Although a survey has found France to be the rudest country in the world, Jim Eagles says attitudes in Paris have changed.

After a pre-dawn raid erupted into a firefight, French riot police pressed overnight for the capture of a man suspected to be the gunman responsible for a spate of killings in the southwestern city of Toulouse.

A father and his two sons were among four people who died when a gunman opened fire in front of a Jewish school in Toulouse, southwest France.

This picturesque alpine village leads a precarious existence, clinging to a dizzyingly steep hillside in the mountains that sweep down to the French Riviera.

It's quite a trek up to the village of Saorge, but it's worth it for the views, if you don't have vertigo, writes Alison McCulloch.

You can't help but feel a little frisson of excitement as you pass through the tall iron gates of the Shangri-La in Paris.

The colourful people of Provence offer a glimpse into the idyllic nature of country living. Photographs by Babiche Martens.

Historians are still debating exactly what this glittering royal chateau cost to build but during the reign of Louis XIV it soaked up a quarter of the annual income of the French state to run.

Versailles may be excessive but it's also wonderfully spectacular, writes Jim Eagles.

Johnny Depp's long-term partner Vanessa Paradis slams reports suggesting that her relationship with the actor is on the rocks.