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France

French press review 7 October 2010

French nuclear interests in Niger, strike warnings and rather a lot of nudity cover the front pages of France's daily newspapers on Thursday.

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On the inside pages of centrist Le Monde is a double spread on French nuclear interests in Niger. This follows the kidnapping of five French and two African employees of Areva and Cogema in the country last month.

Can France do without Niger's uranium, the piece asks? Well, yes and no is the simple answer. France has 58 nuclear reactors on its soil, all of which need feeding with the radioactive isotope. Other sources for uranium include old fuel rods from decommissioned US and Russian submarines, and other open-cast mines in Canada and Australia.

But Niger remains, the paper says, a choice pick for the French. The only western country to esploit Nigerien uranium, the sector has been something of a privilege for Paris since the early 1970s. So despite increased security concerns, France doesn't want to give up the country's vast uranium belt so easily. This would raise all sorts of questions, the most obvious being who would take its place if it were to pull out?

The article does point out that since the abduction of the French workers from the plant at Arlit, no one - apart from local employees - has been to work.

Right-wing Le Figaro leads with more pension reform news, under the headline "CGT in a test of strength". The paper says the country's largest trade union federation has decided to call an indefinite strike at national train operator the SNCF to try and get the government to reverse its plans to raise the retirement age.

Elsewhere the Figaro's front page marks - or rather, shows female students at Moscow's Journalism School marking - the occasion of Russian PM Vladimir Putin's 58th birthday.

The students obviously thought it would be a good idea to get their kit off and make a calender for "Vladimir Vladimirovitch", as the premier is also known. "You put out the forest fires, but I'm still burning," one of them tastefully claims.

Critics say the calender is anything but tasteful, claiming that the girls' stunt is a kick in the teeth for women's rights and the image of journalists in a country where neither is doing particularly well. They also point out that 7 October is equally the anniversary of the assassination of Anna Politskaya, a female journalist who was critical of the Kremlin.

More raunchy photos in Libération this morning. The paper socks it to the censors by publishing a picture by the American photographer Larry Clark on its front page.

The snap in question is of a naked teenage couple, lounging on the back seat of an American car (apparently unaware of the presence of old Larry), and blissfully engaging in the pleasures of the flesh.

The paper is outraged at the decision to limit the entry to Clark's retrospective at the Paris Modern Art Museum to over-18s only. The town hall says its decision was based on the sexual nature of the photos, and it was concerned by possible reactions from groups defending children.

City mayor Bertrand Delanoë accepts that the decision was always going to upset a part of the population, but commented: "What was easy 20 years ago, has become more difficult today..."

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