Heidemarie Puetz visits a region where truffles have been cultivated since the early 19th century.

Playing rugby in France was "too testing" for former All Black Zac Guildford, who is returning to NZ just halfway through a four-year contract.

France's male politicians must end their sexist, lecherous ways, says a group of leading female political reporters.

Two New Zealand World War II veterans are set to be awarded France’s highest decoration in recognition of their war-time contributions.

A bitter row has erupted among top writers over the decision to award a top prize for freedom to Charlie Hebdo.

France's controversial ban on religious clothing in state schools has come under attack after a 15-year-old Muslim girl was sent home twice for wearing a long black skirt.

The Vatican is refusing to accept President Francois Hollande's ambassadorial choice, who is gay.

Left-wing intellectuals who accused the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of going too far by publishing drawings of the Prophet Mohammad are guilty of "disgusting paternalism".

No one wants to look a fool opening a bottle of Champers. Kevin Pilley finds a quick sword blow does the trick.

One year before he made the cut for Lufthansa's elite flying school, Andreas Lubitz worked at a Burger King behind a car wash, flipping Whoppers and frying fries and talking to co-workers about his dream.

Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz appears to have hidden evidence of an illness from his employers, including having been excused by a doctor from work the day he crashed a passenger plane into a mountain, prosecutors said Friday.

Media reports tell of a disturbed young man in relationship crisis as friends say he was happy in job.

Police investigating the Germanwings crash said they had made a 'significant discovery' at the home of pilot Andreas Lubitz.

Germanwings last night would not confirm reports one of the two pilots on its doomed flight was locked out of the cockpit before the plane crashed in the French Alps.

One of the two pilots on the doomed Germanwings flight was apparently locked out of the cockpit before the plane crashed in the French Alps.

All that could be heard outside Joseph-Konig Gymnasium high school was birdsong and the quiet sobbing of pupils who had lost friends and classmates.

Aviation experts are focusing on the possibility that key sensors on the Airbus A320 could have iced up, causing the aircraft to descend rapidly.

Confounding many expectations, mainstream conservatives prevented the far-right National Front from breaking through in local elections seen as a test of faith in France's battered political....

Anyone employing skinny, undernourished fashion models or "glorifying anorexia" faces fines and prison sentences under new laws tabled in France.

On March 20, Napoleon Bonaparte will once more set foot on the cobbled streets of Paris, the staging point of his plan to rout his enemies and recover the empire he lost.

Fancy treating your love to a five-star stay but not sure how to play the part of the fabulously wealthy? Anthony Peregrine explains how to act like you belong.

A director of an international human rights organisation has admitted he was involved in preventing a black French man from entering a Paris underground train amid racist chanting by Chelsea football fans.

Airbus' plan to sell an A380 superjumbo fitted out as a "flying palace" has evaporated after the deal was discreetly cancelled.

A journalist decided to test how safe the streets of Paris are for Jews - by wearing a religious skullcap and filming the public's reaction using a hidden camera.

The 94-year-old Wellington veteran received the honour at French Ambassador Laurent Contini's home in Thorndon tonight.

Two French families who were given the wrong babies by a hospital have been awarded $3 million in compensation.

Entertainment is a funny business, especially when it's not that funny at all. Take, for instance, The Missing, a new British television drama series that launched on TV One on Sunday night in both terrific and dreadful style.