NYT’s faulty posture

An incendiary piece in New York Times, under the headline, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”, has upset the US’ usually chilled community of yoga-lovers. The article which appeared across several pages of the paper’s Sunday magazine alleged students and even “celebrated teachers” were injuring themselves “in droves” by over-ambitious and under-taught yoga moves.

History burnt

Thousands of historical documents could be lost following a fire at Institute of Egypt. It broke out during clashes in Tahrir Square last month. An army of restoration workers is working day and night to save the resources.

Top Gear’s toilet humour

A special edition of BBC automobile show Top Gear, which led to a complaint by the Indian High Commission, was not insulting, the programme has said.

News Snippets

>> Iran’s education ministry has announced it will publish separate textbooks for boys and girls, creating another area of gender segregation in the Islamic republic. The ministry also said the country’s educational system requires boys and girls to study at different schools.

Dr. No's Nonsense

Nuclear power supporters have found a new flogging horse: villains of James Bond movies. The villains have cast a long-lasting shadow over the image of nuclear power, says David Phillips, president of Royal Society of Chemistry.

Relief in verse

Poems about the tsunami that hit Japan last year were among the winners at the country’s annual Imperial Palace poetry contest. One winner, a 72-year-old tailor, wrote of his relief upon learning that his son was safe after three days of uncertainty. Another winning poem sang of the author’s pride in alternative energy, depicting the dazzling landscape of solar panels in the morning light.

Monsanto pulled up

The Advertising Standards Council of India has upheld complaints against Mahyco-Monsanto’s advertisement for Bollgard II, a Bt cotton variety, in Hindustan Times on August 30, 2011. The complaint was filed by Rachna Arora of non-profit Public Awareness on Genetically Modified Food on the same day.

Art aid

The Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information has launched a website (www.anhri.net/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ cartoonistguide.png), which it describes as a cartoonist’s guide to social networks. The website is meant to help Arab artists in using social networks for artistic production or publishing their production.

A panda isn’t sweet

BBC has caused furore by choosing a panda as one of its 12 women of 2011. Tian Tian (aka Sweetie) was selected by the BBC magazine for its faces of the year 2011. The men’s page included the actor Colin Firth and prospective Republic presidential nominee Herman Cain. Sweetie, staying at Edinburgh zoo, is on loan from Beijing.

Putting face to violence

Fifty two unlikely models stare down at passersby from giant black-and-white posters in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. They are all mothers who have lost their children to the criminal violence that is plaguing the country.