Mr Plissonnier said the humiliating images were seen "1.4 billion times around the world".

A French court has overturned a ban on burkinis issued in Cannes - the first in a series of bans on the swimwear this summer that set off a heated controversy at home and a wave of outrage abroad.

The UN human rights office has condemned local bans in France on burkini swimwear as "a grave and illegal breach of fundamental freedoms" and a "stupid reaction" to recent extremist attacks.

France's top administrative court has overturned a ban on burkinis in a Mediterranean beach resort, effectively meaning that towns can no longer issue bans on the swimsuits that have divided the country and brought world attention to its fraught relationship with Muslims.

A court in France will decide today whether to overturn the ban on women wearing a burkini.

France’s highest administrative authority is studying whether local bans on full-body burkini swimsuits are legal, amid growing concerns in the country and abroad about police forcing Muslim women to disrobe.

Three terror attacks since January 2015 have tested France’s spirit. With high gun ownership and an isolated immigrant community, the country is on tenterhooks, says Jonathan Miller

Pope Francis has expressed “sorrow and horror” over the suspected terror attack in a French church.

Crowds jeered the French prime minister as he joined other officials in Nice to remember victims killed during the lorry rampage on the city’s promenade.

France has marked a national moment of silence in memory of the 84 people killed in the Nice truck attack, as thousands of people massed on the city's waterfront promenade.

France has begun its third day of national mourning as tributes to victims of the Nice lorry attack grow and investigations into their killer continues.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

The Nice killer was one of many terrorist recruits who were petty criminals, with little interest in Islam, a leading expert has said.

The man responsible for the Nice terror attack is “probably linked to radical Islam” as France mourns the third massacre of its civilians in 18 months.

One hundred years ago in the poppy fields of Northern France, July 1, 1916, saw the single most hellish day of armed conflict, with the start of the Battle of the Somme.

A man with a past terrorist conviction shot video footage during a fatal knife attack on two police officers outside Paris, according to French officials.

Riot police have used tear gas during violent clashes in central Paris to disperse crowds who attacked shops during a protest against a divisive labour law reform.

Thousands of dock workers poured into a public square in the French port city of Le Havre, setting off smoke bombs as part of escalating nationwide protests against a labour bill that undermines worker protection.

Springtime in Paris is not quite as vibrant as usual this year.

Bernard-Henri Lévy warns that we are all in a state of intellectual emergency, left and right, and that we should unite to face up to Islamic extremism.

Under the pressure of the migrant crisis countries across Europe have closed their borders, while xenophobic parties thrive. TP O’Mahony reflects on a new book which captures the unravelling of the EU’s liberal dream. 

French economic growth this year will fall short of the 1.5% economists say is the minimum needed to lower persistently high unemployment, the country’s central bank governor has said.

One of France’s charismatic ministers has unexpectedly resigned after objecting to President Francois Hollande’s push to revoke citizenship from convicted terrorists with dual nationality.