Here are a few reasons why the French are different to us, writes Alan Duff.

Paris, like any big city, really only gets meaning when you have French friends to explain the experience, writes Alan Duff.

A 5-year-old French boy's dash for help on his bike in the dark saved his father's life after he suffered a heart attack.

French magazine marks anniversary of attack with edition which takes aim at 'fanatics' and 'blessed arses'.

Doggy bags have long been frowned upon in France but restaurants are now legally obliged to provide them if requested by diners.

Sitting at the edge of the Mediterranean on the Cote d'Azur, Nice is a region of beauty and diversity.

At present, the atmosphere resembles a wild, uncontrolled rubbish dump. Polluters are free to sink their carbons into the atmosphere simply because they can, writes Klaus Bosselmann.

The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change has neared the finish line with a draft agreement completed in Paris.

There's growing optimism in Paris over reaching a landmark agreement to spare future generations the worst impacts of climate change.

"I write this from my inner city Parisian hostel, nose still stinging from tear gas, sirens drowning out the background traffic noise."

Olly Grant steps into the past at Guedelon, built using strictly medieval methods.

Farrah has a nose for divine earthy truffles buried deep in the Bordeaux soil. Catherine Masters meets a talented collie.

France has found a case of deadly bird flu in the foie gras production region of Perigord, in the country's southwest.

Belgian security forces are still hunting down suspected Isis militants after making more than a dozen arrests in a series of raids yesterday.

Despite the carnage from the Paris terrorist attacks, world financial markets have been relatively resilient in the face of political change.

One suspected terrorist was shot dead, another died when her suicide vest detonated, and four police were wounded in the battle which began about 4.30am.

On the night of January 2, Belgian authorities closing in on a terror cell in the town of Verviers intercepted a telling piece of intelligence.

Misinformation is common online. But after a major international tragedy, internet rumours only become more frequent and more damaging.

The ringleader of the Paris terrorist attacks has been named by as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national already suspected of planning previous attacks.

Just across the canal from the chic cafes a largely Muslim area that has become one of the world's main breeding grounds of violent Islamic extremists.

The intense manhunts unfolded as clearer portraits emerged of the network behind the carnage that left at least 129 people dead.

In an indication that Isis retains a capacity to strike after the Paris attacks, Iraqi intelligence said there were 24 people involved in the French operation.

France and its allies in the air must not let up over the weeks ahead but it is, of course, no more than the terrorists would have expected.

The head of the French spy service says they face an "inside threat" from young radicalised French residents as well as that of outside terrorist actions.

Suspected terrorists behind one of the worst attacks in France since WWII have been rounded up as stories emerge of dramatic actions that helped save lives.

Paris is a special place, a city the world associates with romance, culture, good times and the fine things of life.