the world, there have been demonstrations," he says. "It's almost like a light went off in the heads of people to say: 'This is wrong. This is unjust. This is immoral. This is not who we are'."

King says that one of the most difficult times for him recently was explaining the Floyd murder to his daughter, Yolanda Renee King, who turned 12 on the same day Floyd died, on May 25.

"She wanted to just throw something," he says. "She was crying, and was just going through all kinds of things."

King says his father dreamed of "making America what it ought to be," and that for many Americans, President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan 'Make America Great Again' does not resonate.

"I don’t know the period in history where America was great. I think we have exhibited times and moments of greatness ... but 'great again' harkens back to an era that I can’t relate to."

He also weighs in on the argument to defund the police, the systemic racism of the US criminal justice system and what to expect from a president who has "no shame".

In a heartfelt and personal interview for this week's The Bottom Line, Martin Luther King III talks to Steve Clemons about what has changed - and what has not - over the decades in race relations in the United States.