France’s minister for overseas departments will urge the government to quickly authorise emergency funds to help Martinique recover from torrential rains that flooded towns and started landslides.

A protester was shot dead on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe today as weeks of strikes turned into street violence.

Strikes that have crippled France’s Caribbean islands burst into violent clashes as police battled protesters angry at high prices and resentful of a tiny white elite on lands better known for beachside holidays.

PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac, shaken by the defeat of the European Union constitution, appointed Dominique de Villepin, a loyalist who jetted around the globe galvanising international opposition to the Iraq war, as prime minister to lead a new government yesterday.

President Jacques Chirac today appointed Dominique de Villepin, a loyalist who was France’s voice against the Iraq war, as prime minister, to head a new government in response to a humiliating referendum defeat.