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Tatoueurs, Tatoués runs from Tuesday 6 May until 18 October at the Museum of Indigenous Arts in Paris Continue reading... ...

As the 70th anniversary of D-Day nears, a new book uncovers poignant cross-Channel letters "Ici Londres Yvette likes big carrots Paul has some good tobacco the secretary is very pretty I want to be a godfather and the big blonde is called Bill." Thankfully, it all made sense to certain listeners tuned into the BBC in occupied France in the early 1940s, conveying that weapons were to be dropped,...

Kim Willsher reports from Paris on a new show that tells the 5,000-year history of the practice of inking human skin Once considered the mark of an underclass of criminals, prostitutes, bikers, seafarers and those inhabiting the margins of society, the tattoo is now à la mode. Samantha Cameron, the British prime minister's wife, has one a dolphin just below the ankle; Charlize Theron has a...

Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century is that rare phenomenon, an economics tome that flies off the shelves It was around 7.50 on Thursday morning when it became clear that Thomas Piketty had gone viral. Forget topping the bestseller lists. Forget the praise heaped on him by Paul Krugman. Never mind the hundreds of thousands of times his name is Googled. When Piketty was namechecked on Thought...

European Union institutions no longer work. A radical financial and democratic settlement is needed The European Union is experiencing an existential crisis, as the European elections will soon brutally remind us. This mainly involves the eurozone countries, which are mired in a climate of distrust and a debt crisis that is very far from over: unemployment persists and deflation threatens. Nothing...

Veteran film-maker says he is now thinking about a 'little film of some sort' after tough production period on Jimmy's Hall Ken Loach and Mike Leigh to go head-to-head at Cannes film festival Reports of Ken Loach's retirement as a director of fiction appear to have been greatly exaggerated. The veteran British film-maker and champion of the left has told the Hollywood Reporter he is not, after all,...

The obituary of the historian Helmut Koenigsberger was illustrated with this 16th-century engraving by Franz Hogenberg . It captures a particularly dramatic moment in the developing relationship between between monarchs and their subjects, and the emergence of a parliament in our modern understanding of that term. The Parlement of Paris was the most important law court in the land, and the presence...

Alstom makes concession by agreeing to consider rival bid from Siemens after accepting 12.4bn offer for energy division French industrial group Alstom has accepted General Electric's 12.4bn (£10.2bn) offer to buy its energy division despite a government outcry over the deal. Alstom made a concession to ministerial pressure, however, as it said it was still prepared to consider a counter-bid from...

Pragmaticism is likely to prevail, leaving France to concede that GE wouldn't be such a bad owner after all Thanks for your input President Hollande, but we really like this offer for our power business from General Electric. That seems to the view from the boardroom of Alstom. The directors have ignored a prod from the French government not to be hasty and to consider what Siemens of Germany has to...

A long-term waste repository licensed to hold 44,000 tonnes must close. But cleaning up the Alsace site could be dangerous In just 90 seconds, the pit lift-car drops 550 metres, to the sound of screeching metal and creaking timber. Wearing helmets and head-lamps, an oxygen emergency kit slung across their shoulders, the miners advance along the galleries of what was once the Joseph-Else potash mine...

Analysis of hair samples from youngsters living or studying near farms or vineyards found total of 624 pesticide traces Children in agricultural areas are being exposed to a dangerous cocktail of pesticides, some of which are banned substances, a French health and environment group has claimed. Générations Futures did independent analysis of the hair of young people living or studying...

US and France believe gas has been used at least nine times since February, killing scores and wounding hundreds The global body supervising the surrender of Syria's chemical weapons is to investigate fresh claims that a less dangerous but still lethal chlorine gas has been used in recent attacks on opposition areas. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has announced it will...

Prison populations have fallen in the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany but elsewhere it is a mixed picture The Netherlands has more prison staff than prisoners. Sweden is shutting down jails because prisoner numbers have fallen by 10% in under a decade. In Germany, the decline is even starker: a fall of almost 20% since 2005. In the Netherlands, almost half of all prison capacity is empty. "Community...

German company submits offer after Paris encourages EU firms to do so to head off $13bn GE bid for France's Alstom Germany's Siemens has formally entered into a takeover battle with the US's General Electric for Alstom, the French company that makes Eurostar trains. Siemen's official offer on Tuesday came after the French government encouraged European firms to submit rival bids to head off GE's $13bn...

Special report Parties demanding everything from reform to withdrawal are riding high on wave on discontent The Foire aux Fromages et aux Vins in Coulommiers, an attractive town on the undulating Brie plateau an hour east of Paris, is a fabulously French affair: a monumental marquee, hordes of happy visitors and more than 350 stalls laden with Gallic bounty. Among the cheeses are tomme from Savoie,...

Francois Hollande met GE and Siemens representatives amid concerns over French jobs at the manufacturer of TGV trains French president François Hollande met rival German and US bidders for Alstom, one of France's prime industrial assets, on Monday amid concerns that the company will fall into American hands. At a hastily called meeting at the Elysée Palace, Hollande met representatives...

Sofia Coppola, Gael García Bernal, Willem Dafoe and Nicolas Winding Refn are among the nine-strong panel who will sit alongside jury president Jane Campion at Cannes this year Cannes 2014: the programme in full New Zealand film-maker Jane Campion is to be joined by industry colleagues from Mexico, China, South Korea, France and Iran on the jury for next month's Cannes film festival. The nine-member...

Two members of elite crime unit accused of raping 34-year-old woman in police headquarters in Paris on Tuesday night Two members of an elite French police unit have been charged with raping a Canadian tourist at their Paris headquarters. France's interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said in a statement that the two officers would "face the full consequences" if they were found guilty. Continue...

Expert describes four unpublished letters to chief of staff Alexandre Berthier as 'wonderful, intimate and revealing' In 1806 Joséphine Bonaparte wrote to one of Napoleon's most-trusted generals, Alexandre Berthier, who had also become her own close friend, appealing to him to guard the emperor's safety in battle. She could not have known it, but it was her future happiness which was in danger....

Surprise move comes after French economy minister said he would actively seek 'other solutions' to GE's $13bn offer Siemens entered the battle for French engineering group Alstom on Sunday, after the French government encouraged a European counterbid following a $13bn (£7.7bn) offer last week by the US company General Electric. The German industrial group said it had written to the Alstom board...