A French quadruple amputee has swum the English Channel in 13.5 hours with the help of flipper-shaped prosthetic legs.

Flight-deck error, inadequate training and a maintenance slip caused the crash of an Air NZ jet, France's air safety board has determined.

President Nicolas Sarkozy was accused by France's most prestigious newspaper of illegally using the counter-intelligence service to muzzle the press.

Conquering five cities in three countries over six days with nary a sword, stallion nor aircraft in sight can take it out of a girl.

Jacques Audiard, director of A Prophet, wants his audiences to feel empathy with characters who have committed reprehensible acts, writes Peter Calder

Standing on snakes and having trees fall on him are all in a day's work for the archaeologist who's been called Auckland's Indiana Jones.

Prime Minister John Key and his wife, Bronagh, will be spending a weekend with the Queen at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Montana wines as we know them will soon disappear from the shelves - in name only.

More on the bizarre and bewildering story of the French players' revolt at the World Cup and its sequel.

Toulouse is showing the rest of Europe how it can clean up its cities and go green, writes Peter Bills.

Peter Bills is captivated by a cyclist's paradise in the south of France.

New Zealand's answer to Gordon Ramsay is making waves in Sydney's food scene. Nicky Pellegrino reports.

Will we get past halftime tomorrow before referee Jonathan Kaplan sends an All Black or Wallaby for a rest?