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Non-Aligned Summit; Skinny Models

Aired September 15, 2006 - 12:42   ET

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

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY, seen live in more than 200 countries across the globe. Now, will ailing President Fidel Castro make an appearance at the Non-Aligned Summit under way in Cuba right now? That's the question on many minds as more than 55 heads state attend the meeting in Havana. The list features an array of vocal U.S. critics, including the president of Venezuela, and the president of Iran.
Morgan Neill is in Havana with the latest on that summit.

Hi, Morgan.

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Hala.

Well, we have begun to hear the initial speeches. We've heard from, first of all, the host up to this point, interim President Raul Castro, not President Fidel Castro. So up to this point, the answer to that question, is so far no public appearance from Fidel Castro. His doctors apparently telling him it would be not a good idea to attempt to be the chairman of this summit. So far, we've heard from regional leaders, including Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. While Ahmadinejad's comments were relatively tame, Chavez launched into what is, for him, some customary criticism to the United States, among them, talking about American plans and conspiracies against both Venezuela and Cuba. Now while this kind speech isn't unusual to hear from President Chavez, this is an unusually global audience for that.

Now among the others present at this meeting, U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan. Annan has also given an opening speech. While calling for a greater multilateralism and more organized way of running the movement, he also warned not to think that the sheer size of the movement would guarantee it success. So saying that it needed to be better organized, calling for more cooperation.

Now, on the subject of president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, so far, no appearance. As I say, we're hearing his doctors have told him that would not be a good idea. Last night, we did see some new video. This is the first video in which we've seen President Castro on his feet since he was forced to hand over power on July 31st after surgery to stop internal bleeding. In this video, we see Castro dressed in pajamas, greeting Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez warmly. He seemed very attentive. He actually playfully chucks Chavez on the shoulder. But as we say, this is the first time we've seen him on his feet.

Now there could still be a possibility that he could host a dinner tonight for those here at the summit, but we will just have to wait and see at this point -- Hala.

GORANI: Morgan, the nonaligned movement came together during the Cold War, those countries that neither wanted to side with the Soviet Union, nor the United States. But that era is over. What is the glue holding them together now?

NEILL: Well what we've been told -- we talked to some of the delegates of these countries that are not particularly involved in these headline-grabbing criticisms of the United States. And what they're telling us is, yes, that's true, this a movement formed during the Cold War, countries that didn't want to be allied with either the Soviet Union or the United States. And now they say they do have a new purpose. and that purpose is to push for the rights of the developing world, to push for a way, a common way, which they can react to what they perceive as United States unilateral policies -- Hala.

GORANI: All right, Morgan Neill in Havana.

CLANCY: Well, the distinction between a size 0 and size 2 might not be that relevant to a great many people -- like me.

GORANI: No comment, by the way. It's the heart of a flap in the high-fashion world.

CLANCY: Madrid had this decision. They were going to ban anybody that was too thin on the runway.

GORANI: All right. And this was from its Fashion Week. And that caused quite a stir. Alessio Vinci looks at the issue, and Tells us whether models should start reaching for the doughnuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Madrid ban is not because designers have decided that thin is no longer in, but because organizers want to promote healthier models, saying some put themselves through ridiculous diet to secure top modelling jobs.

So how do Madrid officials define too skinny? By something called the Body Mass Index, a calculation that factors in both height and weight. And just who would they ban? Well, the average American woman is 5'4" and weighs 164 pounds. If she shrank by 60 pounds and weighed anywhere under 105, she wouldn't be allowed to model in Madrid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I certainly wish and hope that for the good of all these youngsters is a step that (INAUDIBLE) has taken will be followed by others.

VINCI: In Milan, arguably the fashion capital of the world, where even on a rainy day, people manage to look fabulous, the ban seems to merit at least some consideration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These models make other women to go on diets and to go on fitness and other stuff just to look like this. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look skeletal, you know?

VINCI (on camera): Looks like a skeleton.

Do you think it should be regulated?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, maybe yes.

VINCI: Here in Milan Fashion Week kicks off in just a few days. But the mayor says that banning models who are too skinny would be just a last resort. But she wants to open a frank discussion between fashion designers and modelling agents, saying that promoting unhealthy looking girls is plain dangerous.

(voice-over): Almost every model we met here on a recent visit would be banned in Madrid -- too thin. And in fact, the head of this Milanese modelling agency says if the ban were widespread, 80 percent of his clients worldwide, more than 600 girls, would be out of work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) is a big word, you know. There is so much rumor about this thing. Which is correct, which is fine. But don't make it -- let's don't make it too much, because the designers, they know what they want.

VINCI: But those officials in Madrid do have a point. Most of the models we spoke with have a story to tell about crazy diets and the pressure they're under to be extra thin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I start to go to the gym like every day and...

VINCI (on camera): Because you were feeling like you were getting fat?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was feeling ugly. I was feeling not skinny enough, I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because we're going to start the fashion week on (INAUDIBLE), so I was, like, pushing myself to lost weight so much.

VINCI (voice-over): Ina, 25, from Russia, would just squeak by Madrid's limits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have one friend, and she now 18, and what she do before, during Fashion Week, and she eat only two apples during the day, and when she go out -- because during this week always some party, and she drink one whisky. Nothing else.

VINCI: There are, of course, exceptions.

So to prove that actually models do eat, you brought some cannoli.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, because I come from Sicily, so better than these, you cannot found. VINCI: Avery Cabano (ph) has worked for the likes of Giorgio Armani and Dolce & Gobbanna.

(on camera): You are a very successful model and you're eating a cannoli.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

VINCI: Not very many models do this, do they?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's important for me to enjoy life. You have to eat. And maybe if you get a little bit fat, it's better if you go to the gym. It's much more healthy for your body, for your mind, for everything. But don't eat -- it's not human for me.

VINCI (voice-over): With young girls around the world looking up to runway models as role models, maybe someday thin will no longer be in.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Milan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Next, Russia's dangerous addiction to speed.

GORANI: An increasingly popular sport makes Moscow's highways even more treacherous.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Man and machine, long a recipe for speed, and sometimes disaster.

CLANCY: All too often, the latter illustrated in gruesome detail by illegal street racing circuits in cities all around the world, really.

GORANI: Yes. As Matthew Chance reports, Russia's capital is no different, either in its appetite for adrenaline or the danger that quenching it presents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After midnight, they speed through the city streets. Illegal night racing in the Russian capital attracts thousands of dedicated followers, men and women with no regard for police or the rules of the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's adrenaline. It's fun. It's like drugs. You can test it once and you can't stop it. You will come to here every weekend.

CHANCE: Racers who can afford it modify already fast cars to achieve greater speed. Spending thousands of dollars on body kits and superchargers. Money is nothing, they say, for the thrill of feeling unique.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People want to feel a kind of special freedom that they can break the law. It's very pleasing to know for everyone. I'm not sure that there is any person in the world which would not -- who would not like to sometimes break a law, because it makes you feel special.

CHANCE: But this race to individuality has terrifying consequences for everyone else. Fast cars recklessly weaving through the traffic are a daily hazard on Moscow's broad highways. We found these images on the Internet.

Police say giving chase would only be more dangerous to the public. Drivers say the authorities are easily bribed to look away.

CHANCE (on camera): This is an immensely popular unofficial sport across Russia. Thousands have come to see this one night racing event. It's incredible, this kind of event is permitted to happen at all in a country where so many thousands die on the roads every year.

CHANCE (voice-over): Officials put the number at 35,000 last year, one of the highest rates in the world. Only a fraction were a direct result of illegal racing like this, but many Russians have a dangerous addiction to speed.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Japan's newborn Prince Hisahito has undergone a public unveiling now.

GORANI: Yes, the newest heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne and the first male born in over four decades left a Tokyo hospital. There he is, look at the little munchkin.

A beaming Princess Kiko and Prince Akishino were photographed as they were leaving a Tokyo hospital. Crowds of well-wishers lined the street to catch a glimpse of the baby who some day may become the emperor of Japan.

CLANCY: In fact, right now, isn't he the only one that could become the emperor?

GORANI: Well, I don't know.

CLANCY: There's other relatives, that's right.

GORANI: There's his brother. There's his father. There's his father first and then him. I think that makes him third in line to the throne. Look at him. May he enjoy his last few years of innocence where he doesn't have to deal with the kind of pressure he's going to face. Anyway, he's cute.

CLANCY: Not easy being a royal. But he is cute. GORANI: Cute little bundle. All right.

CLANCY: That's it for this hour. I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. This is CNN. Stay with us, the news continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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