Some odd news
Leader rails at teen breast implants gift fad
CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez railed against a new trend in beauty-conscious Venezuela, giving girls breast implants for their 15th birthday
"Now some people think, 'My daughter's turning 15, let's give her breast enlargements.' That's horrible. It's the ultimate degeneration," Chavez said late on Sunday on his weekly TV show that lasted a record eight hours.
Venezuela is well known for its beauty queens, who have regularly won world crowns, and many women have plastic surgery in the oil-rich country where there is widespread spending on consumer items that would be considered luxuries elsewhere.
But Chavez, the anti-U.S., self-styled revolutionary who came to office in 1999, is seeking to change those attitudes to create what he calls the "new man" to build a socialist society in this South American nation.
Chavez complained about the new fad of giving the plastic surgery operation at 15 -- when Latin Americans celebrate a girl's coming-of-age -- during a diatribe against what he says are Western-imposed consumerist icons such as Barbie dolls.
While breast implants are advertised on TV and banks offer special credit lines for such operations, if girls do get the enlargements they are not expected to become sexually active afterward.
Venezuelans' have a habit of avid consumerism since the 1970s oil boom in the OPEC nation. They have won the nickname of the "Give-Me-Twos" in the tourist destination of Florida for buying double the amount of typical consumers.
Breast implants cost thousands of dollars in Venezuela.
Chavez's answer? He has told his supporters to give away any extra goods they do not need, urging them to leave out in town squares items such as fans or refrigerators.
"I am calling on your conscience, fathers of this country, mothers of this country, they are our sons, they are our daughters," Chavez said.
Still, Chavez, who happily describes himself as ugly, may struggle to change Venezuelans' mind-set to spending on plastic surgery.
In elevators, at huge, jam-packed shopping malls, women can be overheard openly boasting about their recent, conspicuous operations.
Fashion chain Zara withdraws swastika handbag
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish fashion chain Zara has withdrawn a handbag from its stores after a customer in Britain complained swastikas were embroidered on it.
Zara, owned by the world's second largest fashion retailer Inditex, said it did not know the 39 pound ($78) handbag had green swastikas on its corners.
The bags were made by a supplier in India and inspired by commonly used Hindu symbols, which include the swastika. The original design approved by Zara did not have swastikas on it, Inditex said.
"After the return of one bag we decided to withdraw the whole range," said a spokesman for Inditex, which has more than 3,330 stores in 66 countries.
Zara pulled the bags after 19-year-old Rachel Hatton told Britain's Daily Mail she asked for a refund when she spotted swastikas on her bag.
"The shop assistants were quite shocked as well to find out this symbol was on there," she told BBC radio.
A British anti-fascism group said the bags were an attempt to legitimize fascism and the Daily Star tabloid newspaper ran a picture of Adolf Hitler next to its story headlined, "Fury over Nazi Fashion Bags."
The swastika is an ancient religious symbol for Hindus and Buddhists, and has represented the sun, strength and good luck to many groups around the world.
Since its adoption by the Nazi Party in 1920, people in the West have associated the swastika with Nazi dictator Hitler.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070921/od_nm/zara_swastikas_dc; _ylt=AkrZ82Aj_2dggiDXtzWICzASH9EA
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