Los Angeles deserves plaudits for many of its environmentally progressive initiatives – among them, fuel-efficient municipal vehicles and a pledge to generate 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2010. But much of this progress is rendered moot by the city's horrendous traffic-congestion problem, which stems from a sub-par – if not totally inadequate – public transportation system. Happily, The Governator and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are working on (or at least talking about) tackling the problem.

As Australia gears up for its second annual Yoga Championships on November 27, the image of yoga as serene and non-competitive takes another hit. Any tsk-tsks can be directed at yoga baron Bikram Choudhury who exported (but did not start) the Indian championships that are spreading throughout the world.