FRANCE is out of the cold snap which has seen sub-zero temperatures across the country over the last two weeks. 

Most of the country apart from the north and north west is still on a low-level (yellow) alert from Météo France, meaning you should take care if doing activities at risk from bad weather, however there are no departments now rated at the second-to-highest orange alert. 

Temperatures are predicted to remain above zero, apart from in the Alps, but they also dipped into minus figures this morning on the plateaus of the Massif Central and in parts of the Vosges, Franche-Comté and Midi-Pyrénées.

A RISE in the standard rate of VAT has moved a step further with its adoption by the National Assembly MPs. 

The measure, which would mean a rise from 19.6% to 21.2%, from October 1, still has to go to the Senate, along with the rest of the Corrective Finance Law for 2012. This is supposed to be rubber stamped by March 9, when MPs and senators take a break as electoral campaigns get under way. 

The government is determined to push the measure through – despite an embarrassing setback when the assembly’s finance committee initially struck it out of the draft law due to poor attendance by government MPs.

A LAW aiming to make sure everyone has access to broadband has been passed by the Senate. 

Its measures would mainly benefit people living away from densely populated urban areas. 

The bill has been put forward by a centrist senator, Hervé Maurey, and a UMP Party one, Philippe Leroy – however it is contested by most of Mr Leroy’s colleagues on the right, and is also unpopular with telecoms companies. 

It aims to create new regulations for the deployment of broadband, superfast fibre-optic broadband and also 3G mobile telephony.

RESIDENTS in the Var and Alpes-Maritimes departments have been warned there is a "very real risk" of power cuts this evening. 

Both departments have been put on red alert by national grid operators Réseau de Transport d'Electricité for the first time this winter - with residents asked to reduce consumption. Brittany has also been put on orange alert. 

Power consumption across France is expected to reach record levels this evening due to the widespread freezing weather.

TEMPERATURES in the 39 departments on orange weather alert are not expected to get out of minus temperatures despite bright sun across the majority of the country. 

Météo France said that first thing this morning general temperatures across France were ranging between -10C and -16C with -20C in the mountains - although Brittany stayed above zero and was soon hitting 5C. Nice is due to be the warmest place today with 10C after being at -1C overnight. 

This is expected to be the coldest day of the week but there are still several days of cold weather ahead with rising winds from the north-east.

BURGLARIES are significantly up (though crime in general is slightly down) new Interior Ministry figures show. 

There were 3,533,256 crimes last year, a drop of 0.34%, said Interior Minister Claude Guéant – however burglaries were up 16%. 

Mr Guéant blamed the rise in break-ins on a “new phenomenon that is very hard to combat, which is raids by people from central and eastern Europe who go from one country to another very rapidly”. 

He added the good overall figures – which represent the ninth successive drop – are directly comparable to previous years’ because the same way of presenting the figures has been used since 1972.

SUMMER might seem some way off, but airlines are already gearing up for the peak season with a number of new France-UK routes announced. 

Jet2 has opened a new base at Glasgow International Airport and is preparing to launch a Nice-Glasgow route from March 2011. New links from Brive (Dordogne Valley) to Manchester, and from Toulouse to Newcastle, will open in May. Another new addition to the schedule is a link from Chambéry to East Midlands airport, which will run through the winter until the end of March.

READY-to-use sim cards bought on Ryanair planes could cut the cost of taking a mobile phone abroad. 

The airline has teamed up with the telecoms company Maxroam to offer cheap calls to travellers. The sim enable travellers to receive calls and text for free, and to send texts for nine cents, calls for 29c per minute and 99c for one megabyte of data. 

Maxroam cards will also be available to buy via Ryanair's website and will work in 43 countries in Europe. Passengers will be able to buy €20 cards for just €10.

BURGLARIES of main homes have gone up 18% in a year and have risen even more steeply in rural areas. 

According to Le Monde official crime figures show rural departments such as the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Ariège, Creuse or Lot saw rises of around 60% from September 2010 to August 2011, as compared to the same period the year before. 

However the paper said this should be balanced against the fact the actual annual number of burglaries in such departments is not high – for example only around 200 in the Creuse, which has the lowest number of crimes in France (though it is also one of the least populous).

RANCE will continue to enjoy unseasonably high temperatures this weekend, as the country enjoys a warm spell not seen in September in more than a quarter of a century. 

Temperatures this week have been about eight degrees above the average for September. The south-west has seen 32°C in recent days and the north 27-28°C. 

Météo France says the country has had an "atypical" summer - the hot weather started early, but July was one of the worst on record and September has been one of the warmest.