New French PM labours to form government

France’s new Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin worked today to form a government and tackle the nation’s top priority – unemployment. But he already faced labour unrest on his first day on the job.

A planned strike by workers at the national train authority, the SNCF, was due to begin at 8pm (7pm Irish Time), emblematic of the tough road ahead for a government drawing criticism even before it’s been formed.