INSEE, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, will begin the next sample census throughout France from Thursday, January 19th with a selection of approximately 9 million of the population.

Where a Bank holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, many small businesses will ‘faire le pont’ (make a bridge) and take Friday or Monday off too to ;make a long weekend. This rarely applies to large shops, supermarkets etc, many of whom no longer close for most of the public holidays.

The mini tornado that hit the small village of Maureillas las Illas last weekend left a fair amount of structural damage, with trees and power lines down – but all in a surprisingly narrow corridor.

SPANISH airline Air Nostrum is planning to launch a high-speed train services from Montpellier to Barcelona and Madrid in October 2018.
Air Nostrum’s rail subsidiary ‘Intermodalidad de Levante’ (Ilsa) is the first private company to request permission to launch an international service on the Spanish high-speed network.