Protests across Italy as talks start

ROME: Dozens of activists from 18 countries occupied four coal-fired power plants across Italy yesterday, climbing smokestacks to hang banners calling on the G8 summit to take the lead in fighting climate change, Greenpeace said.

Italian energy giant Enel, which owns three of the plants, said production had not been disrupted. Employees at two of the plants staged counter-demonstrations and the union for Italy's energy workers condemned the protest.

In Rome, activists from charity group Oxfam International put on masks of world leaders and dressed up as chefs, stirring a mock Earth in a pot representing the planet's rising temperature.