French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault delighted business and angered labour leaders yesterday by suggesting the 35-hour working week was not sacrosanct, although he stressed the socialist government had no plans to change it.

The European Food Safety Authority has stalled a dual study which linked tumours developed by test rats to potential toxicity in one species of genetically modified maize and a herbicide containing glyphosate.

France will seek an immediate EU ban on imports of a genetically-modified maize made by Monsanto, if a study linking it to cancer in rats is deemed credible, said Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault last week.

France’s prime minister said today that a planned demonstration by people angry over a film produced in the United States which insults the Prophet Mohammed will not be allowed to go ahead.

French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has slashed his country’s official growth forecasts, paving the way for a slew of cuts next year that are bound to anger many after the new Socialist government promised to avoid austerity.

France’s new Socialist prime minister said the country’s debts have become “crushing”, laying the groundwork for expected spending cuts and tax hikes.

French President François Hollande named a government dominated by moderate left-wingers yesterday after Socialist Party boss Martine Aubry, overlooked for the post of prime minister, said she no longer wanted to be part of the new cabinet.

France’s lower house of parliament voted to extend a state of emergency for three months, after the government said the extra powers were still needed to end the country’s worst civil unrest in four decades.