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TOKYO — From a piggy bank that demands your cash to a pump-action gun blasting damp toilet roll pellets: Tokyo’s toy show has a bewildering array of gadgets to delight both kids and the young-at-heart.

Gone are the days of the humble pink porcelain piggy bank. Today’s frugal kids get an Internet-connected, cat-shaped device that sings, chats and even demands to be fed with cash.

The BankNyan, one of the hits at the Tokyo Toy Show that opened on Thursday, has sensors to judge how much money is being saved for a rainy day and — with its Internet connection — can even tell you if it is actually likely to rain.

The cat-faced machine, the epitome of Japanese “cute”, senses when a child enters the room and immediately strikes up conversation, using one of its 1,400 phrases.

But the piggy bank of the future is a demanding character: two of its stock phrases are “Give me all your money!” and “Now’s the time to save.”

If it is successful in persuading the child to part with some pocket money, it calculates a running total — no more shaking the bank trying to guess how many coins are left.

It can also sense how much is withdrawn but does not give up its cash without a guilt trip, asking whether the child is absolutely sure he or she wants to take the money out.

Parents might want to start saving themselves, though, as such cutting-edge technology does not come cheap: the BankNyan retails at around 10,000 yen ($90).

Much more low-tech but for the ultimate in toilet humour, is the “skid shot”, a pump-action toy shotgun with a loo roll attachment for bathroom ballistics.

The marksman pulls back a lever that feeds a small amount of toilet paper into a chamber where it is wetted and compressed into a perfect “bullet”.

Up to two pellets can be fired at a time, making a satisfying “splat” on the wall or, at the show, a bullseye target.

‘Magic putty’

Another toy sure to delight kids who love to make a mess is magic putty showcased by EP.

This gooey substance comes with a head-spinning variety of options: you can bounce it, stretch it, make it dance with magnets and several putties change colour under sunlight or at a certain temperature.

Made of silicone and satisfyingly squeezy, it also comes in psychedelic colours and with sugary smells made to resemble food products like caramel or bright-pink cake topping.

Parents be reassured though: it is designed not to stick to furniture or clothes, although a spokesman admitted: “It can sometimes get stuck in your hair.”

Around 200 toy manufacturers from all around the world are exhibiting their latest delights at the show, which runs until Sunday and expects to welcome some 160,000 visitors.

While the show stresses its global nature, many of the exhibits are classically “only in Japan”, with more Godzilla and Hello Kitty than even the most enthusiastic fan could handle.

A prime example: an applauding robot for solo karaoke artists. The singer takes the pint-sized companion with two hands sticking out of its head to the karaoke booth, and it claps in time along to the music and enthusiastically applauds when the hit is finished.

Another high-tech innovation impressing visitors was the “Printoss”, for those wanting an instant souvenir of a happy moment.

In the shape of a small toy van, the Printoss is a mini photo printer. The user grabs a smartphone selfie, places the phone on top of the “van” and a few seconds later, a small Polaroid-style photo is ejected from the back.

Women who eat a lot of fast food may take longer to become pregnant and be more likely to experience infertility than their counterparts, who rarely if ever eat these types of meals, a recent study suggests. 

Compared with women who generally avoided fast food, women who indulged four or more times a week before they conceived took almost a month longer to become pregnant, the study of 5,598 first-time mothers in Australia, New Zealand and the UK found. 

Overall, 2,204 women, or 39 per cent, conceived within one month of when they began having sex with their partner without contraception and 468, or 8 per cent, experienced infertility and failed to conceive after 12 months of trying. 

While women who rarely or never ate fast food had an 8 per cent risk of infertility, the risk was 16 per cent among women who ate fast food at least four times weekly. 

“Fast foods contain high amounts of saturated fat, sodium, and sometimes sugar,” said lead study author Jessica Grieger of the Robinson Research Institute and the University of Adelaide in Australia. 

“Although these dietary components and their relationship to fertility has not been specifically studied in human pregnancies, higher amounts of saturated fatty acids were identified in oocytes [an egg cell in the ovary] of women undergoing assisted reproduction and studies in mice have demonstrated that a high fat diet had a toxic effect on the ovaries,” Grieger said by e-mail. “We believe that fast food may be one factor mediating infertility through altered ovarian function.” 

Roughly one in ten women of childbearing age have difficulty getting pregnant. Most of the time, it is caused by problems with ovulation, often related to a hormone imbalance known as polycystic ovarian syndrome. Some signs that a woman is not ovulating normally include irregular or absent menstrual periods. 

Less-common causes of infertility in women can include blocked fallopian tubes, structural problems with the uterus or uterine fibroids. 

The risk increases with age and can also be exacerbated by smoking, excessive drinking, stress, an unhealthy diet, too much exercise, being overweight or obese or having sexually transmitted infections. 

Women in the current study were typically overweight and most of them ate fast food at least twice a week, the study team notes in Human Reproduction. 

Researchers also looked at how often women ate fruit and found that those who had it less than once a month took half a month longer to become pregnant than women who ate at least three fruit servings a day. 

With the lowest fruit intake, the risk of infertility was 12 per cent, compared to 8 per cent with the highest fruit consumption. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how the amount of fruit or fast food women consume might impact their fertility. Another limitation is that researchers relied on dietary questionnaires women completed during prenatal visits that asked them to recall how they ate in the month before they conceived — a method that is not always accurate. 

“A lot of maternal lifestyle factors are associated with infertility, like smoking, alcohol drinking or obesity,” said Joachim Dudenhausen, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. 

The current study offers fresh evidence of the role diet can play in helping women conceive, Dudenhausen, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“There are some studies showing that preconception intake of fruits and fish increase fertility,” Dudenhausen said. “The study is in the same line and has clear data supporting the advice for women who wish to get pregnant to have greater intake of fruit and lower intake of fast food.”

SAN FRANCISCO — After a decade of sizzling growth, the smartphone market has suddenly cooled.

Surveys show smartphone sales last year shrank slightly for the first time since the 2007 debut of the iPhone, and preliminary data this year suggests further deceleration.

Analysts say several factors have hit the smartphone market including the lack of new features that wow consumers, people holding their devices longer and the saturation of key markets including China, which had been driving growth.

“The market has peaked, that is the bottom line,” said Bob O’Donnell, analyst and consultant with Technalysis Research.

“It is for sure not the death of the smartphone; it is the death of the growth of the smartphone market.”

The smartphone market began to hit saturation in 2016, much the way the tablet and personal computer markets did years earlier.

“It doesn’t mean it is not a strong market — it is a huge market — but it means vendors have to think differently,” O’Donnell told AFP.

Smartphone sellers with slices of the market should no longer count on a fast-growing pie and instead rely on shrewd competitive moves to ramp up revenues, according to analysts.

Samsung remains the market leader, according to surveys, but its lead over Apple has slipped. 

China’s Huawei is holding the number three spot and rival Chinese maker Xiaomi has been growing rapidly despite the lack of a US presence.

China focal point

International Data Corporation (IDC) said 2017 smartphone sales fell 0.1 per cent to 1.472 billion devices, largely due to weak fourth quarter shipments.

IDC expects another decline in 2018 before a rebound from new phones for 5G networks and India’s vibrant market.

The “biggest driver” of the downturn last year was said by IDC and others to be the China market.

IDC forecast that the smartphone market in China would flatten out next year, while sales in India were expected to continue to boom on low-priced handsets.

“China remains the focal point for many, given that it consumes roughly 30 per cent of the world’s smartphones,” IDC analyst Ryan Reith said.

A catalyst for a smartphone rebound may be the arrival next year of devices tailored for ultrafast 5G telecommunications networks, according to IDC.

For now, the sector appears sluggish.

Counterpoint Research said the handset market dropped three per cent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, a second straight quarterly decline.

“The waning smartphone demand is due to a slowdown in developed markets, where replacement cycles are lengthening with overall smartphone features and design reaching its peak,” said Counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak.

“However, emerging markets still offer a sizeable opportunity.”

Handsets powered by Google-backed Android mobile were expected to continue to dominate the smartphone market, with a share of about 85 per cent remaining relatively stable during the coming five years.

“There is no question that Android is the OS, [operating system] of choice for the mass market and nothing leads us to believe this will change,” IDC said in its forecast.

Whither Apple?

While smartphone shipments will ebb this year, the average selling price will rise more than 10 per cent to $345 and remain on an upward trend, said IDC research manager Anthony Scarsella.

“This year will continue to focus on the ultrahigh-end segment of the market as we expect a surge of premium flagship devices to launch in developed markets,” Scarsella said.

As economies improve in countries around the world, more people can afford to switch to premium models.

Premium smartphones, however, will be under pressure to show they are worth the price paid to upgrade from budget-friendly models, according to analysts.

Apple has weathered the market slump better than its rivals but remains under pressure to impress consumers after introducing its iPhone X priced at $1,000 and up.

“With its exclusive focus on premium smartphones, Apple needs to significantly raise the overall experience of its next-generation iPhones to trigger replacements and lead to solid growth in the near future,” Gartner research director Anshul Gupta said.

Apple could unveil some of its strategy at its developers conference opening Monday in California. 

But some analysts warn that Apple is not thinking ahead to how consumers will interact with technology beyond the smartphone.

ABI Research analyst David McQueen said in a December report that Apple is lagging rivals like Google and Amazon in developing new kinds of devices, and that Apple will be a “follower” in the “post-smartphone era”.

“This next wave of innovation in the smart device ecosystem will be led by Google and Amazon, as their apparent strength in major growth sectors, notably computer science, allows for a more flexible approach to next-generation user experiences,” said McQueen.

In the last decade or so, I was not able to watch movies with the frequency that I would have liked to. There were social engagements and other time consuming tasks that took precedence over this most wonderful activity. 

Like a true cinema buff, I could repeatedly see the same film again and again. It did not have to be a particularly spectacular motion picture but if it was a cult classic, then, I would exasperate even myself by the number of reruns that I subjected myself to. 

One of the positives of this addiction was that I had better recall than any other movie reviewer. And that was because when I missed a particular shot, scene, or drama at the first screening, I was able to correct the mistake at my subsequent viewings.

The business of movie making was a very tricky one indeed. There were no set formulas for what might catch the fancy of the audiences and set the cash registers ringing. Occasionally, most randomly, all the ingredients fitted like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle and blockbusters were created. But in other instances, despite every good intention, things did not crystallise, and the outcome was disastrous. The entire process was far more complicated than one could ever fathom and fortunes were made and lost with every success or failure. 

Not much of all this paranoia or heartbreak filtered down to the spectators, especially in India, my home country. Bollywood, which was the largest producer of celluloid films in the world, had all the glamour, money, fan-power and recognition for those who were successful in this field. However, sleaze, drugs and depression were the outcome for the ones who failed. As the saying goes, there was many a slip between the cup and the lip!

Whenever a big budget movie flopped, it shattered even the most established of actors for the next few years- at the very least. To re-establish credibility, trust and faith took long, and sometimes the blow was permanent and irrevocable. 

Therefore we had some film stars who were remembered as “one movie wonders”. These were the unfortunate people who were launched as young newcomers in their first picture that went on to become a super duper hit. People flocked to the theatres to watch the film constantly and the youngsters turned into heroes from zeroes, so to speak. But after the euphoria died down, their subsequent films could never quite match up. To the spectacular success of the initial one, that is. And they gradually disappeared into oblivion. 

Kumar Gaurav was one of them. His debut movie, “Love story” that was released in the year 1981, was so successful that he became a teenage sensation overnight. It broke all the records at the box office and remains one of the most popular romantic films in Bollywood history. But after that it was all downhill and today there are hardly any viewers who can even recall his name.

“What an interesting beverage that lady is having,” I remarked at a beachside restaurant in Mauritius recently.

“It is called Love story,” the waiter informed me.

“Like the Erich Segal book?” I asked.

“Or the Kumar Gaurav movie?” I quizzed.

“The Ryan O’Neil movie you mean” he corrected.

“That was the Hollywood one,” I agreed.

“There was a Bollywood version too?” he questioned.

“Yes, starring Kumar Gaurav,” I answered.

“Never heard of him,” he replied unblinkingly.

“Ok! Just get me the drink,” I mumbled.

PARIS — A woman with an aggressive form of breast cancer which defied chemotherapy and spread to other organs, was cured with an experimental treatment that triggered her immune system, researchers said on Monday.

The woman has been cancer-free for two years, reported the US-based team, presenting their results as “a new immunotherapy approach” for the treatment of patients with a late-stage form of the disease.

Other experts not involved in the work hailed it as “exciting”.

So-called “immunotherapy” has already been shown to work in some people with cancer of the lung, cervix, blood cells (leukaemia), skin (melanoma) and bladder.

But an immune breakthrough for bowel, breast and ovary cancer has remained elusive.

In the latest study, a team extracted immune cells called lymphocytes from the patient, tweaked them in the lab, then reinjected them.

The woman was 49 when she signed up for the clinical trial after several attempts at a cure through conventional treatments had failed, said the study published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine.

The cancer had spread to various parts of her body, including the liver.

A person’s immune system is designed to kill invaders, including rogue, cancerous cells. But it can fail, often because it cannot recognise cancer cells containing the patient’s own DNA.

Immunotherapy trains a patient’s own immune cells to recognise and fight cancer.

For the new study, researchers took lymphocytes from a tumour in the woman’s body and scanned them for specific types which reacted to mutant, cancerous cells.

Complete regression

These were reactivated or “switched on” in the lab and injected back, along with a so-called “immune checkpoint inhibitor” — another type of immunotherapy that has shown success in other types of cancer.

This resulted in a “highly personalised” anti-cancer therapy that yielded “complete tumour regression”, the researchers wrote.

In a comment also published by Nature Medicine, expert Laszlo Radvanyi from Canada’s Ontario Institute for Cancer Research said the woman’s response to the treatment was “unprecedented” for such advanced breast cancer.

This work showed “we are now at the cusp of a major revolution in finally realising the elusive goal of being able to target the plethora of mutations in cancer through immunotherapy”, he wrote.

In a reaction via the Science Media Centre in London, immunotherapy professor Alan Melcher of The Institute of Cancer Research said the trial was “fascinating and exciting”.

The work “provides a major ‘proof-of-principle step forward, in showing how the power of the immune system can be harnessed to attack even the most difficult-to-treat cancers”, he said.

Peter Johnson, an oncology professor at the Cancer Research UK Centre, said the study confirmed the immune system can recognise some cancers, and “if this can be stimulated in the right way, even cancers that have spread to different parts of the body may be treatable”.

The technique is “highly specialised and complex”, he cautioned, and may not be suitable for many patients.

LOS ANGELES — “Solo: A Star Wars Story” continues to falter at the box office.

Disney and Lucasfilm’s latest brought in $29.3 million from 4,381 locations over the three-day period. With a 65 per cent decline from its $84 million three-day launch, “Solo’s” second weekend fell short of its predecessors. The first “Star Wars” anthology film, “Rogue One”, made $64 million in its second weekend in 2016, while 2017’s “The Last Jedi” earned $71 million in its sophomore weekend.

Its second-weekend total brings “Solo’s” domestic tally to $149.5 million. “Solo” made $60 million this weekend, including $30.3 million overseas. Its cumulative total is now $264 million. The Han Solo origin story earned a disappointing $103 million in North America over its four-day holiday opening weekend and stalled out with $68.2 million overseas.

While that was enough to win “Solo” the weekend, the third frame of “Deadpool 2” did not fall too far behind. The 20th Century Fox tentpole continued to fend off the competition, landing in second place with $23.8 million from 4,161 screens. To date, the Ryan Reynolds-led sequel has made $255 million in North America.

Meanwhile, “Adrift” was able to narrowly edge out “Avengers: Infinity War” for third place. STX’s “Adrift”, starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin, anchored in $11.5 million when it expanded to 3,015 locations this weekend. The drama is currently averaging a 71 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a B CinemaScore.

“Infinity War” secured $10.5 million from 3,570 screens during its sixth outing, bringing its domestic tally up to $643 million. Internationally, the Marvel and Disney film brought in another $24.3 million this weekend. That brings its worldwide tally up to $1.96 billion, making it the fourth biggest release of all time.

“Book Club” rounded out the top five, earning $6.6 million from 3,169 screens during its third weekend. Paramount Pictures’ comedy starring Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen has made $47 million at the North American box office.

BH Tilt’s “Upgrade” debuted on par with estimates. The R-rated thriller bowed with $4.5 million on 1,457 screens. It currently boasts an 85 per cent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 91 per cent audience rating.

The final wide release of the weekend was Johnny Knoxville’s “Action Point”, which landed with $2.2 million in 2,032 locations. The comedy is not faring well critically either, holding a 17 per cent Rotten Tomatoes average and C+ CinemaScore.

In 10th place, MGM and Lionsgate-Pantelion’s “Overboard” notched $2 million at 1,228 locations. With $45.5 million in five weeks, the Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris-starrer is now Pantelion’s highest grossing film to date, surpassing 2013’s “Instructions Not Included”.

At the specialty box office, “RBG” — the documentary centred on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg — had another strong weekend with a haul of $1.1 million in 432 locations. With its domestic tally at $7.8 million, “RBG” surpassed “I Am Not Your Negro” ($7.1 million) to become Magnolia’s highest grossing film.

Elsewhere, MoviePass co-opened its first feature with Orchard. Bart Layton’s “American Animals” premiered with $140,633 on just four locations for a strong per screen average of $35,158.

The year-to-date box office is up 6.2 per cent, crossing $5 billion in 2018, according to comScore. The same weekend last year, “Wonder Woman” launched with $103 million and went on to become the top grossing film of the summer at the domestic box office. Due partially to a number of holdovers, the weekend to date box office is down 43.3 per cent.

“This dip in box office slows the momentum for the industry, but the good news is that a host of big titles are on the way to help erase the memory of this gloomy June box office frame,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at comScore.

Tens of thousands of patients diagnosed early each year with the most common type of breast cancer can now safely avoid chemotherapy treatment without worrying if it is the right choice, researchers say.

The findings, published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that 70 per cent of women diagnosed with the common cancer that has not spread to the lymph nodes can forgo chemotherapy without risking their chance of recurrence or ability to be cured, said Loyola Medicine oncologist Dr Kathy Albain, a co-author of the study and a member of the clinical trial’s steering committee.

“The study should have a huge impact on doctors and patients,” Albain said. “We knew we were overtreating a lot of women with chemotherapy, in our gut. We can de-escalate toxic treatments and do that with certainty.”

The study, which has been closely followed by many oncologists worldwide who have been using earlier findings to guide their treatment of patients since the study began in 2006, was praised by cancer research advocates as progress made possible by cutting-edge advances in genomics.

“I don’t get optimistic about a lot of things, but I’ve been very optimistic about this,” said Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

Brawley said that in addition to offering patients and doctors peace of mind about forgoing chemotherapy, the findings will prevent tens of thousands of breast cancer patients each year from the debilitating and harmful risks associated with the treatment, including hair loss, nausea, vomiting and being at risk for leukaemia and congestive heart failure.

“Chemotherapy is no Shangri-La,” Brawley said. “We’re saving people these side effects.”

The study was centred on a 21-gene test performed on tumours that has been available for breast cancer patients since the early 2000s. The test examines genes from a patient’s breast cancer biopsy sample and allows doctors to assign a patient a “recurrence score” from zero to 100, according to a news release from Loyola Medicine announcing the findings.

While previous studies demonstrated that patients with low scores (ten or lower) did not need chemotherapy, and women with high scores (above 25) did require and benefit from chemotherapy, there was no conclusive research guiding patients and doctors on whether or not to undergo chemotherapy in cases with a tumour with a midrange score, according to the study.

“It’s a hard enough time for a woman, and they look at you and say, ‘I want to do what you think is best,’ and you have to say, ‘Unfortunately, you’re in a group where there’s uncertainty,’ ” Albain said. “Now I’m going to say, ‘Hey, you don’t need it. Look at these numbers; you’re going to be fine.’ ”

The study enrolled 10,273 women who had the most common type of breast cancer (hormone-receptor positive, HER2 negative) that had not spread to lymph nodes.

Patients were randomly assigned to receive hormone therapy or chemotherapy, followed by hormone therapy.

The study found that for participants with gene test scores between 11 and 25 — especially among women ages 50 to 75 — there was no significant difference between the chemotherapy and no chemotherapy groups. Among women younger than 50, outcomes were similar when gene test scores were 15 or lower. Among younger women with scores 16 to 25, outcomes were slightly better in the chemotherapy group, the study reported.

Jennifer Mall, 47, of Downers Grove, Ill., was a patient of Albain’s who agreed to participate in the study. She was shocked in 2010 when doctors found two tumours in one of her breasts during a mammogram. She had not felt any lumps or symptoms and had no family history of breast cancer before the diagnosis, she said.

Mall underwent a double mastectomy and received hormone treatments, but decided not to go through chemotherapy after discussing the uncertainty of its effectiveness with Albain. But although Mall returned to health soon after her surgery and remains cancer-free today, she said she was haunted by the uncertainty of her decision.

“I worried that there were cancer cells left over in my body that were spreading everywhere because I didn’t have the systemic treatment,” Mall recalled. “Every time I had a pain or a cough in the winter and it just didn’t go away, my mind would take me to: ‘Maybe the cancer is in my lungs now?’ ”

Mall said while she, like many cancer survivors, will never completely be able to erase fear of recurrence, she is thrilled that thousands of women in her situation will be spared the anguish she experienced.

“I don’t ever think I’ll ever have the feeling that I’m completely out of the woods, but this definitely is exciting and makes me feel good,” Mall said.

Albain said research is ongoing, as scientists are now exploring questions about what types of chemotherapy might be effective on various groups based on their genomics, and what will happen to the participants of the clinical trial as even more time passes.

A newcomer to the local market since Lada’s Jordanian comeback late last year, the Lada Largus Universal is practical, affordable, manoeuvrable and versatile people mover. First launched in 2012 as part of a new generation of cars developed by the Russian manufacturer as part of its association and in collaboration with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the Largus is a modern design that is built for purpose rather than excess.

Fitted with the more necessary modern amenities and comforts, it is, however, designed to be trim, rugged, easy to maintain, accessible and functional.

Russian with French accent

Ostensibly a successor to the 1998-2006 Lada Niva-based four-wheel-drive Nadezhda multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), the Largus is based on a longer front-drive version of a Renault-Nissan platform widely used for various hatchbacks, saloons, SUVs and MPVs across Alliance associated brands including Nissan, Renault, Dacia and Lada. Offered in 7-seat MPV Universal model, as driven, or panel van versions in Jordan, the Largus is compact, narrow and easy to manoeuvre, but with a visibly long wheelbase, short overhangs and tall roof, it delivers both driving stability and generous 3-row cabin space.

Appearing longer than its 4470mm, the Largus Universal is styled with smooth, flowing lines and a sense of discretion, and being one of the earlier of Lada’s new crop of cars, lacks the brand’s more recent models’ sculpted side surfacing design trademark. Bearing resemblance to the Dacia Lodgy and Dokker MPVs and other Renault/Dacia compact saloons from front view, the Largus’ long wheelbase and cabin allow for long rear doors with easy access to the rear two seat rows. A subtle design, the Largus’ boot features unequal dual side hinged doors flanked by vertical rear lights.

Accessible ability 

An honest and practical people mover, the Largus Universal is powered by a similarly unpretentious but suitably capable 1.6-litre 16-valve 4-cylinder engine, mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox driving the front wheels. Developing 100BHP at 5750rpm and 107lb/ft torque at 3750rpm, the 1370kg Largus accelerates through zero-100km/h in a decent 13.5 seconds, but its rate of acceleration to 80km/h seems quicker and allows one to join highway traffic at a timely pace. Capable of 165km/h top speed and smooth, capable and responsive at highway speeds, the Universal also returns comparatively low 7.9l/100km combined cycle fuel consumption. 

Frugal for any 7-seater, the Largus’ engine and gearbox are well suited, with ratios optimised for performance and efficiency. Refined in operation, its engine isn’t exactly sporty or eager to race to redline, but is nicely progressive and consistent in delivery from idling to rev limit. Perkier when lightly loaded, one, however, compensates by holding gears longer when the Largus is heavily loaded. Effortlessly light, smooth and user-friendly for fingertip shifts and light, intuitive clutch pedal pick-up, the Largus shift action is slightly notchy if roughly handled, but isn’t quite as satisfyingly mechanical and connected as the Lada 4x4’s.

Supple and nimble 

Seeming docile, soft and a little distant at first due to its light effort controls, the Largus is, however, a more talented handling car than one would expect. Driven with more enthusiasm, it soon reveals an agility and sense of involvement not too removed from the nimble and fun previous generation Renault Clio, to which it is loosely related. Through winding corners, the Largus’ light steering — aided by slim 185/65R15 tyres — weighs up nicely and becomes more communicative in feedback and precision. Meanwhile, some body lean is evident through corners, but settles in a progressive and predictable manner.

Long, slim and tall, the Largus may not immediately seem nimble handling, and especially not if one pushes too hard and steers in too late, where its long wheelbase tends to lend itself to an instinct to understeer. However, with early and sharp turn-in, and by pivoting its weight to the rear and outside, the Largus becomes surprisingly agile and eager pouncing between one corner to the next. Soon developing a rhythm to its driving style, one soon appreciates its supple suspension and tall tyres, which smooth out most imperfections with a velvety quality, and are forgiving over jagged and sudden ruts and bumps.

Practical and spacious

Developed with developing markets and rougher roads in mind, the Largus is comfortable and absorbent, while its long wheelbase and suspension settings keep it alert yet settled at speed and over large bumps and on rebound. Practical and spacious in a compact package, the narrow Largus easily negotiates tight backroads, while a relatively high 145mm ride height counters its long wheelbase on break-over and provides good clearance on semi-paved roads. Spacious inside with its high roof, its cargo capacity increases from a useful 135 litres with all seats up, to a generous 560 litres and a massive 2,350 litres when the second and third rows are folded down.

Convenient and flexible, the spacious Largus airy cabin features a big glasshouse for good visibility and big rear doors for easy third row access. Its cargo door windows are, however, somewhat higher, but its low loading height is notably useful. Inside, middle row passengers have an overhead storage compartment. Driving position is well adjustable and comfortable, but higher seat side support would be welcome when driving through corners. 

Big on value, the Largus’ cabin is logically laid out and uses mostly decent quality, but not extravagant materials, yet also features a number of creature comforts including but not limited to a USB-enabled sound system, electric front and middle row windows and AC. Priced competitively at JD16,500, on the road with third party insurance, the Largus comes with a 3-year warranty including a 60,000km parts and labour service package and unlimited mileage roadside assistance.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.6-litre, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 79.5 x 80.5mm

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: 5-speed manual, front-wheel-drive

Final drive: 4.2:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 100 (102) [75] @5750rpm

Specific power: 62.6BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 73BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 107 (145) @3,750rpm

Specific torque: 90.8Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 105.8Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 13.5-seconds

Top speed: 165km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 10.4/6.4-/7.9-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 50-litres

Length: 4,470mm

Width: 1,750mm

Height: 1,670mm

Wheelbase: 2,905mm

Track, F/R: 1,469/1,466mm

Minimum ground clearance: 145mm

Cargo volume, behind third/second/first row: 135-/560-/2,350-litres

Unladen weight: 1,370kg

Gross weight: 1,850kg

Towing capacity, unbraked/braked: 650/1,300kg

Suspension, F: MacPherson struts, anti-roll bar

Suspension, R: Semi-independent, torsion beam

Steering: Power-assisted rack and pinion

Brakes, F/R: Discs/drums

Tyres: 185/65R15

Price, on the road: JD16,500

Middle-aged adults who feel stressed, powerless or overworked on the job may be more likely to develop mental health problems in the coming years than more contented coworkers, a recent study suggests. 

For the study, researchers examined data from questionnaires completed by 6,870 workers in the UK who, at age 45, had never been diagnosed with depression, anxiety or other common mental illnesses. Overall, about one third reported having little control over what they did at work and slightly more than one fourth described their jobs as very demanding and stressful. 

By age 50, workers who reported high levels of job strain five years earlier were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with mental health disorders as the people who had low-stress jobs, researchers report in The Lancet Psychiatry. 

With demanding jobs, workers were 70 per cent more likely to develop a mental illness by age 50, the study also found. And people who reported having little control over their work were 89 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with psychological disorders. 

“Several studies published over the past decade have suggested a link between workplace stress and poor mental health outcomes amongst employees,” said lead study author Samuel Harvey, head of the workplace mental health research programme at the Black Dog Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia. 

“However, it has always been difficult to work out which came first: difficult work situations or mental health problems — the classic chicken or egg situation,” Harvey said by e-mail. 

While the current study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove that work problems directly cause mental health issues, the fact that none of the workers had any psychological issues at the start of the study period suggests that the job difficulties came first, Harvey said. 

Even though the study focused on middle age, all of the participants had been followed since birth, allowing researchers to account for a variety of circumstances growing up that might influence the odds that a person would experience job strain or mental health problems. 

“We were able to develop the most precise picture to date of the possible reasons an individual’s working conditions could impact their mental health,” Harvey said. “When accounting for non-workplace factors like stressful life events, illness, IQ and early life, the results indicate that people with higher job demands, lower job control and higher job strain were still more likely to develop mental illness by age 50, regardless of sex or occupational class.” 

Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense
Marcello Di Cintio
London: Saqi Books, 2018
Pp. 221

The title of this book may be familiar to many as a quote from Mahmoud Darwish on how to brew a perfect cup of coffee during Israel’s 1982 siege of Beirut, but it refers to more than coffee. Darwish was insisting on his right to create and to savour the good things in life despite the persistent, looming violence. Adopting this theme, Canadian author Marcello Di Cintio takes the reader on a literary journey to see how Palestinians living under occupation and siege today find the inspiration to keep on writing, despite, or sometimes because of, adverse circumstances.

Di Cintio is well versed in Palestinian literature, and he starts off by exploring ideas expressed by Mourid Barghouti, as well as the legacy of Ghassan Kanafani and Darwish. In a smooth blend of the personal and the political, he intertwines their literary careers with biographical details, recounting pivotal incidents, especially the Nakba. In the same way, he contextualises the work of the newer writers he encounters on his 2015 trip to Palestine in their lived experience of occupation, discrimination and siege. Due to his familiarity with the Palestinian cause and literature, he is able to ask interesting questions that, in turn, elicit interesting discussions and answers.

The author is looking for stories and he is not disappointed: “I found a story in every crack of this place.” (p. 212) The stories he relates are not only about literature, but also reflect Palestinians’ history, and their everyday lives, hopes and feelings about their homeland. He is also searching for beauty in an overall depressing reality. In fact, his journey and this book were inspired by photos he saw of a young girl in a green dress plucking books out of the rubble of the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza. Amazingly, he is able to locate her in Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip, and hear firsthand her reasons for rescuing the books. 

From Ramallah to Nablus, Jerusalem, Haifa, Acre, Nazareth and Gaza, Di Cintio interviews writers and poets, men and women. Some of them are well known and widely published like Raja Shehadeh; others have become known more recently, like Atef Abu Saif; while still others are making their names now, such as Asmaa Al Ghul. Their backgrounds are quite diverse. Some have always lived in Palestine, while others first came there with the Palestine Liberation Organisation after the Oslo accords. 

A major discussion topic between the author and the writers he meets is the connection between writing and personal experience, and whether, as Palestinians, their writing must always have a political message — whether they must be spokespersons for their cause. For a young writer in Jerusalem, opposition to the Israeli occupation is a given, and he sees it more important to address social ills and outdated traditions. Many whom Di Cintio meets are part of “a new generation of Palestinian writers that has jettisoned nationalistic flag-waving for domestic narratives”. (p. 136) In different ways, their work “challenges the Western perception of Palestinians as either stock victims or militants”. (p. 148)

For his part, Di Cintio’s vivid account of the extraordinarily talented writers he meets in Gaza challenges misconceptions of that place as a cultural backwater.

Still, the national cause remains central for some, such as former political prisoner and leftist Wisam Rafeedi, who wrote incessantly while in jail and explains how prisoners smuggled their writings to each other and to the outside world.

A meeting with Dr Sharif Kanaana about storytelling and folktales unexpectedly leads into discussion of Hamas’s attempt to ban the book, “Speak Bird, Speak Again”, in which Kanaana co-published with Ibrahim Muhawi 45 of the 1,500 old folktales he had collected. Di Cintio then meets with a writer whose novel was banned by the Palestinian Authority.

Libraries also figure into Di Cintio’s research as he visits the Prisoners’ Library in Nablus which houses 8,000 printed books and 800 notebooks from Nablus and Jnaid prisons; the Khalidi library in Jerusalem, which successive generations of the family have struggled to keep intact under Palestinian control; and the National Library of Israel which houses nearly 6,000 books looted from Palestinian homes during the Nakba. Other cultural venues are also explored: the Educational Bookstore in Jerusalem, the Tamer Institute for Community Education and the Gallery Café in Gaza, kept open by the untiring efforts of Jamal Abu Al Qumsan. 

In conclusion, Di Cintio writes, “During my time among the readers and writers of Palestine, I found no life undarkened by the Nakba and the conflict it continues to bear. Yet, I found no life wholly defined by the conflict either. Palestinians may long for a justice long denied them, but they also long to marry and to see their children marry… The Palestinians live complete lives in their disputed space, regardless of all they’ve lost and continue to lose”. (pp. 211-212)