Paris - The losing Socialist Party candidate in the 2007 French presidential election, Segolene Royal, will be standing later Friday in a run-off election to become party leader.

If she beats her opponent, Lille Mayor Martine Aubry, she will take a large step to securing her party's nomination to face President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election.

In 2007, Royal became the first French woman to make it to the second round of the presidential election, but she was soundly beaten by Sarkozy.

In Thursday's first round of balloting for the party leadership, the 55-year-old Royal garnered 43.1 per cent of the vote, compared to Aubry's 35.4 per cent and 22.8 per cent for European Parliament deputy Benoit Hamon.

Paris  - Former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal beat out two other candidates in Thursday's election to head the Socialist Party but fell short of gaining a winning majority, French media reported early Friday.

Royal will face off later on Friday in a run-off against the mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, as party members go to the polls again to decide who will succeed Royal's former partner, Francois Hollande, as Socialist leader.

Paris - The French government will establish an investment fund of 20 billion euros (25 billion dollars) to support French companies and protect them from foreign takeovers, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Thursday.

Speaking to workers in the central French city of Saint-Julien de Chedon, Sarkozy said the fund is to be managed by the Caisse des Depots, a government financial institution under the control of parliament.

The amount of money committed to the fund was smaller than expected. Originally, the talk was of at least 100 million euros.

Paris - The French government will establish an investment fund of 20 billion euros (25 billion dollars) to support French companies and protect them from foreign takeovers, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Thursday.

Speaking to workers in the central French city of Saint-Julien de Chedon, Sarkozy said the "strategic investment fund in the national interest" is to be managed by the Caisse des Depots, a government financial institution under the control of parliament.

Paris - Many classes in French primary and secondary schools were closed Thursday as teachers stayed away from their jobs to protest government plans to cut jobs.

Unions said that one of two secondary-school teachers and some 70 per cent of kindergarten and primary school-teachers were on strike Thursday.

To cut state costs, Education Minister Xavier Darcos has cut 11,200 jobs from the national education system and intends to slash another 13,500 positions next year.

Despite the scope of the job action, Darcos remained defiant on Thursday.

Paris - Reacting to plunging sales because of the economic and financial crisis, French carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen said Thursday it would cut another 3,550 jobs.

The move involves 2,700 workers "from all sites and in all group departments," and will be based on voluntary departures, the company said.

Another 850 jobs will be cut at the manufacturer's plant in the western French city of Rennes.

These job cuts are in addition to 15,000 redundancies that have been carried out by the group since 2007, primarily at its French sites.