A significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into The Actor and tore it, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said.
The unusually large canvas, measuring 196 by 115 centimetres, sustained a vertical tear of about 15 centimetres in the lower right-hand corner in the accident.
The museum, located on the eastern edge of New York's Central Park, did not elaborate on why the woman fell. But The Met said the damage did not impact the "focal point of the composition" and that it should be repaired in the coming weeks ahead of a major Picasso retrospective featuring some 250 works at the museum opening on April 27.
Repair work should be "unobtrusive", it added.
Painted in the winter of 1904-1905, the work hails from Picasso's critical Rose Period, when the artist shifted from the downbeat tones of his Blue Period to warmer, more romantic hues.
Donated to The Met by automobile heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy in 1952, The Actor features an acrobat striking a dramatic pose against an abstract backdrop. It was painted on a used canvas that already contained a painting. (AFP)
Dutch spending... on bicycles
Recession or not, the cycle-happy Dutch are still spending a lot of money on their bicycles - nearly €1 billion worth a year, in fact.
About 1.3 million bicycles were sold in the Netherlands last year, at an average price of €713 each, an industry association said yesterday.
That led to total revenue of €950 million for the year, up four per cent on 2008, the Rai Vereniging said. The per-bike price was also up 3.5 per cent.
The country's flat geography and high population density has made the bicycle one of the primary modes of transportation, with 18,000 kilometres of cycle paths nationwide.
Statistics compiled by the International Bicycle Fund show a higher percentage of all trips is made by bike in the Netherlands than any other country in the world. According to Statistics Netherlands, in 2007 nearly one in four Dutch workers commuted by bike. (Reuters)
Mobile toilets hit Dhaka's streets
Bangladesh has ordered an emergency deployment of 100 mobile toilets in its capital to head off a worrying rise in public defecation, Dhaka's mayor said yesterday.
Sadeque Hossain Khoka told AFP the sprawling metropolis, which has an official population of 12 million, has only 48 public toilets - one for every quarter of a million residents.
"We have launched 100 mobile toilets, which will be carried around manually on tricycle vans. They will be strategically placed so that people don't have to use road corners to answer the call of nature," he said.
Unofficially, Dhaka's population tops 20 million, when vast slums on the city's outskirts are included. (AFP)
Lumley named Oldie of the Year
Actress Joanna Lumley was named Oldie of the Year yesterday by the monthly Oldie magazine for campaigning for the rights of retired Nepalese Gurkha soldiers wanting to settle in Britain.
Thanks in part to the 63-year-old's lobbying, the government announced in May, 2009 that former Gurkhas who retired before 1997 with more than four years' service would be eligible to apply to live in Britain. The decision potentially affected up to 15,000 veterans.
"We would like to award her for her relentless efforts and continuing campaigning for Ghurkhas' rights and The Gurkha Justice Campaign," Oldie organisers said.
Broadcaster and television personality Terry Wogan, 71, who stepped down as presenter of the popular BBC Radio 2 breakfast show last month, will hand out the prizes at a ceremony in London and pick up his own award - Retirer of the Year. (Reuters)
President releases third pop album
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, suffering from falling domestic popularity despite winning plaudits from investors, has found time to release his third album of pop songs in Jakarta.
The president's album, entitled I'm Certain I'll Make It, comes as his government's popularity has declined over the expensive bailout of a local bank in 2008.
"In my struggle to serve the country, sometimes during my leisure time, I express my feelings in the form of arts," the Monday edition of an English-language newspaper, the Jakarta Post, quoted Mr Yudhoyono as saying.
The President, who in the past has crooned onstage during election rallies, chose not to sing on the latest album but collaborated with popular local artistes, including a former winner of Indonesian Idol and the 2009 winner of favourite male artiste at MTV Indonesia Music Awards.
A poll released on Sunday by survey firm Indobarometer found 75 per cent of respondents supported Mr Yudhoyono, down from 90 per cent when he was re-elected midway through last year, although still a number most political leaders would envy. (Reuters)