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    (CNN Student News) -- September 19, 2006 Quick GuideTouring Space - Hear the fascinating story of a woman who grew from childhood stargazer to adult space traveler. Unfashionably Skinny? - Get the skinny on a European country's decision to ban ultra-thin models from the catwalk. Art or Abuse? - Consider whether a painted pachyderm is a suitable statement or an example of elephant exploitation. TranscriptTHIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. SHANON COOK, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Glad to have you along for CNN Student News. I'm Shannon Cook. We have liftoff and she's making history. How a space tourist hitched a rocket ride, and promotes peace from space. At fashion week in Spain, bone-thin is no longer "in" on the catwalk. Why some models are being told to eat up. And a pink pachyderm prompts plenty of protest. Why some animal-rights activists paint this art exhibit as elephant abuse. COOK: We begin today with the story of a woman who wished upon the stars as a girl and who's now traveling to the stars. Iranian-American businesswoman paid big bucks to hop aboard a Russian rocket yesterday. She joined astronauts who will stay six months at the International Space Station while she'll head back in 10 days. As Ryan Chilcote reports, this space pioneer hopes her trip can help improve international relations closer to home. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN REPORTER: A Russian rocket lifts Anousheh Ansari into space, on her way toward fulfilling a childhood dream. With a lucky teddy bear bobbing just over her head, the 40 year old Ansari achieves a pair of firsts: She's the first person born in Iran to make it into space, and she's the first female space tourist. ANOUSHEH ANSARI, SPACE TOURIST: I believe that my journey will make a good example for everyone, especially young people, and especially women and girls around the world that dreams can come true even if you live in a country where a lot of opportunities may not be provided to you. CHILCOTE: Ansari grew up in Iran, fled the revolution with her family, ended up in the United States at age 16 --- unable to speak English. Within five years she'd taught herself the language, and graduated from college. Two decades later Fortune Magazine estimated her worth at 180 million dollars. She and her husband financed their start-up telecommunications company by maxing out their credit cards, then sold it for half a billion dollars. This trip is costing her around 20 million. She got her chance to go to space sooner than expected when a Japanese space tourist scheduled to fly this year was forced to drop out for health reasons. The Iranian American wants to stay out of politics, but hopes to demonstrate there's no reason why Americans and Iranians can't get along. On board the station she will wear both the American and Iranian flags on her jump suit. ANSARI: I hope this shows that the people can be separated from the politics because if you don't have, if you look at Iranians interacting with Americans - sometimes inside Iran, sometimes outside Iran, in most cases from what I've seen it's always a pleasant experience. CHILCOTE: She'll do experiments on her 11 day journey --- take lots of pictures, and - she hopes - become the first space blogger. Most of all, though, she is fulfilling her own dream - born as she gazed at the stars from the balcony of her childhood home in northeastern Iran - of going to space. Ryan Chilcote, CNN Moscow. (END VIDEO CLIP) Shoutout CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS REPORTER: Who was the first American woman to fly into space? If you think you know it, shout it out! A- Amelia Earhart, B- Babe Zaharias, C- Sally Ride or D- Danica Patrick? It's not Danica Patrick, you probably know her, she's a current Indy Car driver. It's not Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who was a female sports pioneer in the 1930's, 40s and 50s. And, it's not the famous airplane pilot Amelia Earhart, either...so that leaves Sally Ride...who flew into space in 1983. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout. E. coli Update COOK: Keep away from fresh spinach. That's the word from the Food and Drug Administration, as investigators try to find out how E. coli bacteria got into the nation's supplies of the leafy vegetable. Officials have linked a California company's fresh spinach to the outbreak. It's blamed with making more than a hundred people sick in 21 states, and killing one person. COOK: During fashion shows, top models are in high demand. But if they're found to be too skinny, they can no longer walk the catwalks of Madrid. Spain's biggest fashion show opened Saturday. And new rules there require that models pass a test that measures weight-to-body ratio. Al Goodman is in Madrid, where doctors say last year's rail-thin models set an unhealthy precedent. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AL GOODMAN, CNN REPORTER: 'Svelte' is part of the job description. Fashion models are expected to be thin --- better to show off the lines and style of the clothes they wear down the catwalk. Thin --- but not too thin --- at least in Spain. Not since Madrid rocked the fashion world by banning the thinnest models, using a formula based on height and weight. And enforcing the new rule with the same kind of weigh-in used for jockeys and boxers. DENISE MORENO, MODEL: It wasn't very pleasant to have us go one by one, to get weighed and stuff, we were pretty nervous. GOODMAN: Denise Moreno not only made the weight cut Saturday, she flaunted it by having breakfast before the opening catwalk. After four years modeling in Madrid, Milan and Paris, she worried her small bones might disqualify her under Spain's new rules, so she brought proof that --- though she's a lightweight --- she's a healthy lightweight. GOODMAN: You brought your blood test? MORENO: Yeah, in case, you know, they said oh you don't have enough weight, I would be, like, well look at my blood test. GOODMAN: But the Madrid organizers didn't require blood tests. Just the right look --- tall, thin, beautiful and healthy. Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, one of Spain's best-known designers, applauds the move. AGATHA RUIZ DE LA PRADA, SPANISH DESIGNER: A lot of woman are not so thin, so we are interested that the fashion is a little bit fatter, not a lot fatter, but a little bit. GOODMAN: Changing the rules of fashion week is a step-by-step process, and the bigger catwalks in London, Milan and Paris --- while taking note of Madrid ---have not yet followed suit. On Saturday, 68 models weighed in trying to participate in Madrid's catwalk. But five were rejected for being too skinny. That caused major problems for some designers. ANTONIO PERNAS, SPANISH DESIGNER: I already had done my casting and included models who didn't make the weight cut or didn't want to submit to the test, which was pretty tough. GOODMAN: And the weight and height formula - known as Body Mass Index - was all that anyone was talking about here. CLARA MAS, SPANISH MODEL: It's like a broken record. The media has forgotten about fashion and the typical questions about what you're wearing for the next season. GOODMAN: But it clearly was a fashion backstage scene in Madrid, right down to fashion dogs. Call them groupies...or mascots, maybe? On the catwalk, the only stars were these models and the clothes. Madrid, making a name for itself in the fashion world, where it's often hard to be heard. Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid. (END VIDEO CLIP) Word to the Wise AZUZ: A Word to the Wise... body mass index (BMI) (noun) a measurement of the relative amounts of fat and muscle mass in the human body Source: www.dictionary.com COOK: In Los Angeles, there's a jumbo-sized controversy about art. An artist painted an elephant to protest world hunger. Stars including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were on hand for the exhibit opening last Thursday. The animal's owners say the elephant has had many movie roles and is used to make-up. But animal-rights activists call this a case of "elephant exploitation." Greg Phillips gets both sides of a big story. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GREG PHILLIPS, REPORTER: Her name is Tai, a 38 year old show elephant that's the center of an unusual art exhibit and a ton of controversy. BILL DYER, IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS: It's exploitation. And it's meaningless and unnecessary and stupid. PHILLIPS: Tai, who is painted red and gold, is the latest work of British artist, Banksy. The elephant is standing in the middle of a living room set in a downtown Los Angeles warehouse is meant to be symbolic of problems most people would rather ignore: world poverty and hunger. But some animal rights activists say this isn't art, it's abuse. BILL DYER, IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS: As an artist you can see he's concerned about the condition of the world and my question is where's his compassion for animals. PHILLIPS: Ed Box, who heads up Los Angeles Animal Services says the paint isn't harmful to the elephant, but it is abusive. And because of this, he's looking at changing the rules, making it harder to get animal permits like these. ED BOKS, LOS ANGELES ANIMAL SERVICES: Elephants are roaming herd creatures and used to being amongst their own and roaming for hundreds of acres a day. So to have an elephant stand like that on concrete for six hours isn't right. PHILIPS: But some visitors visitors to the exhibit we talked to say the activists are overreacting. MARILYN HOLMAN, VISITOR: I don't find a problem with it. If there was a big issue, I don't think the trainer would have released the elephant to be painted to be put in an atmosphere this way. NICK QUINTERO,VISITOR: People need to lighten up. It's an artistic statement. People use anything to shut something down that's got a message involved. PHILLIPS: What's unclear is whether Banksy's intended message is actually getting across. But judging by the crowds and the activists, he certainly has their attention. In downtown Los Angeles, Greg Phillips, for KCAL 9 News. (END VIDEO CLIP) COOK: That stampede of protest against a painted pachyderm has worked. The agency in Los Angeles that issues permits for animals has decided it won't allow similar events in the future. The agency director said "abusing animals" sends the wrong message. Goodbye COOK: No matter how you view Student News, we're glad to have you along. I'm Shanon Cook. |
 | Militant attack at Pakistan mosque kills at least 40Militants armed with guns and grenades attacked a mosque during midday prayers in Rawalpindi on Friday, killing dozens of people, authorities said. |
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