France to return heads

France's parliament is set to approve the return of tattooed, mummified heads of Maori warriors to New Zealand, centuries after they were brought to Europe and displayed as exotic oddities.

New Zealand has trying to get the heads back since the 1980s, and the dispute became a national issue in France in 2007 when the Government overruled the town of Rouen's decision to give back a head its museum had held since 1875 because it did not follow the formal procedure for handling public artefacts.

The new law will apply to more than a dozen Maori heads kept in French museums.