The 2011 Tour de France got off on the wrong foot Saturday when a spectator leaned too far into the track, causing a massive pile-up that brought down dozens of racers.

Writer Tristane Banon will bring attempted-rape charges against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn over a 2002 incident. Banon's mother, a Socialist Party politician, convinced her not to file charges at the time; Banon first made the allegations publicly in 2007.

French finance minister Christine Lagarde has been selected to lead the rather busy IMF, the AP reports. She replaces Dominique Strauss-Kahn, another Frenchy who resigned after allegedly forcing a hotel maid to do strange sex things with him.

Among the many highlights of former Dior designer John Galliano's trial today in Paris—the recounting of his wild anti-Semitic night, his apology and admission that he was drinking heavily and taking Valium "like candy," his hot lawyer—the most memorable was his outfit. Just look at it!

The trial of fashion designer John Galliano, who was fired from his own label earlier this year over charges that he made anti-Semitic comments to a woman at a French bar, starts this week in Paris—and the new details emerging aren't pretty.

A recent online poll asked 30,000 thousand users of social networking site Badoo (so, not Americans basically) to pick the funniest and least funny countries from a list of fifteen, and the good old Red, White & Blue came out on top.

As former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn wiles away the hours in his gilded Tribeca cage, a sex scandal of a different stripe has befallen his native shores. An investigation is officially underway to determine if, as one minister claims, a former member of French Parliament indeed partook in one of those boy orgies you read about in all the Moroccan travel brochures.

Freedom fries and foreign beer for everyone: in 2010—for the first time ever, according to some dubious industry association that may or may not be trustworthy—the USA consumed more wine than the hated French. Sure, big party.

French politician and rumored "rutting chimpanzee" Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been granted $1 million bail and home detention while he awaits trial for the alleged sexual assault of a hotel chambermaid. Arriving in court, Strauss-Kahn gave "a quick smile to supporters in the gallery" Such a charmer! I guess he didn't do it, after all. [AP, image via AP]

Accused sex criminal and probable bad-tipper Dominique Strauss-Kahn sits behind bars, repeatedly denied bail out of fears he'll jump a charter flight to the nearest extradition-exempt Club Med locale. Meanwhile, his countrymen have been rallying behind the former IMF head.

If you were rich and famous and had a movie to promote, you would be in the south of France right now basking in the sun and strolling down the red carpet in a couture creation. But you're not. You're reading this on the internet somewhere. Because we're jealous, let's all make fun of the stars who are there, shall we?

For IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of sexually assaulting a Manhattan hotel worker last weekend, the defense has arrived: "There may well have been consent." Ah...ha. So that's what you're going with, old man?

Just like most acceptance speeches and colonoscopies, the Cannes Film Festival goes on a little bit too long. That means that all of Hollywood is still living it up in the south of France, wearing their fancy clothes, and going to movie premieres. Here are some of the highlights.

With the stroke of a single attempted rape charge, IMF chief and French political bigwig Dominique Strauss-Kahn has successfully pushed Osama bin Laden out of the top spot in the world's news holes, after more than a week. Here's the very latest morning updates on Strauss-Kahn, a.k.a. "the great seducer."

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and an likely candidate for France's upcoming presidential elections, was arrested on Saturday and charged with attempted rape for allegedly sexually assaulting a cleaning woman at his hotel room.

It's Friday afternoon and if you're like me, this is a good time to stare at some shirtless men for no good reason. Yesterday Abercrombie & Fitch dispatched 101 hotties to the Champs Élysées (which is how you say "outdoor mall" in French) to celebrate the opening of its Paris flagship. That's at least 606 individual abdominal muscles! Never before have I ever wanted to be in a place so badly.

France is dropping "concrete filled training bombs" all over Libyan dictator Mo Qaddafi's murder tanks, which is cool because concrete bombs don't produce big explosions that kill innocent people. This seems like an important characteristic.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the former model turned singer turned French first lady, is pregnant with her second child, according to several French newspapers. The Élysée Palace, which is French for White House, has refused to comment because it's a "personal matter." You know what what means, don't you? The 43-year-old will be popping out the president's son in no time. It will be her second child and Nicolas Sarkozy's fourth, but their first together. It's like Le Bunch du Brady.

What's going on France these days, besides making sure that women only wear French-approved clothing? Let's check in on Avignon (onetime home of the pope!), where the infamous "Immersion (Piss Christ)"—depicting an allegedly urine-dipped crucifix—is currently on display:

Gustave Courbet's 1886 oil painting of a naked woman's lower half, The Origin of the World, hangs in Paris' Musee d'Orsay. But it is not welcome on the hallowed walls of Facebook. Facebook has abruptly canceled at least three accounts after users posted the painting, and art connoisseurs are fuming.