Sarkozy tackling tough tasks

Paris: Now that Carla Bruni is his bride, Nicolas Sarkozy is focusing again on running France: endorsing a showcase super-fast train, promising to rescue steel workers threatened with layoffs and negotiating with labour leaders.

Sinking poll ratings and France's limp economy suggest the president needed to return to his energetic governing ways after weeks in which the couple's courtship dominated headlines.

Sarkozy and Bruni, a former model and singer, wed on Saturday, ending swirling speculation about where and when they would tie the knot.

That fuss, critics said, detracted from Sarkozy's gravitas and distracted him from running this nuclear-armed nation and major world economy.