French govt falls hours after being appointed

MACRON TASKS LECORNU WITH HOLDING LAST-DITCH TALKS

- REUTERS

FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL Macron on Monday tasked his outgoing prime minister, who had resigned earlier in the day, to hold lastditch talks with other political parties to try to chart a path out of the crisis.

Sebastien Lecornu had tendered his government's resignation only hours after announcing his cabinet lineup, making it the shortest-lived administration in modern French history and deepening the country's political crisis.

It was not immediately clear what Lecornu's task would entail. France's constitution allows Macron to reappoint Lecornu as prime minister, should he wish.