Angelique Chrisafis

Paris’s most talked-about exhibition of the season opened with a sense of shock and soul-searching at the exhibiting of people from European colonies.

The latest sensation in France’s love-hate relationship with its first lady has been whether Carla Bruni is pregnant.

Jerome Kerviel, an introverted young city trader, lived on a tree-lined street in Neuilly-­­sur-Seine, a wealthy Paris suburb. Its yuppies live by Nicolas Sarkozy’s mantra "work more to earn more". So when a handsome, well-dressed but solitary young banker rose at dawn every day for work and returned late at night to his one-bedroom flat, neighbours thought his dedication was to be encouraged.