FINALLY that spring feeling is in the air, with snowdrops beneath the cherry tree and the smallest of green shoots on the bushes.
There is an air of change, of cleansing and moving forward that only the spring can bring as ideas and thoughts take shape, waiting to be grasped.
AT this time of year a frosty morning often means a clear blue sky later in the day, this brings out the occasional butterfly and in the distance I’ve heard the cranes heading north, a sign that spring is just around the corner.
2011 was the year of increased austerity measures including exceptional tax increases across the board. Regrettably, there may be more to come in 2012 and beyond. Whilst investment opportunities will still be available tax mitigation has rarely been more important.
The death of a man stung by an Asian hornet has exacerbated fears over the invasive species that has taken France by storm and could reach Britain within three years.
Patrice Verry, 38, was stung by one of the predators on Saturday after trying to wave it away with a kitchen towel at a barbecue in Lherm, in the Haute-Garonne region of southwestern France.
The Asian hornet arrived in France in 2004 and has become the scourge of all amateur beekeepers. From the beginning of August, Frédéric Wielezynski, a beekeeper in the Médoc region of France, spends every weekend tirelessly repeating the same futile gestures. He positions himself in front of his hives armed with a fly swat and tries to crush the enormous bee-eating hornets.
These are not just any hornets, but the Asian Vespa velutina. "I know it's useless, because a dozen more will arrive as soon as my back is turned, but I have to do something," said Wielezynski, president of the Gironde and Aquitaine beekeepers' association. "I love my bees and I can't just stand by and see them being eaten up without doing anything about it."
On June 28, 2011, UNESCO added the scenic Causses and Cévennes territory in the South of France’s Mediterranean backcountry to its renowned World Heritage List. Spanning over 300,000 hectares, these areas consist of an exceptional natural setting containing a variety of landscapes ranging from mountains to deep valleys. The Causses contains limestone plateaus separated by gorges and valleys, while the Cévennes boasts schist metamorphic rocks and the granite summits of Mont Lozère and Mont Aigoual.
France is to relax its rules on the admission of expat early retirees into the French health system.
The change of policy has come about after pressure from the European Commission, who consider France is in breach of EU regulations by requiring early retirees to have five years residence before they can obtain health cover.
As a result the French Ministry of Health is to issue new guidance on the right of access to the health system.
Related: Health cover worries lifted for many
The recently approved but much diluted law of Christian Jacob banning 'hydraulic fracturing' was finally debated in the Senate on the 8th June. It was a close run thing ( 167 UMPs 'for' and 152 Socialistes/others 'against' ) after an extended and heated debate.
Once you establish residency in France, you are taxed here on your world-wide income. Under French law, you are a resident in France for tax purposes if you meet any one of the following four conditions:
Your permanent home (habitual home for you and/or your family) is in France. You spend most of your time in France (at least 183 days during a calendar year, or even less if you spend more time in France than in any other country). Your professional activity is in France. The centre of your economic or financial interest is in France.
via www.expatica.com
Anger at shale gas incursions has turned into protests and legal challenges – and the noise has reached the corridors of power.