Our taste for haute cuisine and fine wine is nothing new, writes The Independent's Ferdinand Mount.

Finau Maka has been accused of treating a young Tunisian man living with his family with 'utter indignity'.

Venus Williams has been playing at the French Open in a revealing black lace dress with a plunging neckline and bright red straps.

Public concern over "apero geants", or giant open-air drinks parties, is growing after the horrific death of a student in France.

Scott packages his elements well, going for gritty realism in the battle scenes... But his take on this myth is as chilly as a northerly wind.

Hard times for the Cannes Film Festival, at least in terms of the splashy Hollywood films for which the world's most prestigious cinema showcase is known.

For staff at Disneyland Paris, there's a less magical side to the Kingdom, with long hours and job cuts reportedly leading some to suicide.

Up to 20 mummified Maori heads held in French museums could be returned to NZ after France adopted a new law.

France's €5 billion rogue trader says his losses should be blamed on a world banking industry "disconnected from reality".

The first European ban on the wearing of the Islamic burqa in public is poised to come into force in Belgium.

France's southwest has turned taste into an art form, says Peter Calder.

In French, they call it le signe oenologique, but that's the thing about French: words like oenology and gastronomy don't sound half as pretentious as they do in English.

The green and gold bunting is hanging in the streets and the Australian flags are flying, but the French town which commemorates Anzac Day is missing its usual hoards of Aussie tourists.

The French government will enact a law next month to ban the burqa, or full-body veil.