The French are increasingly shunning the traditional baguette, opting instead for cereal at breakfast, biscuits at tea time and pasta and rice dinners.

The Eiffel Tower's lifts have ground to a halt as an industrial dispute over security and working conditions brought workers at the Paris monument out on strike.

Step into the catacombs and find a fascinatingly grisly scene, writes Trudy Lefeber.

Funded by the European Union to the tune of $140 million, a deft bit of reinvention has turned France's drug and crime epicentre into the nation's Capital of Culture. Jenna Hand goes along for the ride.

Of all European countries, you might have thought, France would have taken gay marriage in its stride.

Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau were pronounced "spouses" at their wedding.

A 21-year-old man arrested on suspicion of stabbing a French soldier in the neck in Paris was flagged to French intelligence months ago over fears that he had been radicalised, it was claimed.

Julia Shallcrass discovers Topdeck bus tours provide the swiftest way to see Europe and make new friends.

A 48-year-old divorced Briton locked in a bitter custody battle has confessed that he killed his two young children by slitting their throats in Lille, France.

What's in store for Paris's iconic Hotel de Crillon? Samuel Muston takes the long view.

Eurostar's latest service takes you straight to the heart of foodie France. Andy Lynes climbs aboard.

Gay marriage has been legalised by Parliament - but it is still banned by most of New Zealand's 10 main religions, a new Herald survey shows.

Paris fashion week kicked off with a bold, “masculine'' collection for women in neutral colours by experimental South Korean designer Moon Young Hee. The Paris-based designer sent out an eye-catching collection of voluminous trousers, ruffle-covered tops and floor-length skirts. A master of layering, known for her fluid, feminine designs, she limited herself to a restrained palette of black, white, grey and ecru.

Influence pedallers: The best cities for bicycle rides.

When you’ve strolled around the City of Love visiting icons like the Lourve, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and eaten more than your share of fresh baguettes and gooey cheese, here are five off-the-beaten-track things to write home about.

A number of doctors had been killed, some of them deliberately. The burned bodies of three were found a few days after their arrest by the Mukhabarat, Syria's secret police, a month previously in June.

Swimming 20km through alligator-infested rivers and killing an anaconda are just part of the job for a young New Zealander who ran away to join the French Foreign Legion.

Even in the event of a no-show, one might have expected some fireworks, some apocalypse-grade hallucinations, as the credulous coaxed their fevered brains to provide what the universe had so signally failed to.

Considering a shopping excursion to Paris? It's a good idea to plan ahead.

Here are some of the world's key doomsday destinations and other places marked by fear and fascination.