Guest post by Peter Lavelle at foreign exchange broker Pure FX

 

 Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very quick post to bring to your attention the phishing email that is circulating at the moment and purports to be from Orange – France Telecom.

I have enclosed the one which we received and I caution you not to click on the links should you received a similar email. Please spread the word amongst people you know particularly older people who are often the victims of such scams because they do not like the thought of owing money and as a result pay sometimes too quickly! We have sent a copy of the email to abuse@orange.fr and urge others to do the same if they receive one.

Embassy of the United States of America in Paris
2, Avenue Gabriel  
75382 Paris Cedex 08

American Citizen Services office
For recorded telephone inquires and after-hours emergencies: 01 43 12 22 22
Email: citizeninfo@state.gov

Passport services
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., except on American and French holidays.
Consular Reports of Birth are available by appointment only
Tel: 01 43 12 46 71

Notarial services
Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., except on American and French holidays and the first business day following American and French holidays

Federal Benefits services
Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. except on American and French holidays

Internal Revenue Service
Office Address:  
U.S. Consulate  
4th Floor
2, rue St. Florentin  
75001 Paris

Mailing address:
American Embassy  
Room E-414  
2, Avenue Gabriel  
75382 Paris Cedex 08
Tel: 01 43 12 25 55
Email: irs.paris@irs.gov
 
Federal Voting Assistance Program
2, avenue Gabriel,
75382 Paris CEDEX 08
Tel: 01 43 12 49 59 or 01 43 12 48 44
Toll-free telephone number from France:
08 00 91 73 04 (This number may be dialed directly from France.)
Email: citizeninfo@state.gov

U.S. Customs
The Office of the Customs Attaché in Paris is closed to the public
For information on bringing pets into the US: 01 43 12 23 23
For questions on traveler information and customs restrictions, including motor vehicle import/export, check the US 

The new ruling does not apply to hotels & chambres d’hotes, just self catering holiday accommodation in France. 

The clause states that access cannot be denied to pets, no guidelines were give as to which animals should have the holiday accommodation in France access privileges. Heidi and her goats might be included! Pet owners will be delighted… no more missing their pets and paying kennel and cattery costs. Allergy sufferers, including those that run holiday accommodation will not be so delighted with the ruling. No mention has been made of requiring addition payment for accommodating these pets despite the additional cleaning it may bring. Not every pet owner is responsible. Never-the-less the ruling has been passed by the ‘Cour de Cassation’;- the highest court in the land, has ruled that it is illegal for agents and owners of holiday accommodation in France to refuse pets. The decision was taken after a French consumer association invoked a law from 1970 that related in fact to long term rentals. The judge has now decided that this should also apply to holiday accommodation in France too.

How do you feel about this?

 

Glastonbury festival are recruiting for chefs to feed the crew at this year’s festival which runs Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th June at the family home of Micheal Eavis;- Worthy Farm, Pilton, Devon.  

Glastonbury Festival is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world and a template for all the festivals that have come after it.

Chefs at Glastonbury Festival will either be employed from the beginning June until mid July; or from 16th June – 2nd July. Shifts will be about 8 hours a day, with some early and some late shifts. So you’ll either commit to 2 weeks work or 7 weeks work.

All chefs will be paid. They will also get a staff pass to the Festival. Please note that these establishments will be open during the Festival so you will be required to work some shifts at this time. This is hard work, rather then just an easy way into the Festival.

Staff will have to bring their own camping equipment, but food, showers and washing machines are provided.

If you are interested please send a CV detailing relevant experience and any food hygiene or other qualifications to worthy@glastonburyfestivals.co.uk - stipulating whether you are looking to be employed for two weeks or seven weeks.

Find out all about Glastonbury Festival

French president, Nico Sarkozy has had his Facebook page has been hacked twice in 2 days. 

Apparently a message was left, supposedly from President Sarkozy himself, saying he would not be standing for the presidency in 2012. A similar message that was added to his page on 23rd January too 

President Sarkozy actual last update was said to have been on Monday. Mentioning his hopes for the G8 and G20 summits.   After that followed a short message saying Nico’s page had been hacked “Perhaps to remind me that no system is infallible”. 

The 1st message, also saying he would not run in 2012, was filled with text-speak spellings and missed-out accents. It included an invite to all option, to a final farewell apéro géant party outside a renowned Paris restaurant where Mr Sarkozy had celebrated his election win in 2007. 

Maybe that will be an end to the hacking for the moment!

This quick video shows how easy it is to make a clickable image for your WordPress blog.

Webinars as you may know or have guessed from the name are basically online seminars. Webinars can be used to meet with staff at other sites, to meet with customers, with prospects and for online training to name just a few.

As director of a company with an international client base keeping our costs as low as possible without diluting the quality of the service we provide is a major importance. In times when companies are looking to reduce cost we are constantly on the look out for great ideas both for our company and also our clients companies.

In the last couple of years Webinars have become increasingly popular with many businesses, especially those that are multi site operations and those that trade internationally. Webinars are enabling companies throughout the world to increase their bottom line by reducing costs.

In our business using Webinars has enabled us to reduce costs especially in terms of national and international travel, including flights, car hire, train fare, accommodation, meal allowances and of course staff time.

We have started to video our business workshops and putting them online to be viewed on demand. This has in turn led to a growth in our client base and enabled us to leverage our time more effectively.

Our training for small businesses owners has been particularly successful in this area and we attribute that to the fact that it is often not practical for the principle in any small business to take time out of their regular working hours to attend workshops no matter how valuable the information is. Webinars are an excellent opportunity for busy people.

Our clients have been delighted that they can tap into our resources library at their leisure and often they do so from the comfort of their own home in the evenings. From our side we often get questions which come up time and time again and these days we can often point our clients to an on demand resource thus leveraging our time, maximizing our output and offering an instant go to solution for our clients.

Having been involved in the Webinar industry for the past couple of years we have seen and experienced most of the popular platforms and for the most part we have been satisfied with the service they offer.

We have recently joined www.gvoconference.be and their platform takes on a whole new dimension with added benefits and a lesser cost. The service is available in five languages English, Spanish, Russian Portuguese and German with customer support in all 5 languages 24/7 365 too. For an international business this is a fantastic attribute and the customer service is exceptional… speedy excellence!

Many English speaking business owners in France are not aware of the generous tax rebates which are offered to individuals and businesses who make a charitable donation to French registered charities and non-profit making associations.

Please feel free to use our template and if you LIKE it leave a message on our page Facebook page download from here