French factory workers bare all to save jobs

Workers at a crisis-hit boiler factory in France have stripped off for a nude calendar in a bid to save 204 jobs slated for redundancy. Staff at the Chaffoteaux et Maury factory in Brittany will use the proceeds to fund a trip to Italy where they plan to stage a protest at their parent company, Ariston Thermo Group (ATG), which pulled the plug on the site earlier this year.

"Our aim is to show there are workers here who will do anything to save their jobs, even take their clothes off," said Brigitte Coadic, representative of the CGT union at the site and the woman behind the calendar, which is due out in the autumn.

The operation is the latest in a line of colorful protest stunts by French workers after "bossnappings," threats to blow up factories or pollute the Seine river, as well as the traditional dumping of agricultural produce by angry farmers.

But Coadic insists that the Chaffoteaux action, in which 13 male workers pose nude covered only with masks or helmets, is completely peaceful.

"We don't want to destroy anything," she said. "We want to show what we can do, tell the management that, if they keep us, we can turn all this media attention into something positive."

Coadic said she was inspired by the stylish "Gods of the Stadium" calendar in which the muscular stars of Paris rugby club Stade Francais bare all in an annual display of discreetly lit beefcake.

The project also carries echoes of Britain's Calendar Girls -- the ladies of the Yorkshire Women's Institute who bared all for a charity calendar -- and the stripping steel workers of the 1997 British film "The Full Monty."

Coadic said that French workers had been prompted to action when ATG said at the start of the summer that it would close production operations in northern France, cutting 204 jobs out of a total of 250 at the site.

French star Deneuve booed at Italy performance

French actress Catherine Deneuve was booed during a stage performance in Italy by people demanding a refund.

Deneuve, 65, and Italian actor Michele Placido performed a reading in French and Italian at the cultural festival in Marina di Pietrasanta, Tuscany, which was greeted by whistles and boos.

Police had to intervene to calm down about 200 people shouting, "Thieves. We want our money back,". Organizers responded by offering free tickets to another show at the La Versiliana festival as compensation.

Deneuve declined to comment, while Placido, who also is a director, downplayed Wednesday's incident.

"These things happen," he told SkyTg24 TV channel. Placido also suggested it might have been "a mistake" to have Deneuve read her part in French without subtitles.

The two actors performed a reading from George Perec's book "Je me souviens" (I Remember) — a recollection of memories from postwar decades accompanied by music.

Deneuve was nominated for an Oscar for her role in 1992's "Indochine."

Campsites evacuated as wild fires threaten campers on French Riviera

Campers were ordered to leave three campsites as the flames fanned by strong winds came within half a mile of their tents, engulfing them in smoke and ash in the Var department of southeastern France, near Saint-Tropez.

More than 300 firefighters supported by 11 water-bombing Canadair planes took five hours to douse the blaze, which started at around 5pm on Monday.

Campers at sites in the region were mainly northern Europeans from Britain, Holland and Belgium. Regional fire chiefs said an investigation had been launched to discover what started the fire, the third major forest fire in southern France this summer.