Features

NEUBEUERN, Germany — Three-year-old Laurent Schwarz may still be wearing nappies but his paintings have earned him social media fame and the nickname of Germany's "mini-Picasso".

In a studio his parents have set up at their home in the Bavarian town of Neubeuern, the toddler has been busy creating splashy artworks, often several times bigger than he is.

When he is not playing with his dinosaur toys, he likes to liberally apply acrylic paint to canvas with brushes, rollers or just his fingers to create riotously abstract pieces.

His parents said his works have attracted the eye of art lovers and galleries and fetched high prices. They insisted it was Laurent's artistic passion that has fuelled the art world hype, media interest and his very early brush with fame.

His 33-year-old mother Lisa Schwarz told AFP that the family discovered Laurent's love for painting on a family holiday last year, at a hotel which had a studio.

"When we got home, Laurent just wanted to paint -- paint, paint, paint, the whole time," she said.

She and her husband Philipp bought him some canvases, brushes and paint, and it was not long before family and friends were clamouring to see the prodigy's work.

They set up an Instagram account to share images of his work more easily and said they were soon bowled over by the response.

"Within four weeks we had got 10,000 followers," said Lisa, with enquiries from galleries following soon after, and interest from newspapers in Germany and abroad which quickly dubbed him the "mini-Picasso".

The Instagram account now has 90,000 followers and at a sale of Laurent's work in September buyers from around the world showed interest, according to his parents.

They said some works have sold for hundreds of thousands of euros, but declined to divulge details on sales and buyers.

'Always painting' 

Laurent is not the first child artist to capture the public's imagination.

In 2022 for example, 10-year-old American Andres Valencia sold his Picasso-influenced works for several hundred thousand dollars.

In the late 1990s, Romanian-American artist Alexandra Nechita also drew comparisons with the Spanish master at the tender age of 12.

Laurent's parents said they are still surprised at the reaction to their son's work.

While at the moment "almost everything has been sold", Laurent "is always painting new ones", said Philipp, 43.

"There are pictures that we don't sell, for example his first work or ones that he particularly likes," he explained.

Laurent's parents said they are keeping the money paid for his work in an account in his name which he will be able to access when he is an adult.

"He can study painting, buy a car, play an instrument, play football... It's up to him to choose," said Philipp, 43.

"The important thing for us is that he's happy."

By Sheela Sheth,
Food Expert

Some of my favourite power foods are arugula, chard and collard. They produce a chemical called serotonin which is the body’s mood lifter supporting gut health.

My other favourite leafy greens are chickweed, dandelions, kale, lettuce, moringa, radish leaves, purslane and nettle. Here are a couple of my recipes for you from my kitchen to yours.

Swiss Chard Curry Ingredients

• 10 stalks of chard leaves (red and green)
• 1 cup red lentils or split chickpeas
• 1 onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 tomatoes
• 1tsp turmeric
• 1tsp chili powder (optional)1tsp mixed spice
• 2tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. Wash and finely cut the chard leaves

2. Soak the lentils for 30 minutes

3. Finely cut the onions and tomatoes and then set aside

4. In a medium sized casserole, add onions to the warm oil until brown

5. Add the finely cut tomatoes and crushed garlic, turmeric, chili powder and salt

6. Once the greens shrivel, add the soaked lentils with 1 cup of water.

Add more water to suit your consistency. Lower the flame and let the mix cook until it becomes soft

7. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves

8. Serve hot with rice, pita bread or nan

Collard Green Rolls

Ingredients

• 15 collard green leaves
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• ½ cup rice flour
• 1 cup water
• 1tbsp tamarind paste
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1tsp chilli powder
• 1tsp turmeric
• 1tsp carom seeds
• 1tbsp oil
• 1tsp baking soda Salt to taste

Directions

1. Wash the collard green leaves thoroughly and remove the stalks

2. Prepare a thick batter with chickpea flour, rice flour and all the other ingredients

3. Place a leaf or two upside down on a chopping board and placing and spread a thin layer of the batter with your hand

4. Roll the leaf tightly folding both sides gently and set aside until you roll all the leaves

5. Place them in a single layer steamer and cook for 15 minutes

6. Cut them into round pieces once cooled

7. Garnish with sesame and serve as an appetiser

Radish Greens Stir Fry

Ingredients

• 1 bunch red radish with greens
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 1 onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1tbsp oil
• 1tsp lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Wash and cut the radish in circles and finely cut the leaves

2. Heat oil in a frying pan, add finely cut garlic cloves

3. Sauté finely cut onion for a minute

4. Add the radish and leaves together and toss to make a dry stir fry

5. Sprinkle with lemon juice and salt

6. Remove from fire and serve as a side

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

ROME — Astronauts walking on the moon as part of NASA's first human mission to the lunar South Pole will be wearing Prada, as part of a new venture unveiled on Wednesday.

Private space company Axiom Space teamed up with the Italian luxury brand to provide the surface suits and spacewalk systems for NASA's Artemis 3 mission, which is planned for September 2026.

The external layer of the space suit, designed to reflect heat, is largely white, as it was on the suits worn by the Apollo astronauts who last walked on the moon more than 50 years ago.

But the update will have a few touches of grey and some red stripes similar to those seen on Italy's Luna Rossa America's Cup boat, which was also sponsored by Prada.

Matt Ondler, president of Axiom Space, told a press launch in Milan that making the suit had required "extreme engineering" and "fantastic manufacturing capability".

"They will go in places that are incredibly hazardous, extreme environments," he said.

"One of the missions that NASA wants to do is to try to find water craters at the South Pole. These are some of the coldest places in the universe. And so this suit has to be designed very cleverly."

At the lunar South Pole, a land of mountains and deep craters, the sun hovers below or just above the horizon.

As a result, temperatures vary from upwards of 54ºC in sunlit periods to -203ºC in shadowed areas that have never see the sun, NASA says.

The suit aims to provide maximum comfort to the astronauts, the team said, while also protecting them against radiation, external pressure and provide the power and oxygen they need for up to eight hours of moonwalks.

With the mission set to see the first woman on the moon, the suits are also unisex and can be adapted to different sizes.

"We've blended engineering, science and art to produce the ultimate garments for future moonwalkers, ensuring that astronauts can perform their tasks and missions in safety and comfort," said Russell Ralston, Axiom spacesuit programme manager.

The design of the boots was a particular challenge, in terms of insulation and to make them robust enough for the terrain.

But the materials used are "confidential", said Lorenzo Bertelli, marketing manager for Prada and the son of the fashion house's founder, Miuccia Prada.

ISLA DE MALPELO, Colombia — A lone catamaran named “Silky” patrols waters around the remote island of Malpelo, a refuge that is protected yet full of peril for endangered marine species in the Colombian Pacific.

Its crew of environmentalists is the terror of boats illegally fishing for sharks inside the reserve some 500 kilometres off mainland Colombia — one of the richest countries in terms of marine fauna.

Without weapons or backup, the activists shoo away intruder vessels, threaten to report them to the authorities, even dive under water to cut loose sharks caught in nets or on lines.

Active round-the-clock since 2018, the team of shark-lovers claims to be turning the tide in the Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary, a mecca for divers and the largest no-fishing zone in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

“The success of the project can be seen in the fact that they [the illegal fishers] do not return,” said Colombian diver Erika Lopez, who created the foundation Biodiversity Conservation Colombia with the help of an Australian philanthropist.

The project was born from what the activists view as a lack of official shark protection, with the navy arresting illegal fishers only if they happen to come across them on routine patrols against drug traffickers and other territorial intruders.

Due to play host of the UN COP16 biodiversity conference starting next Monday, Colombia’s vast Pacific coastline is on a key migratory route for hammerhead sharks, whale sharks and other species, many of them endangered.

But the bountiful waters of the sanctuary attract vessels from far and wide, many from neighboring Ecuador, others from Panama and Costa Rica in the Caribbean or even China, where shark fin is a delicacy.

Lopez’s foundation claims the crew of the Silky — the name of a type of shark — has rescued 508 animals alive since 2018, scared away 302 boats and confiscated more than 70,000 meters of fishing line.

Since last December, the foundation reports it has not spotted any fishing boats near Malpelo island in the reserve of more than 850,000 hectares recognised as a UNESCO heritage site.

“We try as much as possible to take the equipment away from them, to free the species that are trapped, that’s the main mission,” 53-year-old Dario Ortiz, an artisanal fisherman-turned-environmentalist, told AFP on board the “Silky.”

“This boat has to be basically 24/7, 365 days a year containing this threat,” said Lopez, 51, who dreams of upscaling the project to a flotilla of vessels dedicated to conservation and science in the Pacific.

Rich and desirable

On the high seas, far from Malpelo Island, a Colombian navy warship also patrols an area teeming with hammerhead sharks, marlin and other endangered creatures.

On a recent mission with AFP on board, it arrested three Ecuadoran fishermen found with a highly valuable haul of silky, hammerhead and blacktip sharks, sailfish and four blue marlins — all still alive.

“The Colombian Pacific is very rich and it is desirable,” said Admiral Rafael Aranguren.

With “our ships we can reach this part of the territory and exercise controls so that they do not illegally exploit these riches, so that they do not harm the environment”.

In 2020, the government of former president Ivan Duque banned shark fishing, both on an industrial and small-scale, to try to protect marine stocks.

But faced with an outcry from Afro-Caribbean fishing communities on the Pacific coast which rely on shark catches for meat to eat and sell, incumbent President Gustavo Petro in January partly repealed the ban.

The government decreed that small-scale fishermen may keep and consume sharks accidentally caught in nets meant for other, unrestricted, fish species.

The decision caused outrage among conservationists who view it as a licence to kill.

The Navy estimates it has arrested 30 people so far this year for illegal fishing in Colombian waters.

Between 2012 and 2022, authorities seized more than 334 tons of fish meat illegally harvested, according to the ministry of environment.

The country does not keep a record of sharks that fall victim to illegal fishing.

Dr Reham Ma’ani 
Dental & Oral Surgeon

Drinking coffee can feel great and help you feel energised for the day. However, this is a false feeling and what’s more, your teeth and gum health are at risk too.

Did you know that by drinking only one cup of coffee a day, you can increase your chances of cavities?

Teeth discolouration

Coffee can also contribute bad breath because it increases oral bacteria in the mouth. The bacteria creates acid that leads to tooth and enamel erosion.

Enamel is made up of minerals, mainly hydroxyapatite. It is the protective layer on your teeth. It’s also partially responsible for their colour.

The most prominent problem of drinking coffee regularly is the discoloration of your teeth.

Coffee can discolour teeth because of an ingredient called tannin found in other beverages like wine and tea.

The enamel combined with the colour of the underlying material of dentin produce the coluor of your teeth.

Coffee can penetrate enamel, covering it with a deep yellow to brownish tone.

Coffee creamers and sugar

When the enamel becomes thin, the dentin becomes more visible, resulting in yellow teeth.

Adding creamer to coffee will also not hinder the discolouration of your teeth.

The pigments and acids responsible for the dark coffee colour don’t disappear by adding creamer, so it can still stain your teeth.

Creamer and sugars can also speed up the growth of bacteria.

Straws

Although stopping your coffee consumption would reduce your chances of discoloring your teeth and damaging your dental hygiene, stopping your coffee intake can be difficult.

To avoid the discolouration of your teeth, you can try drinking it from an environment-friendly stainless steel straw to reduce contact with your teeth.

You can also try to sip coffee throughout the day, rather than drinking it in one go to prevent the build-up of bacteria.

Drinking lots of water can also help quickly rinse the residual liquids.

Brushing your teeth

One of the most effective ways to help reduce the effects of coffee stains on your teeth is by thoroughly brushing and flossing your teeth shortly after a cup of coffee.

Vegetables

I recommend waiting at least 30 minutes after drinking coffee to brush as it will allow the acid in your mouth to neutralise. Eating vegetables such as carrots and celery after a cup of coffee will help in reducing tooth discolouration and freshen up your breath.

It’s also a great idea to see your dentist at least once a year to deep clean your teeth.

Your dentist can help clean the stains from your teeth so your smile stays nice and pearly white!

Keeping your teeth white

There are a few ways that you can help maintain your dental hygiene, including:

-Waiting 30 minutes before brushing your teeth.

-Drinking water.

-Using a stainless steel straw.

-Getting your teeth professionally whitened.

-Visiting your dentist regularly.

-Brushing, flossing and using mouthwash regularly.

 Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine.


RIO DE JANEIRO — Elon Musk's social media platform X, which was banned in Brazil for 40 days in a legal tussle over disinformation, was available again in Latin America's biggest country on Wednesday.

The site was accessible from inside Brazil, also the largest Latin American market for X, a day after the Supreme Court lifted its suspension.

Users reacted enthusiastically to its return with the hashtag "#voltou" (I'm back) trending in Brazil.

The network also welcomed the decision.

"X is proud to return to Brazil," it said on its global government affairs account, adding that it would "continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate."

Musk himself had yet to publicly react.

The reactivation appeared to be taking place sporadically, with some users still failing to connect to X.

Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel explained that the delays experienced by some were due to the workings of their internet providers.

X had 22 million users in Brazil before it was blocked on August 30 by supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes for failing to comply with a series of court orders aimed at combatting disinformation.

Moraes authorised it to resume activities on Tuesday after X paid millions of dollars in fines.

The company also eventually complied with his other demands, including that it deactivate the accounts of several supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro who were accused of spreading disinformation and that it appoint a legal representative in Brazil.

'Brazil is sovereign' 

Communications Minister Juscelino Filho called the outcome a "triumph" for Brazil.

"We have shown the world that here you have to respect the law, whoever you are. Brazil is sovereign," he said in a statement.

The showdown between the powerful judge and Musk -- the world's richest man, who has been accused of allowing hate speech and disinformation to proliferate on the site formerly known as Twitter -- was closely watched around the world.

Musk had lashed out at Moraes over the ban, calling him an "evil dictator" and dubbing him "Voldemort," after the villain from the "Harry Potter" series.


BERKHAMSTED, United Kingdom — Sherlock Holmes fans are being promised a most authentic depiction of the fictional detective, with the restoration of a century-old silent film series chronicling the London sleuth's adventures.

Audiences will be treated to a first glimpse of the restored works from the early 1920s next week at a London Film Festival screening, accompanied by a newly commissioned live score from Royal Academy of Music performers.

The October 16 premiere of just three of the short films, in what is being called "Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases", will take place in the Victorian-era grandeur of the Alexandra Palace Theatre in north London.

A wider release on DVD and Blu-Ray, and encompassing an international tour, will then follow, with the British Film Institute (BFI) restoration team excited to unveil its years-long efforts.

"They're the last silent Sherlock-related works to be restored," explained Bryony Dixon, the BFI curator who led the project.

"The other surviving ones have already been done, so these are the things that audiences have been waiting for patiently," she told AFP at the film charity's national archive in Berkhamsted, northwest of the UK capital.

"Sherlock Holmes is always popular, and popular all over the world. As they say: you could just write Sherlock Holmes on a cardboard box and sell it.

"So it's of interest to people and it's time that it was seen."

'Authenticity' 

Produced in 1921-23 by British film company Stoll Pictures, the 45 episodes of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and two feature films that are being restored all feature screen star of the era Eille Norwood.

He was author Arthur Conan Doyle's favourite on-screen Sherlock.

Conan Doyle's creation has been adapted for the big and small screen hundreds of times, with Guinness World Records hailing him the most portrayed literary human character in film and television history.

Famous faces to have played Sherlock recently include Robert Downey Jr and Benedict Cumberbatch.

But Stoll's black-and-white adaptations were made with the author's approval while he was still penning the stories, setting them apart, according to Dixon.

"People will be interested to see a Sherlock Holmes film version... in an early stage of development for the screen," she said.

"There is a level of authenticity to this character, vis-a-vis the Conan Doyle creation, that you might not get with later Sherlock Holmes."

Time-consuming 

Restoring the more than 20 hours of footage -- funded through an initiative of data storage and management firm Iron Mountain -- began in 2019 at the BFI's vast archive.

The repository, on a former farm, houses hundreds of thousands of reels dating back decades that are stacked on lofty rows of shelves in refrigerated vaults.

Particularly old footage on nitrate film -- like the Stoll series -- are also kept at another, even colder, site in western England but brought to Berkhamsted for restoration.

Conservators in white laboratory coats have spent months meticulously checking and cleaning reels of original negatives and copies.

Some were damaged, requiring painstaking repair.

"Despite all the damage, it is in pretty good condition," said senior conservator Kirsty Shanks, noting that old reels can arrive decomposed into "powdery, sticky, solid messes".

Many of the Sherlock nitrate prints were mouldy, oily, brittle and fragile, requiring time-consuming cleaning by hand, she added.

Another challenge has been negatives arriving in sections, rather than complete reels, requiring staff to sequence them.

'Special' 

Down a corridor lined with vintage movie posters and old film equipment on display, Ben Thompson has spent hundreds of hours in a windowless room, working on the endeavour.

The image quality lead has had to ensure the new digital version replicates the 1920s footage in texture, colour palette and other aspects.

He uses software to match the original filmmakers' use of colour tinges -- primarily blue and amber dyes -- to parts of the negatives to help denote night, day and flashbacks.

Thompson also has a hand in repairs, noting the beginning and end of reels have often borne the brunt of past use and require the most intensive rehabilitation.

"It's the starts and ends where you get into the real manual work," he explained.

He recounted working for days on a single 10-second opening shot of Sherlock's Baker Street home neighbourhood. In comparison, some mid-reel scenes required just minutes of repair.

BFI veteran Shanks described the project as the most "challenging" restoration of her career but still a labour of love.

PARIS — Chanel returned to the Grand Palais — scene of the late Karl Lagerfeld's most legendary triumphs — for the first time in four years on Tuesday, without a designer but still able to ruffle feathers with its birdcage-themed Paris Fashion Week show.

The famed French house turned the refurbished Belle Epoque edifice into a giant aviary, with a white birdcage at its centre to show off a collection festooned with plumes and feathers.

Only a day earlier, British designer Stella McCartney had lamented the "billions of birds killed for the fashion industry" after the animal rights campaigner's own bird-themed Paris show.

But there were plumes aplenty at Chanel — a favourite of its founder Gabrielle Chanel — as it celebrated her fascination with birds and flight.

The giant birdcage was also a nod to Chanel's iconic bird on a swing advert from 1992 starring French singer Vanessa Paradis and her black tail feathers.

Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough sat on the swing to sing this time.

With the main entrance of the Grand Palais now bearing Gabrielle Chanel's name as a part of a 30 million-euro ($33 million) deal to stage its shows at the Paris landmark, the brand wanted to plant a flag during uncertain times.

No rush 

for new designer 

Without a creative director since June after Virginie Viard — who took over from Lagerfeld after his death in 2019 — bowed out, Chanel's studio designed the spring summer collection, riffing on some of the label's standards, from its trademark tweeds to lacy flapper dresses and flying jackets.

But it was the feathers that stood out, used in ruff-like collars on crocheted bombers and on 1920s-style gowns inspired by the glamour of French writer Colette's forays into music hall and cabaret.

Chanel chief Bruno Pavlovsky told AFP that the French company would not be rushed into finding a replacement for Viard, who was Lagerfeld's righthand woman for decades.

"You should not have a knife at our throat" if you are going to make "the right choices", he insisted, saying there would likely be an announcement by the end of the year.

Tom Ford, John Galliano, Simon Porte Jacquemus and French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld top the list of names mentioned to take over, though Pavlovsky would not be drawn on rumours.

With the big luxury Paris houses seeing profits fall as Chinese buyers button their purses, he said it was "the time for us to bounce back. Virginie did a great job over the last five years — indeed these last 30 years when she was at Karl's side”.

"The strength of the brand is that it can take its time because we have teams who are super solid," Pavlovsky told AFP before the show.

Virtuoso Vuitton 

Hollywood stars Hilary Swank and Willem Dafoe later walked for the Italian label Miu Miu, Prada's avant garde little sister.

Veteran designer Miuccia Prada — who has a doctorate in political science — called her show "Truthless Times" and had her models walk through a recreation of a newspaper printers' press hall, with copies of her show notes flying overhead.

On a day of spectacular shows, arguably the most impressive came at the end at the Louvre, where Louis Vuitton's Nicolas Ghesquiere produced a virtuoso panorama of colour and style, with barely two looks that were alike.

The couturier sent his models down a super long runway seemingly made up of Louis Vuitton suitcases and travel trunks.

His shoes and sandals also caught the eye of a star-studded front row that included movie stars Zendaya, Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander and South Korean singer Lisa of Blackpink.

They began with flat men's style sandals with overhanging straps and ended in dreamy puffball "cloud" slippers that might also be handy for bringing up the shine on the marble floors of Hollywood mansions.