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Thousands of litres of fuel spill into fields in Normandy after tanker overturns
Tests are being carried out into risk of pollution of local water supplies to homes
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Speed limits to (mostly) drop to 30 km/h in this French city
The new measure will improve noise and pollution, improve safety and encourage cycling, say local authorities
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Thousands of French parking fines cancelled after IT bug
The fines had been issued in error after IT system was privatised
UK shelves abolition of Class 2 NICs
Abolition of the UK’s Class 2 National Insurance Contributions – paid by working expatriates to top up their UK state pensions – has been put off again.
The government now says the move, planned for April 2018 then put off to 2019, will not happen ‘in this Parliament’ (ie. before spring 2022).
It says the move would be too hard on very low-earning self-employed people as they would move from Class 2 (£2.95/week) to Class 3 (£14.65) – the same applies to working expats but they were not cited as part of the reasoning. The government says it will keep the issue under review.
The news was reported by some media as a ‘tax cut’ being ‘scrapped’ as certain UK-based self-employed people (not the lowest-earners) would have paid less due to it.