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Condoleezza Rice Visits France

Aired February 08, 2005 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, feeling their pain, President Bush promoting his economic agenda in Detroit today, a state that lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs during his first term. This half-hour, we'll tune in as the president helps celebrate Black History Month.
Repairing the rift. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in France trying to reignite a friendship strained by war in Iraq. Speaking in Paris today, she said the two nations share common values and must work together to promote freedom around the world.

And you're looking at something we rarely see. At the request of CNN and other TV networks, the U.S. Air Force released video today showing Predator attacks on what the military says are insurgent positions in Iraq. Predator is an unmanned aircraft equipped with Hellfire missiles. It also has sensors which recorded these pictures.

Word today that there are no survivors from that crash of the passenger plane outside Afghanistan's capital last week. The plane crashed into a snow-covered mountain, making recovery operations extremely hazardous; 104 people were killed, including six Americans. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team in to help investigate the crash.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, some of the faces have changed. So has the tone, but the scene may seem familiar, Israeli and Palestinian leaders reaching out and making concessions in a quest for peace.

CNN's Ben Wedeman with a front-row seat for today's summit at Sharm el-Sheikh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Will this be the handshake that ends 4 1/2 years of bloodshed or just another handshake? Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met Tuesday in Sharm el-Sheikh for what was billed as a summit of hope to end a conflict often described as hopeless, perennial pessimism tentatively replaced by a glimmer of optimism.

The Palestinians pledged an end to attacks on Israel, Israel responding that it will suspend military operations in the West Bank and Gaza, the tone suddenly very different.

MOHAMMED ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT (through translator): We look forward to that day and hoping that it will come as soon as possible in order that the language of negotiations will replace the language of bullets and cannons.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): For the first time in a long, long time now, we see signs of a hope for a better future for our children and our grandchildren. We must cautiously progress. This is a very fragile opportunity and we know that there are extremists who are just waiting to close this window of opportunity.

WEDEMAN: On the Israeli side, hard-line settlers in Gaza and the West Bank are vehemently opposed to any Israeli pullback. And although Palestinian militant groups have agreed to hold their fire, Hamas for one says it's not bound by any cease-fire agreement.

And in the Arab world, many, like these Egyptian students protesting Sharon's first official visit to their country, insist the armed struggle against Israel is still the only option.

The host of the summit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said he hoped progress between Israelis and the Palestinians would spark a revival of talks with Lebanon and Syria. And the meeting ended with the announcement that Jordan and Egypt are ready to return their ambassadors to Tel Aviv after a four-year absence.

(on camera): But for all the progress apparently achieved here today, the real issues that sparked the Palestinian uprising in the first place, including the final status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian right of return, are no closer to resolution today than they were 4 1/2 years ago. But this handshake at least suggests a new beginning.

Ben Wedeman, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Condoleezza Rice and a challenge to France. The secretary of state takes her diplomatic tour into the heart of discontent over Iraq. Her message, let's move along.

CNN's Jim Bittermann reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't all that long ago that U.S. officials were saying that France had to be punished for its attitude in the lead-up to the Iraq war. But Condoleezza Rice's tone was entirely different this afternoon when she spoke at a very prestigious university on Paris' Left Bank.

Basically, she said that the U.S. and Europe had acted in many ways together in the past, are presently doing so, and had many things that they could do together in the future. And she said on U.S.- French relations that often they worked out better in practice than they did in theory. She pointed to more than a half-dozen ways in which the U.S. and France are cooperating in areas such as terrorism and the fight on global crime and in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Here's a little bit of the tone that she took this afternoon at the university.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is a time of unprecedented opportunity for the transatlantic alliance. If we make the pursuit of global freedom the organizing principle of the 21st century, we will achieve historic global advances for justice and prosperity, for liberty and for peace. But a global agenda requires a global partnership. So let us multiply our common effort. That is why the United States above all welcomes the growing unity of Europe.

WEDEMAN: Now, some Europeans would have been surprised to hear her make that last remark, but in at least three other areas, she used language that denied the common European perception. For instance, she said that the United States favors a strong United Nations. She said that United States favors the strength of ideas and compassion over military power. And she said that liberty has to be homegrown and cannot be imposed.

In all those areas, Europeans probably believe that the U.S. has acted differently than in the kind of language Condoleezza Rice was using. So for now, I think what they'll be doing is waiting to see if U.S. actions live up to this new rhetoric.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: In Baghdad today, the bloodiest single insurgent attack in the nine days since the election, at least 22 people dead in an apparent suicide bombing at a police recruiting center. The U.S. Army says 27 people were wounded.

Also in Baghdad, an attack apparently aimed at a former Iraqi political candidate, his SUV sprayed with gunfire this morning. The politician escaped unhurt, but two of his sons were killed.

Nine British combat dead are returned to a British air base. They died in Iraq in that Election Day crash of a C-130 transport plane. British officials say it's still unclear whether the crash was accidental or the result of an attack. An Australian was killed as well.

More than 100 U.S. Marines are back on American soil from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their plane touched down this morning at Marine Corps Military Air Station Miramar, California. Those are some happy people.

HARRIS: Did he act of anger or was Zoloft to blame? That's what a South Carolina jury has to decide in the case of a 15-year-old now on trial for killing his grandparents. Now, the families have jumped to his defense, saying antidepressant drugs have killed before.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tom Woodward sits in this South Carolina courtroom and he cries. He cries for Christopher Pittman, who at age 12 killed his grandparents as they slept and burned the house down around them.

TOM WOODWARD, PITTMAN SUPPORTER: He is not a monster. Those were monstrous acts but he was not a monster. I believe those monstrous acts were brought about by the drugs he was on.

COHEN: Woodward feels a bond with Pittman. He says he was a good kid, loved his sister, loved his grandparents and was ruined by this drug, Zoloft, much like Woodward's daughter, who was prescribed the antidepressant after going through what he calls a normal teenage rough patch.

WOODWARD: Seven days after taking her first pill she took her life.

COHEN: Lisa Vansyckel teenage daughter tried to kill herself after taking a similar drug Paxil. Several families like hers identify with the young defendant. The Vansyckels even went so far as to put up $175,000 bail last week when he was released to his family and she rented them a house.

LISA VANSYCKEL, PITTMAN SUPPORTER: I've come to know Christopher. I've come to love him as if he were my own son. I told Christopher that I would do everything in my power as a mother to protect him.

COHEN: She says she wants to warn other families about antidepressants. Last October, the Food and Drug Administration linked antidepressants, like Zoloft and Paxil, to some suicides among teens and told parents to be on the lookout for impulsive and hostile behavior.

Pfizer, which makes the drug, says there's no link between their drug and violence against others and South Carolina prosecutors say pills weren't to blame. They say Pittman was a troubled kid who was angry at his grandparents. Some psychiatrists say these families, who publicize their stories, may be doing more harm than good.

DR. HAROLD BIST, AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION: That's just not right to give the public a distorted image like that. It's just wrong.

COHEN: He says the drugs have helped millions of depressed kids. But when the FDA warnings came out last fall, the number of prescriptions to young people went down.

BIST: And it would be a lot worse for them without the treatments.

COHEN: Despite this, the Woodwards and Vansyckels say they'll keep rallying around Christopher Pittman, a double murderer to some, but a victim to them.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Charleston, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: News across America now.

A controversial professor in Colorado is going to court in less than three hours trying to stop the cancellation of his speech by the University of Colorado. Ward Churchill set off a firestorm by drawing comparisons between September 11 victims and the Nazis. The school says it canceled tonight's speech for security reasons.

You saw it here first, dramatic moments in Broward County, Florida, as a pilot tries to land his plane with landing gear problems. Look at this. After burning off fuel for about 20 minutes, the pilot went in for the landing, as you see, and made it with no injuries and not much damage, believe it or not, to the plane.

Boston sports fans are celebrating again, first the World Series and now the Super Bowl. The championship New England Patriots paraded through the city streets for the third time in four years. Quarterback Tom Brady says it's good any time.

PHILLIPS: Well, parades are rolling today in New Orleans, too. Live pictures now. Nothing like a little Buddha bead. Beer, beads, Buddha, well, they're all plentiful from Bourbon Street to St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. It's Fat Tuesday, AKA Mardi Gras. We're going to check in on the celebrations when LIVE FROM returns.

Also, fall Fashion Week in New York. Get a look at what you should be wearing if you want to be in style.

And we're awaiting the start of a Black History Month event at the White House. President Bush will speak to those gathered there and you will hear from him, too, live right here on CNN.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, the crowds are looking a little slim for Mardi Gras' Fat Tuesday. We have got some tape we can turn around to show you here.

Look at this, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Define slim?

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Yes, good point. Good point.

PHILLIPS: Is slim only a few thousand?

HARRIS: Right. Right. Well, I can explain it. Some 11 parades are cruising through New Orleans today. Now, on the sidelines, which are normally teeming, teeming with spectators.

PHILLIPS: True.

HARRIS: There are a few empty seats. Now, that's because, here's the speculation -- this year, Fat Tuesday is earlier than it's been in 15 years. So officials think that's kept some of the college crowd away. But it doesn't seem to be diminishing the party in the French Quarter.

PHILLIPS: Well, the celebrity wattage is high around the catwalks in New York for Fashion Week. Renee Zellweger and Janet Jackson are among the big names checking out the designs. Models are strutting in Bill Blass' latest lines today. Is it a good fit?

Kate Betts, editor in chief of "Time Style and Design," she back with us. She's looking at what's hot and what's not. Oh, you've bumped up the black, Kate, I see, threw in a little green today.

KATE BETTS, "TIME STYLE & DESIGN": Yes. I did. I decided to go for the color. Got to be a trend follower backstage here at the Bill Blass show.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, tell us about...

BETTS: Anyway...

PHILLIPS: Bill Blass, the show, what he says is the hot thing.

BETTS: Well, Michael Vollbracht, the designer for Bill Blass, did hit all of the trends this season with some really beautiful, very classic shapes in spice colors. Spice is kind of the big color of the moment today. A lot of menswear tailoring, beautiful pinstriped suits, lots of fur.

Full-shape designers are pumping up the volume with full skirts, which is not always an easy thing to wear for certain people, myself included, but we're seeing it all over the runways here.

PHILLIPS: All right. All right, Kate, I'm obviously not a fashionista. I apologize. God bless Bill Blass. May he rest in peace. I alluded to the fact he was still with us. I apologize.

Let's talk about...

BETTS: Oh.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: You got me out of that in a very delicate manner. Thank you.

BETTS: You're very welcome.

PHILLIPS: Janet Jackson in the crowd. Everyone's talking about Janet. I'm hoping she kept her clothes on.

HARRIS: Oh.

BETTS: No wardrobe malfunctions today.

PHILLIPS: Excellent.

BETTS: None at all, which is right in line with the way it should be at Fashion Week.

But, yes, there's been a lot of talk about the celebrities that have shown up, Beyonce at a lot of shows, Renee Zellweger, as you said before, with a very dark hair color, black. I guess it works for the hair, but not for the clothes. And a lot of talk about this new volume that we're seeing around on the runways, especially last night. BCBG showed and Marc Jacobs showing very long, full, sort of bubble- shaped skirts.

PHILLIPS: Bubble shape?

BETTS: Too strange, but we'll see.

PHILLIPS: What about the fur?

BETTS: We'll see if that one takes off.

PHILLIPS: Yes, really. But the...

BETTS: And furs.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Is fur back?

(CROSSTALK)

BETTS: Fur is still around. It never went away. It's getting stronger and stronger. And I see funky fur now. We're seeing fur with lace on it and camouflage printed fur, a lot of kind of bizarre stuff. Interesting.

PHILLIPS: All right, very good. I hope the animal activists are not at the show talking about the...

BETTS: Oh, me, too.

PHILLIPS: Yes, really.

All right, Kate Betts, we'll continue to check in with you. Thank you very much, what's hot and not.

BETTS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Tony, you're hot.

HARRIS: Oh.

Just a couple hours ago, President Bush was talking about the budget in Detroit. Now he's back at the White House and we are awaiting his appearance at a Black History Month event. Live coverage on CNN as soon as it starts.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired February 8, 2005 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, feeling their pain, President Bush promoting his economic agenda in Detroit today, a state that lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs during his first term. This half-hour, we'll tune in as the president helps celebrate Black History Month.
Repairing the rift. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in France trying to reignite a friendship strained by war in Iraq. Speaking in Paris today, she said the two nations share common values and must work together to promote freedom around the world.

And you're looking at something we rarely see. At the request of CNN and other TV networks, the U.S. Air Force released video today showing Predator attacks on what the military says are insurgent positions in Iraq. Predator is an unmanned aircraft equipped with Hellfire missiles. It also has sensors which recorded these pictures.

Word today that there are no survivors from that crash of the passenger plane outside Afghanistan's capital last week. The plane crashed into a snow-covered mountain, making recovery operations extremely hazardous; 104 people were killed, including six Americans. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team in to help investigate the crash.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, some of the faces have changed. So has the tone, but the scene may seem familiar, Israeli and Palestinian leaders reaching out and making concessions in a quest for peace.

CNN's Ben Wedeman with a front-row seat for today's summit at Sharm el-Sheikh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Will this be the handshake that ends 4 1/2 years of bloodshed or just another handshake? Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met Tuesday in Sharm el-Sheikh for what was billed as a summit of hope to end a conflict often described as hopeless, perennial pessimism tentatively replaced by a glimmer of optimism.

The Palestinians pledged an end to attacks on Israel, Israel responding that it will suspend military operations in the West Bank and Gaza, the tone suddenly very different.

MOHAMMED ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT (through translator): We look forward to that day and hoping that it will come as soon as possible in order that the language of negotiations will replace the language of bullets and cannons.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): For the first time in a long, long time now, we see signs of a hope for a better future for our children and our grandchildren. We must cautiously progress. This is a very fragile opportunity and we know that there are extremists who are just waiting to close this window of opportunity.

WEDEMAN: On the Israeli side, hard-line settlers in Gaza and the West Bank are vehemently opposed to any Israeli pullback. And although Palestinian militant groups have agreed to hold their fire, Hamas for one says it's not bound by any cease-fire agreement.

And in the Arab world, many, like these Egyptian students protesting Sharon's first official visit to their country, insist the armed struggle against Israel is still the only option.

The host of the summit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said he hoped progress between Israelis and the Palestinians would spark a revival of talks with Lebanon and Syria. And the meeting ended with the announcement that Jordan and Egypt are ready to return their ambassadors to Tel Aviv after a four-year absence.

(on camera): But for all the progress apparently achieved here today, the real issues that sparked the Palestinian uprising in the first place, including the final status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian right of return, are no closer to resolution today than they were 4 1/2 years ago. But this handshake at least suggests a new beginning.

Ben Wedeman, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Condoleezza Rice and a challenge to France. The secretary of state takes her diplomatic tour into the heart of discontent over Iraq. Her message, let's move along.

CNN's Jim Bittermann reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't all that long ago that U.S. officials were saying that France had to be punished for its attitude in the lead-up to the Iraq war. But Condoleezza Rice's tone was entirely different this afternoon when she spoke at a very prestigious university on Paris' Left Bank.

Basically, she said that the U.S. and Europe had acted in many ways together in the past, are presently doing so, and had many things that they could do together in the future. And she said on U.S.- French relations that often they worked out better in practice than they did in theory. She pointed to more than a half-dozen ways in which the U.S. and France are cooperating in areas such as terrorism and the fight on global crime and in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Here's a little bit of the tone that she took this afternoon at the university.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is a time of unprecedented opportunity for the transatlantic alliance. If we make the pursuit of global freedom the organizing principle of the 21st century, we will achieve historic global advances for justice and prosperity, for liberty and for peace. But a global agenda requires a global partnership. So let us multiply our common effort. That is why the United States above all welcomes the growing unity of Europe.

WEDEMAN: Now, some Europeans would have been surprised to hear her make that last remark, but in at least three other areas, she used language that denied the common European perception. For instance, she said that the United States favors a strong United Nations. She said that United States favors the strength of ideas and compassion over military power. And she said that liberty has to be homegrown and cannot be imposed.

In all those areas, Europeans probably believe that the U.S. has acted differently than in the kind of language Condoleezza Rice was using. So for now, I think what they'll be doing is waiting to see if U.S. actions live up to this new rhetoric.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: In Baghdad today, the bloodiest single insurgent attack in the nine days since the election, at least 22 people dead in an apparent suicide bombing at a police recruiting center. The U.S. Army says 27 people were wounded.

Also in Baghdad, an attack apparently aimed at a former Iraqi political candidate, his SUV sprayed with gunfire this morning. The politician escaped unhurt, but two of his sons were killed.

Nine British combat dead are returned to a British air base. They died in Iraq in that Election Day crash of a C-130 transport plane. British officials say it's still unclear whether the crash was accidental or the result of an attack. An Australian was killed as well.

More than 100 U.S. Marines are back on American soil from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their plane touched down this morning at Marine Corps Military Air Station Miramar, California. Those are some happy people.

HARRIS: Did he act of anger or was Zoloft to blame? That's what a South Carolina jury has to decide in the case of a 15-year-old now on trial for killing his grandparents. Now, the families have jumped to his defense, saying antidepressant drugs have killed before.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tom Woodward sits in this South Carolina courtroom and he cries. He cries for Christopher Pittman, who at age 12 killed his grandparents as they slept and burned the house down around them.

TOM WOODWARD, PITTMAN SUPPORTER: He is not a monster. Those were monstrous acts but he was not a monster. I believe those monstrous acts were brought about by the drugs he was on.

COHEN: Woodward feels a bond with Pittman. He says he was a good kid, loved his sister, loved his grandparents and was ruined by this drug, Zoloft, much like Woodward's daughter, who was prescribed the antidepressant after going through what he calls a normal teenage rough patch.

WOODWARD: Seven days after taking her first pill she took her life.

COHEN: Lisa Vansyckel teenage daughter tried to kill herself after taking a similar drug Paxil. Several families like hers identify with the young defendant. The Vansyckels even went so far as to put up $175,000 bail last week when he was released to his family and she rented them a house.

LISA VANSYCKEL, PITTMAN SUPPORTER: I've come to know Christopher. I've come to love him as if he were my own son. I told Christopher that I would do everything in my power as a mother to protect him.

COHEN: She says she wants to warn other families about antidepressants. Last October, the Food and Drug Administration linked antidepressants, like Zoloft and Paxil, to some suicides among teens and told parents to be on the lookout for impulsive and hostile behavior.

Pfizer, which makes the drug, says there's no link between their drug and violence against others and South Carolina prosecutors say pills weren't to blame. They say Pittman was a troubled kid who was angry at his grandparents. Some psychiatrists say these families, who publicize their stories, may be doing more harm than good.

DR. HAROLD BIST, AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION: That's just not right to give the public a distorted image like that. It's just wrong.

COHEN: He says the drugs have helped millions of depressed kids. But when the FDA warnings came out last fall, the number of prescriptions to young people went down.

BIST: And it would be a lot worse for them without the treatments.

COHEN: Despite this, the Woodwards and Vansyckels say they'll keep rallying around Christopher Pittman, a double murderer to some, but a victim to them.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Charleston, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: News across America now.

A controversial professor in Colorado is going to court in less than three hours trying to stop the cancellation of his speech by the University of Colorado. Ward Churchill set off a firestorm by drawing comparisons between September 11 victims and the Nazis. The school says it canceled tonight's speech for security reasons.

You saw it here first, dramatic moments in Broward County, Florida, as a pilot tries to land his plane with landing gear problems. Look at this. After burning off fuel for about 20 minutes, the pilot went in for the landing, as you see, and made it with no injuries and not much damage, believe it or not, to the plane.

Boston sports fans are celebrating again, first the World Series and now the Super Bowl. The championship New England Patriots paraded through the city streets for the third time in four years. Quarterback Tom Brady says it's good any time.

PHILLIPS: Well, parades are rolling today in New Orleans, too. Live pictures now. Nothing like a little Buddha bead. Beer, beads, Buddha, well, they're all plentiful from Bourbon Street to St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. It's Fat Tuesday, AKA Mardi Gras. We're going to check in on the celebrations when LIVE FROM returns.

Also, fall Fashion Week in New York. Get a look at what you should be wearing if you want to be in style.

And we're awaiting the start of a Black History Month event at the White House. President Bush will speak to those gathered there and you will hear from him, too, live right here on CNN.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, the crowds are looking a little slim for Mardi Gras' Fat Tuesday. We have got some tape we can turn around to show you here.

Look at this, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Define slim?

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Yes, good point. Good point.

PHILLIPS: Is slim only a few thousand?

HARRIS: Right. Right. Well, I can explain it. Some 11 parades are cruising through New Orleans today. Now, on the sidelines, which are normally teeming, teeming with spectators.

PHILLIPS: True.

HARRIS: There are a few empty seats. Now, that's because, here's the speculation -- this year, Fat Tuesday is earlier than it's been in 15 years. So officials think that's kept some of the college crowd away. But it doesn't seem to be diminishing the party in the French Quarter.

PHILLIPS: Well, the celebrity wattage is high around the catwalks in New York for Fashion Week. Renee Zellweger and Janet Jackson are among the big names checking out the designs. Models are strutting in Bill Blass' latest lines today. Is it a good fit?

Kate Betts, editor in chief of "Time Style and Design," she back with us. She's looking at what's hot and what's not. Oh, you've bumped up the black, Kate, I see, threw in a little green today.

KATE BETTS, "TIME STYLE & DESIGN": Yes. I did. I decided to go for the color. Got to be a trend follower backstage here at the Bill Blass show.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, tell us about...

BETTS: Anyway...

PHILLIPS: Bill Blass, the show, what he says is the hot thing.

BETTS: Well, Michael Vollbracht, the designer for Bill Blass, did hit all of the trends this season with some really beautiful, very classic shapes in spice colors. Spice is kind of the big color of the moment today. A lot of menswear tailoring, beautiful pinstriped suits, lots of fur.

Full-shape designers are pumping up the volume with full skirts, which is not always an easy thing to wear for certain people, myself included, but we're seeing it all over the runways here.

PHILLIPS: All right. All right, Kate, I'm obviously not a fashionista. I apologize. God bless Bill Blass. May he rest in peace. I alluded to the fact he was still with us. I apologize.

Let's talk about...

BETTS: Oh.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: You got me out of that in a very delicate manner. Thank you.

BETTS: You're very welcome.

PHILLIPS: Janet Jackson in the crowd. Everyone's talking about Janet. I'm hoping she kept her clothes on.

HARRIS: Oh.

BETTS: No wardrobe malfunctions today.

PHILLIPS: Excellent.

BETTS: None at all, which is right in line with the way it should be at Fashion Week.

But, yes, there's been a lot of talk about the celebrities that have shown up, Beyonce at a lot of shows, Renee Zellweger, as you said before, with a very dark hair color, black. I guess it works for the hair, but not for the clothes. And a lot of talk about this new volume that we're seeing around on the runways, especially last night. BCBG showed and Marc Jacobs showing very long, full, sort of bubble- shaped skirts.

PHILLIPS: Bubble shape?

BETTS: Too strange, but we'll see.

PHILLIPS: What about the fur?

BETTS: We'll see if that one takes off.

PHILLIPS: Yes, really. But the...

BETTS: And furs.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Is fur back?

(CROSSTALK)

BETTS: Fur is still around. It never went away. It's getting stronger and stronger. And I see funky fur now. We're seeing fur with lace on it and camouflage printed fur, a lot of kind of bizarre stuff. Interesting.

PHILLIPS: All right, very good. I hope the animal activists are not at the show talking about the...

BETTS: Oh, me, too.

PHILLIPS: Yes, really.

All right, Kate Betts, we'll continue to check in with you. Thank you very much, what's hot and not.

BETTS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Tony, you're hot.

HARRIS: Oh.

Just a couple hours ago, President Bush was talking about the budget in Detroit. Now he's back at the White House and we are awaiting his appearance at a Black History Month event. Live coverage on CNN as soon as it starts.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com