The Debate

As cardinals from the four corners of the Earth converge on Rome to pick a new pope, we ask whether the faithful want a reformer or a traditionalist. With an increasing share of the planet's 1.4 billion Catholics hailing from the Global South, the choice of a spiritual leader for the world's largest organised religion also constitutes a statement on shared values in a changing world.

Should the next pope ordain women priests, loosen or lift rules on celibacy within the clergy, and extend or halt the outreach to gays, asylum seekers and other outcasts?

After Saturday's public funeral of Francis will come the closed-door dealings of a papal conclave that must weigh spiritual matters and the earthly reality of a church dogged by the exploding time bomb of sex scandals and debt, but whose choice of a leader can prove a powerful voice for bridge-building in a world that desperately needs it.

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

He chartered a change of course for the Catholic Church. The faithful are mourning the passing of Francis, the first pope born outside Europe in more than a millennium. The native of Buenos Aires brought his years of parish work in working-class neighbourhoods to the high halls of the Vatican.

In his 12 years as pontiff, Pope Francis championed the cause of migrants, climate action, civil unions for homosexuals, and talked up reform inside a Church worn down by declining attendance and sex scandals. 

The pope's very last audience on Easter Sunday with JD Vance showcased the struggle between reformers and conservatives, with the US vice president espousing the more traditional line of the American clergy and a less clement reading of scriptures. 

So what next? We ask about succession and the direction of a Catholic Church that's a reflection of a world that seems, once again, at a crossroads.

Produced by Théophile Vareille, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.

Read moreWho are the leading candidates to succeed Pope Francis?

Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's Mr Fix it on Gaza, Ukraine and now Iran, is in Paris alongside Marco Rubio. Sticklers for protocol would normally insist that the US Secretary of State is the bill topper of this diplomatic tour … but these aren't normal times. Does the 68-year-old former New York real estate mogul hold sway?

And can he do better than career policymakers? When Witkoff picks up on Kremlin talking points, does it mean that Washington has turned on Ukraine for good? Who in Europe can keep Witkoff and Trump onside?

Perhaps French President Emmanuel Macron, or Italy's prime minister? The far right's Giorgia Meloni, who was the only EU leader present at Trump’s inauguration, is back at the White House. Does she soon face a moment of choice on Ukraine, NATO bases in her own country and tariffs?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Karim Hakiki.

Since Sunday night, France has seen attacks against prison gates, parking lots and even outside a prison guard's home. A hitherto unknown group has claimed responsibility over the social medium Telegram, but it’s still early days for investigators.

We ask whodunnit and about the context, with the right-wing French interior and justice ministers both talking up strongarm tactics to crack down on increasingly violent and emboldened drug gangs, who last year shocked France with the deadly ambush on a prison convoy that enabled the getaway of the since recaptured kingpin known as "The Fly".

So what to make of plans for two French super-prisons for narcos, calls for stiffer sentences for small-time pushers … and even one politician’s call for a US-style Guantanamo in France's North American dependency of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon? Remember, France has some of the most overcrowded prisons in Europe.

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

Donald Trump fired the first shot, but is he ready for this fight? With China's president on the second leg of a regional tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and later Cambodia, it looks like the coalition-building phase of a conflict that's sure to upend global supply chains and rewrite the rules of globalisation as they've stood since Beijing entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.

To win a trade war, you need strength and resilience: not just from the foot soldiers and officers in the trenches of trading floors, factory warehouses and boardrooms, but from the civilians back home. Who of China and the United States has a more resilient population, one with the skills to adapt in a crisis and make the right choices?

And what do third parties say? Do they pick a side? The current model of globalisation depends on free movement of goods, services, people and ideas. Is innovation possible if all the planet's superpowers opt for top-down models where autocrats and oligarchs rule?

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

How to truly reconcile a nation with itself? Perhaps a first step is to examine the path that was taken. Lebanon is marking 50 years since the first shots of a civil war fuelled by sea change in the wider region. Today, with Assad out in Syria, Iran on the back foot and Israel emboldened, we ask about the consequences of what looks like another sea change moment. What are the lessons from the past?

Remember, 1975 was before the Iranian Revolution and the rise of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement. We look back and ask why so many actors then are still players today, a half-century later. What's changed? What's the same?

And how does the next generation overcome those sectarian tensions that flare up again regularly? Can this 50-year funk be reversed? The protesters of 2019 certainly thought so.

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

The Netherlands is following the UK in launching initiatives to show Netflix's four-part series "Adolescence" in middle schools. Meanwhile, France's education ministry ponders tighter controls on teens exposed to hate speech and online porn. We ask about a fiction inspired by real-life cases of boys who went so far as to murder girls.

Are they tragic outliers or indicative of a genuine trend? A decade ago, this show was grappling with the issue of parents shocked to discover that their teens had self-radicalised online in their bedrooms. Back then, we were talking about jihadism. Today, it's about fears that men are somehow being cancelled or replaced, an allegation amplified by the likes of influencer Andrew Tate, who was recently sprung from a Romanian jail after alleged pressure from the Trump administration.

Have we gone from bro culture to a war of the sexes; a war against women that starts at a young age? And what to do about it?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

"It’s all the president's decision," says his treasury secretary. World trade again hangs on the whims of one man, argues François Picard's panel after Donald Trump reversed course with a 90-day moratorium on most reciprocal tariffs, but increased import duties on China to 125 percent. Will it be enough to ease markets in the long run? After all, 10 percent universal tariffs on the rest of the world still apply. Who, between China and the United States, has the stamina to win this fight between the world's top manufacturer and its number one customer?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

France's president is jetting from Cairo to the Sinai, near the border with Gaza, to show that Europe has not forgotten the plight of Palestinians who are back under daily bombardment since the collapse of last month's ceasefire with Israel. But was there perhaps a more subtle message for Benjamin Netanyahu?

The visit is taking place the same day that Israel's Supreme Court rules whether the prime minister unfairly wants to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet intelligence service. The service just happened to have launched a probe into two of Netanyahu's media advisors allegedly being on the take from Qatar. Are the pair behind a disinformation campaign against Egypt, with false claims of a troop buildup at the Gaza border? Either way, France's president stands by Egypt.

Just 24 hours ago, we would have been asking why Netanyahu should care what Macron thinks, as long as Donald Trump has his back. But that was before an awkward visit by Netanyahu to the White House late on Monday. Did the US president catch his guest off guard when he announced the reopening of talks with Iran or praised Turkey? And what about that phone call Trump had before meeting Netanyahu with a certain Emmanuel Macron?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip and Oihana Almandoz.

Asian and European markets are nosediving for a third straight day as Donald Trump doubles down on tariffs. Weighing further on investors, China is the first to pull the trigger on reciprocal tariffs. For the Europeans, is it best to wait and let the markets temper Trump's zeal for trade barriers? Or does retribution require nerves of steel?

Last week, France and Germany called on the European Union to hit the US where it hurts: its tech sector.

But just as the Covid pandemic made Europe realise how overdependent it is on Chinese manufactured goods and medicines, is the Old Continent just now waking up to the reality that in an increasingly demonetised world, the US controls both the software and the financing of our daily transactions? 

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip and Oihana Almandoz.