Quick Guide & Transcript: U.N. envoy speaks out on Darfur, Ad shows how beauty can be distorted

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(CNN Student News) -- October 25, 2006

Quick Guide

Crisis in Darfur - Discover why a U.N. envoy says it's too late for diplomacy in Sudan's Darfur region.

The Fight for Iraq - Get an update on the situation and strategy concerning U.S. forces in Iraq.

Only Skin Deep - Look beyond the surface to where beauty, technology and controversy meet.

Transcript

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

MONICA LLOYD, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: The news never stops, so it's time again for CNN Student News. I'm Monica Lloyd. In Africa, the clock ticks for Darfur's refugees. Why a U.N. envoy says the world must act now. In Iraq, U.S. generals say "stay the course" Why some say that "course" needs changing. And for fashion magazines, beauty is in the eye of the mouse-holder. Find out how "pretty" gets pixelated.

First Up: Crisis in Darfur

LLOYD: First up today, more news from Sudan's Darfur region. Violence between rebels and militias in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced millions more. Now it seems the Sudanese leaders are getting prickly about foreign watchdogs. President Omar al-Bashir threatened yesterday to expel media and relief groups in Darfur. His government has already ordered U.N. envoy Jan Pronk expelled from the country. Jeff Koinange caught up with the outspoken Dutch diplomat who's been critical of policies out of Khartoum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN REPORTER: When the rest of the world was sitting quietly by and Darfur was reaching a boiling point, one man kept waving the red flag. That man was Jan Pronk, the United Nations' highest ranking diplomat in Sudan. He insisted then as he does know that the time for diplomacy in Darfur is long past.

JAN PRONK, UN Special Envoy to Sudan: More than two million people in camps. You can say that Darfur has been cleansed.

KOINANGE: He's never been one to mince his words when it comes to the slow reaction of the international community to what the U.N. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

PRONK: The international community took action too little and too late.

KOINANGE: Too late, he says to save the lives of hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions.

PRONK: For many people, it is too late. They cannot be salvaged anymore because they have been killed, they have raped, atrocities have taken place with impunity in this part of the country.

KOINANGE: As for the fragile peace agreement signed more than five months ago......

PRONK: It is dead now or nearly dead because the parties are not living up to their own agreement. Since the peace agreement the situation is worse than before the peace agreement. That is indeed a desperate situation.

KOINANGE: And when it comes to the Sudanese government, Pronk becomes the a-typical diplomat --- speaking his mind.

PRONK: The plight of the people in Darfur is the making of the Sudanese. The people have been forgotten, neglected, marginalized. The government is responsible for using of the army, and Arab militia which kill and kill and do not abide by any rule let alone Human Rights rules. So it's their making.

KOINANGE: So, it comes as no surprise that his latest comments, in the form of a blog saying the Sudanese government suffered recent heavy losses in Darfur and that its troops are demoralized, has angered his hosts to the point of showing Pronk the door, the first diplomat to be expelled from Sudan since the Darfur crisis began.

ALI SADIQ, SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: We consider such statements are incompatible with the mission of the Special Representative of the Secretary General.

KOINANGE: The United States was quick to respond, calling it, quote 'unfortunate in the extreme'.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The situation in Darfur is deteriorating and the international community needs very much to be able to act there.

KOINANGE: Pronk has always been adamant about completing his mission in Sudan at any cost and he still insists the world needs to continue applying pressure on the Sudanese government before the window of opportunity slams shut.

PRONK: We now are five minutes before midnight. The coming three months are crucial. Deadline after deadline. This is the last one. We need a transition to a UN force I would say on the first of January.

KOINANGE: The First of January now seems like a pipe dream....and now with the U.N.'s most outspoken diplomat out of the way, the future of millions of Darfur's desperately displaced people hangs in the balance. Jeff Koinange, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNHCR Donations

To Donate:

www.unhcr.org

www.oxfamamerica.org

www.savethechildren.org

The Fight for Iraq

LLOYD: There's more grim news out of Iraq for U.S. forces. Yesterday a soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. And two U.S. marines and a sailor killed in the Al Anbar province on Monday. The deaths come as the U.S. military searches for a missing solder who is feared to have been abducted. U.S. commanders say they're working with Iraqi leaders on developing a plan to have Iraqi forces take over security operations within the next year or so. But as Kyung Lah reports, some congressional critics say that day can't come soon enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN REPORTER: Every available military resource says the U.S. is being used to find the missing American soldier. The Iraqi American soldier is a translator and was kidnapped by masked gunmen. Meanwhile, more violence across Iraq. U.S. troops stood guard near a burning Humvee, ripped apart by a bomb that exploded near the convoy in Fallujah. The monthly death toll of U.S. soldiers... now above 90... the highest for the year. Despite these setbacks, top U.S. military and political leaders say the war can be won.

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: My message today is straight forward. Despite the difficult challenges we face, success in Iraq is possible and can be achieved on a realistic timetable.

LAH: The top U.S. commander says within 12 to 18 months Iraqi security forces will be able to completely take over security.

GEN. GEORGE W. CASEY, JR. IRAQ MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE COMMANDER: I still very strongly believe that we need to continue to reduce our forces as the Iraqis continue to improve, because we need to get out of their way.

LAH: With just two weeks until the congressional mid-term elections, Democrats continue to hammer away at the problems in the war torn country.

SEN. JACK REED, (D) RHODE ISLAND: We're not suggesting a timetable. We're not suggesting a deadline. What we are suggesting is a clear articulation of a policy that we intend to redeploy our forces and shift, as properly so, the burden to the Iraqis.

LAH: General Casey says at this point he does not need more U.S. troops on the ground, but that it is still a possibility. In Washington, Kyung Lah, CNN Student News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Written Word

If I could write the beauty of your eyes And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say 'This poet lies: Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.' - Shakespeare's Sonnet XVII

Only Skin Deep

LLOYD: Shakespeare used words to describe beauty. But if the bard were around today, he might try photoshop. Girls, if you look to fashion magazines to define "beauty" look again. Many photos are more digital make-believe than real. A new ad campaign shows why it might be impossible to follow the glossies. As Brooke Anderson explains, a pretty face is not always what it seems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN REPORTER: They say, "beauty is only skin deep." But, today, the adage could be, "beauty is only a click away." This new ad from Dove, called exposes the secrets behind the so-called 'perfect' images splashed all over magazines and television today. With a little help, Stephanie is given a whole new look in a matter of seconds. She's photographed, and then the clicking begins.

KATHY O'BRIEN, DOVE MARKETING: They start enhancing her features, you know plumping up her lips and enlarging her eyes and even lengthening her neck, and that's the part that I find startling.

ANDERSON: Startling and problematic, according to Dove's marketing director, Kathy O'Brien. She says it's digital techniques like these that - like the ad says - are "distorting" society's perception of beauty.

O'BRIEN: I understand why photographs and fashion magazines want to portray the most beautiful images that they can, but what we're finding through the work that Dove has done is that these images are really unachievable for women.

ANDERSON: Roshumba Williams is a professional model and has even written a book about it.

ANDERSON: Williams says the altered pictures are harmless, that consumers aren't naive, they know photos are enhanced, but still buy the magazines for the fantasy.

WILLIAMS: They want to escape, they want to have the dream, they want to get away. It's easy, it's harmless. I don't think it's a bad thing, I think it's a good thing.

ANDERSON: Dove's mission to change the preconceived notion of beauty is a familiar quest for the star of the highest rated new television show this fall...Ugly Betty. With an average of 14 million viewers a week, Ugly Betty, a less-than-glamorous assistant to a fashion magazine editor, went head-to-head with the practice of re-touching photos...And in the end, like Dove, chose to broaden the definition of real beauty.

AMERICA FERRARA, ACTRESS: I've started saying that we're all just an hour away from ugly. That's my new catch phrase.

ANDERSON: Whether it's skin deep or with the click of a mouse...beauty will always be in the eye of the beholder. Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Promo

LLOYD: Since August, Student News has been available as a downloadable podcast. To get it.. go to CNN.com/education...where we also come to you as a video stream. Want another option? Catch the show while you're on i-Tunes! You do that by searching for "CNN Student News" while there.

Goodbye

LLOYD: Before we go, we go to Memphis, Tennessee, which is playing host to a runaway manatee. Reports first came in earlier this week about hippo-like creature in a Mississippi River Tributary. And ever since it's been "manatee mania." Experts say it's likely he swam 725 miles up the big muddy. He's either lost or an Elvis fan and wanted to visit Graceland. Manatees tend to prefer coastal waters off the gulf coast or along Florida.

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