Oh So French

(Newser) - A company has been fined more than $58,000 for using the naked image of France's first lady without her permission, the BBC reports. A court on Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, says canvas bags made by Pardon! violated Carla Bruni's rights to her own image. The bags feature a 1993 image of Bruni and the words: "My boyfriend should have bought me Pardon." Damages will go to charity. More »

(Newser) - France has a long tradition of official blindness to race, ethnicity, and religion; all citizens, in theory, are equally French. But in practice, French companies are reluctant to hire employees with non-French names or addresses in ethnic neighborhoods, and France's 555-member parliament has only 1 MP of color. In a major speech yesterday, Nicolas Sarkozy called official equality a sham and vowed, unlike any president before him, to make diversity a French virtue. More »

(Newser) - Paris is notorious for constant protests by striking workers, but yesterday the French capital witnessed an uncommon work action: dozens of nude life models who braved freezing temperatures—naked—to demand a pay increase. As the Guardian reports, the models took to the street and re-created Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People , while artists and students sat sketching them in support. More »

(Newser) - French police found and disarmed five explosive devices this morning at one of Paris's biggest department stores, reports the BBC. The Printemps store, on one of the capital's best known shopping streets, was evacuated and cordoned off after a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front warned the AFP news agency of the bombs. But France's interior minister said that the packages contained no detonating devices. More »

(Newser) - Carla Bruni is suing a clothing company for putting her nude image on its shopping bags, the Independent reports. France’s first lady, who demands that Pardon! stop selling the bag, is seeking $167,000 in damages that she would give to charity. Accompanying the 1993 image is a word bubble reading, “My bloke should’ve bought me clothes from Pardon.” More »