Features

SANTOS, Brazil — From the second floor of her house, Onofra Alves Costa Rovai can see the Vila Belmiro, the stadium where Brazilian football legend Pele first took the world's breath away.

Rovai has fond memories of chatting with "O Rei" (The King), who died on Thursday in a Sao Paulo hospital at age 82, triggering an outpouring of emotion in Brazil — and especially in Santos, the city where he played most of his storied career.

"He would come out that door after matches and we would talk football. He was like that — just an ordinary person, he would talk to anyone about anything. He was marvelous," said Rovai, 91, motioning to the stadium's main gate, a stone's throw from her modest blue house.

"My mother used to love Pele," the white-haired retiree recalled with a smile. "What a player. My God in heaven, he was born for it."

Santos, a south-eastern port city around 75 kilometres from Sao Paulo, is preparing a massive tribute to its late hero, widely considered the greatest footballer of all time.

A 24-hour wake for Pele, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, will be held at the 16,000-capacity stadium from Monday to Tuesday.

That will be followed by what is expected to be a massive funeral procession through the city's streets. He will then be buried in Santos's Memorial Cemetery in a private ceremony on Tuesday.

'Where he belongs' 

Pele debuted for Santos at the age of just 15, and went on to score 1,091 goals in 1,116 matches for the club, winning 45 titles along the way, according to the team's records.

The Vila Belmiro has become a place of pilgrimage for a stream of die-hard fans since Thursday, all eager to pay homage to the only player in history to win three World Cups.

As Brazil held the second of three days of national mourning for Pele Friday — extended to seven days in Santos and surrounding Sao Paulo state — a light rain drizzled from a gray sky in the port city, fitting the local mood.

Several houses sported Santos FC banners celebrating Pele's 18-year career with the club.

Three bouquets of flowers had been placed at the foot of a Pele statue outside the stadium.

One lifelong Santos fan, Anaur Aparecido Deolindo, went to the stadium as soon as he heard the news.

"It's as if I lost a family member. He was just a boy when he arrived here. He grew up here and went on to conquer the world," the 57-year-old retiree told AFP.

"Now he's back where he belongs, right in God's lap," he added.

"Edson died, but Pele is eternal."

Idol forever 

Jonas Augusto dos Santos, another lifelong Santos fan, like his father and grandfather, went to the stadium with a group of friends in tribute.

"Life hasn't been easy for Brazilians, that's why we're always in search of a hero. Pele may be dead, but he won't stop being one, said the 28-year-old software analyst.

He added: "I'm sure his soul is right around this stadium, and in the hearts of all Brazilians."

Wearing the club's jersey, elementary school teacher Luiz Santos said the gloomy weather had kept many mourners away — but that he was sure the turnout for the wake and funeral procession would be massive.

"This is going to be packed on Monday," he said.

"A lot of people are going to come."

LONDON — "That Lorca is completely bonkers," says the actress in Spanish, prompting laughter from a group of British teenagers at London's Cervantes Theatre.

Artistic director Paula Paz, who co-founded the theatre with the actor and director Jorge de Juan, said Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca is a firm favourite with audiences in the UK.

From an unassuming corner of south London, the venue is helping to drive a growing interest in Spanish, which is now the most-studied foreign language in the UK.

The theatre, built from scratch in a former garage under railway arches, opened in 2016 with Lorca's 1933 tragedy "Bodas de Sangre" ("Blood Wedding").

One of the highlights of its forthcoming season is a seven-week run of his last play from 1936, "La Casa de Bernada Alba" ("The House of Bernada Alba").

Lorca — killed later than year during Spain's civil war — is not the only dramatist to be showcased at the tiny 80-seat theatre in Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames.

Others include the 16th-century playwright Felix Lope de Vega as well as lesser-known and up-and-coming writers from Spain and Latin America.

They include Chilean author Isabel Allende's "La Casa de los Espiritus" ("The House of the Spirits") and "La Realidad" ("The Reality") by Argentina's Denise Despeyroux.

Bilingual performances

To reach a wider audience, performances alternate between Spanish and English, although plays have also been performed switching between both languages.

They include a bilingual performance of Cervantes' farce "El Juez de los Divorcios" ("The Divorce Judge") and Shakespeare's monologues in 2016.

In September there was a complex in-house production based on Pablo Sorozabal's 1942 operetta "Black, El Payaso" ("Black The Clown").

The dialogue was in English and the songs in Spanish, all translated with digital subtitles.

Despite its name, the Cervantes Theatre is independent from the Spanish language and cultural body the Instituto Cervantes, from which it receives a small grant.

This month, Lorca's lesser-known "Retablillo de Don Cristobal" ("The Puppet Play of Don Cristobal") has been delighting students.

"I think it's a nice way to look at the language," said Zack Fecher, 17, on a trip from Haberdashers' Boys' School in Elstree, just outside London.

"I've seen films in Spanish but this is the first play and you have to focus on the words and they speak very fast."

Ana Zamora, director of the theatre company Naod'Amores, which specialises in reviving lost plays, has been invited from Spain to present the production.

"You don't have to embellish the texts to make them easier for foreign audiences to access," she told AFP.

Audiences can recognise the similarities between the puppet Don Cristobal and the traditional English character Mr Punch, she said.

At the same time there is "an intriguing air of the exotic", she added.

'Nothing like it' 

For Paz, the "demand for quality" gives the theatre its audience, which she describes as a mix of people who like alternative theatre, fans of Hispanic culture, and students of Spanish.

Students studying Spanish are becoming increasingly common in England. In 2019, Spanish became the foreign language most studied in high schools.

According to the British Council's latest "Language Trends" report, last year 8,433 students took Spanish for their end-of-school exams at aged 18.

That compared to 7,671 for French, the study of which has been declining among teenagers alongside German since 2005.

French, however, remains the most-taught language in primary schools.

It may have taken Zack and his classmates 90 minutes to travel to the theatre but other groups come from as far as Liverpool, in northwest England, and Brussels.

"There's nothing like it in Europe," said Paz.

The three tiers of seating and small stage makes the theatre an intimate venue, where the audience can almost touch the actors and feel the emotion.

"It's a magical space, with a very special atmosphere," said Eduardo Mayo, who plays Lorca and voices Don Cristobal. 

"We will be studying Lorca's plays next year but this is a good way to get started," said Fecher, who has been learning Spanish for five years.

BUENOS AIRES — Fans of the Argentine team that claimed football's ultimate prize in Qatar this month are lining up in Buenos Aires for tattoos of victorious captain Lionel Messi and the World Cup trophy.

"For the next two weeks, I have [appointments] exclusively related to the World Cup," tattoo artist Esteban Vucinovich told AFP in the capital.

"Some had already made an appointment for tattoos of snakes or skulls, but they are changing it to Messi or the Cup. I have two or three appointments a day," he said.

The most requested skin art is of the trophy, said Vucinovich, followed by Messi and then goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who was crucial in the victory of the Albiceleste in the final against France.

Many fans are inspired by the body art of Argentine players such as Angel Di Maria, who has since recently sported a World Cup tattoo on his right leg.

"I got a tattoo of Messi as a gesture of thanks," civil servant Nicolas Rechanik told AFP.

"This represents not only what Messi is but also the team that brought us a third World Cup and all the years of effort to reach this goal."

Before getting the image of Messi in the team's blue-and-white striped jersey and kissing the trophy indelibly attached to his left leg, Rechanik already sported the likeness of another Argentine football icon: Diego Maradona.

"It's a perfect representation of what Argentine football is and what it means to be Argentine," he said.

Football fanatic Alma Ocampo, 20, decided to get a tattoo when, to everyone's surprise, Argentina lost its first match of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia.

"When everyone lost confidence, I decided that... if Argentina wins, I will get a tattoo of the Cup. And so I did, with the date December 18, 2022" of the final, she said, adding "it hurt quite a bit."

Ariel Sacchi, a physical education teacher, got a tattoo representing all five World Cups that Messi has played in. At the center is an image of the Argentine captain kissing the Cup.

"I decided to get Leo [Messi] because he brought the greatest joy to all Argentines," Sacchi said.

Not all tattoos are equal, though, and many a fan has been mocked on social media for blundered ink: A fat-faced Messi or misspelt names are among the trending topics.

MEXICO CITY— Despite his international success, including a new adaptation of the classic puppet tale "Pinocchio", Oscar-winning Mexican director Guillermo del Toro fears that his country's cinema industry is facing "systematic destruction".

Del Toro's animated version of "Pinocchio", in which an elderly woodcarver and his living puppet find themselves in 1930s fascist Italy, was the most watched film on streaming platform Netflix in the week of December 12-18.

Its debut on December 9 came a week before the release of "Bardo", an autobiographical tale of a journalist-filmmaker returning home after years in Los Angeles, by fellow Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Mexican actors have also enjoyed recent success in Hollywood, including Tenoch Huerta, the rising star of the sequel to "Black Panther", the first major Black superhero movie.

Del Toro, Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron represent a golden generation of Mexican filmmakers who have won the best director trophy at the Oscars five times since 2013.

Del Toro's fantasy romance "The Shape of Water" earned best picture and best director at the 2018 Oscars.

The following year Cuaron scooped three golden statuettes for "Roma" — an intimate black-and-white movie about a family in turmoil in 1970s Mexico City.

'Brutal' destruction 

But in stark contrast to the international acclaim for the trio, dubbed "The Three Amigos", del Toro has now warned that the country's film industry is facing "unprecedented" challenges.

"The systematic destruction of Mexican cinema and its institutions — which took decades to build — has been brutal," he tweeted recently.

Del Toro highlighted an announcement by the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences that next year's Ariel Awards — the country's equivalent of the Oscars — were postponed until further notice due to a "serious financial crisis".

The organisation said it regretted that "the support of public resources has decreased considerably in recent years.

"The state, which was the motor and support of the academy for a long time, has renounced its responsibility as the main promoter and disseminator of culture in general and of cinema in particular," it added.

Del Toro even offered to pay for the Ariel statuettes out of his own pocket.

"He's a generous colleague, an artist who is always aware of what is happening not only with Mexican cinematography but with the arts in general in the country," said Academy president Leticia Huijara.

She would, however, prefer an agreement with the state.

In the meantime, the Ariels have been postponed, Huijara confirmed to AFP.

Promoting 

Indigenous film 

Maria Novaro, the general manager of the Mexican Film Institute (Imcine), a government agency, thinks the warnings are exaggerated.

"Del Toro says that there is no more Mexican cinema in the year when there have never been so many productions," she said, hailing a "record" 256 films in 2021.

"And 56 per cent received support from public money. Imcine devotes 900 million pesos ($45 million) a year to financing Mexican cinema," said Novaro.

"It's good that Netflix produces a lot of content in Mexico. But it does not replace what Imcine does," she added.

Mexican cinema enjoyed a golden age between the 1930s and 1950s, featuring movie stars such as Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armendariz.

But the industry went through a quiet period before enjoying a revival, helped in recent years by the success of "The Three Amigos".

Mexican cinema has now become decentralised and diversified, according to Novaro, mirroring President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's priorities to help impoverished and Indigenous Mexicans.

Since 2019, there has been a program to encourage Indigenous and Afro-descendant cinema, with 56 such films in production, Novaro said.

"Films are starting to come out that tell about migration from the perspective of Indigenous migrants themselves," she added.

Capturing the glamour, charisma and immersive connection of cars from a bygone era and often lacking in disconnected, over-sanitised, overweight, overwrought and overstylised modern cars, the restomod car niche goes far beyond mere nostalgia, but instead improves on classic recipes. A popular niche industry in Britain — and often focused on iconic British cars — reputable restomod firms utilize expert engineers, artisans and enthusiasts, to modernise, restore and modify cars for performance, reliability and refinement gains beyond what would have been possible in the past.

Jensen International Automotive Range Rover Chieftain Xtreme LSE

As implied, the Jensen International Automotive (JIA) Chieftain Xtreme is the wildest interpretation of the Banbury-based bespoke British builder’s re-engineered classic Range Rover. Starting out as a design study based on a 2-door classic Range Rover body, the Chieftain Xtreme aesthetic treatment differs somewhat from JIA’s first, most extensively re-engineered original Chieftain, circa 2018. Whereas the original had a brutalist charm, the Xtreme instead has a sporting rally raid racer flavour, even in 5-door long wheelbase LSE guise as JIA’s latest — pictured — build. 

With more off-road oriented bumpers for better approach and departure angles, the Chieftain Xtreme however incorporates muscularly broad classic Audi Quattro-like blistered box wheel-arches. Unlike the original Chieftain with its more modern Land Rover Discovery chassis, the Xtreme instead features a modified original Range Rover chassis, with independent double wishbone suspension for enhanced ride comfort and driving dynamics. Luxuriously appointed, the Chieftain Xtreme’s sympathetically re-worked and re-designed hand-crafted cabin is finished and equipped to customer specification.

Outgunning the most powerful versions of Land Rover’s latest generation Range Rover, the Chieftain Xtreme is powered by General Motors’ 6.2-litre supercharged LT4 V8 engine, as deployed by the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. A newer, more powerful iteration than the original 556BHP Chieftain’s small block engine, the Xtreme develops 650BHP at 6,200rpm and 650lb/ft torque at 3,600rpm. Mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel-drive, the Xtreme promises to outdo its predecessor’s brutal 4.5-second 0-97km/h acceleration and 250km/h top speed.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 6.2-litre, in-line supercharged V8-cylinders

Gearbox: 10-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 650 (659) [485] @6,400rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 650 (881) @3,600rpm (estimate)

0-97km/h: under 4.5-seconds (estimate)

Top speed: over 250km/h (estimate)

Wheelbase: 2,743mm (estimate)

Weight: approximately 2,500kg (estimate)

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones / multi-link (estimate)

Frontline Developments MG Abingdon Edition

A re-built incarnation of Britain’s quintessential sports car, Frontline Developments’ MG models are based on the 1962-80 MGB roadster and coupe line. Retaining the same glamour and analog driving experience, the Frontline Developments MG is however more modern in its engineering, build quality, dynamics and performance, and is built on new CAD-designed seam-sealed rust-proofed 1965-spec British Motorsport Heritage shells. Built to bespoke specifications, the 25-car 2015 Abingdon Edition convertible is however the most powerful and best Frontline Developments MG example yet.

Riding on aluminium independent front wishbone and six-link rear live-axle suspension, the Abingdon Edition benefits from sharp dynamics and low unsprung mass, and improved ride and handling over the original MGB. Small, nimble and maneuverable, it is ever eager and composed through corners, with a limited slip rear differential providing improved stability, agility and traction. An immersive driving experience, its hand-crafted cabin features fine appointments, extensive personalization possibilities and traditional designs with subtle period-style modern equipment and features.

Powered by a Mazda-sourced naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre 4-cylinder engine modified with billet crank and rods, forged pistons, solid lifters and 50mm direct-to-head individual throttle bodies, the rev-hungry lightweight Abingdon Edition delivers a crackling, rasping and wailing soundtrack, razor-sharp throttle responses, and supercar-like performance. Driving the rear wheels through a slick short-throw 6-speed manual gearbox, the Abingdon Edition sprints through 0-97km/h in 3.8-seconds and onto 258km/h, pulling progressively hard from low-end, to an intense, high-strung 7,600rpm rev limit. 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2.5-litre, in-line 4-cylinders

Gearbox: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel-drive, limited slip differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 304 (308) [226] @6,800rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 241 (326) @5,200rpm

0-97km/h: 3.8-seconds

Top speed: 258km/h

Wheelbase: 2,312mm

Track, F/R: 1,240/1,410mm

Weight: 897kg

Suspension, F/R: Wishbones / 6-link live-axle

Wheels: 15-inch

Gildred Racing Mini Super Cooper Type S 

Among Britain’s best-selling and most iconic cars, the original 1957-2000 Mini was an innovative and affordable car that always enjoyed a sporting reputation owing to its lightweight and keen go-cart like handling. A candidate for modifications and upgrades for many an enthusiast, the Mini’s transformation from people’s car’s to supercar has perhaps never been a thoroughly executed as Gildred Racing’s Mini Super Cooper Type S, which is the most extreme among the California-based firm’s six Mini restomod offerings.

A radical departure from the original front-wheel-drive Mini, and less extreme Super Cooper Classic and Sport variants, the extensively re-engineered Type S instead adopts a mid-engine and rear-wheel-drive configuration, with coil-over suspension and disc brakes all-round. With its weight shifted significantly rearwards within such a small package and wheelbase, the Type S promises even more alert turn-in and agility, but with a massive power hike as well, it would be expected to be quite a tail-happy handful to drive.

Dwarfing the original Mini’s top 1.3-litre engine the Type S’ Honda 3.2-litre V6 is sourced from the Acura CL-S. Supercharged for good measure, it also gains upgraded forged pistons, connecting rods and 850cc fuel injectors, while a custom intercooler is positioned under the bonnet. Driving the rear wheels through a 6-speed manual gearbox, the Type S develops a massive 502 horsepower and 383lb/ft torque at the wheels – roughly equivalent to 550BHP and 420lb/ft – to rocket through 0-97km/h in under 4-seconds.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3.2-litre, mid-mounted supercharged V6-cylinders

Gearbox: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel-drive

Power, (wheel) HP: 502*

Torque, (wheel) lb/ft (Nm): 383 (520)**

0-97km/h: under 4-seconds

Wheelbase: 2,040mm (estimate)

Weight: 635kg (estimate)

Wheels: 13-inches

*Approximately estimated at BHP (PS) [kW]: 550 (558) [410]

**Approximately estimated at (crank) lb/ft (Nm): 420 (570)

VIÉVILLE-SOUS-LES-CÔTES, France — At the foot of the vineyards outside a sleepy village in northern France, Sabine Rouas and her steed Aston, a 1.4-tonne bull, make stately progress.

A van pulls to a halt and the bemused driver takes out his phone to record the scene.

Aston's outings often trigger the same reaction, and give Sabine a chuckle.

"Honestly, I didn't invent this," she says. "Look around the world, people ride all sorts of animals — ostriches, camels, elephants."

Aston is a local celebrity in the Meuse region, and now around the world, on the web.

Sabine's husband Yannick Kirschhoffer is the bull's social media manager, and Aston has 62,000 TikTok fans, 90,000 YouTube subscriptions and almost as many followers on Facebook.

Dramatic decision 

Today the scene is cheerful, but the story begins in Sabine's grief for her dead racehorse.

"Every rider has a particular relationship in their life with a horse. When he died, I didn't want to hear about horses any more," she tells AFP.

At that time in her life, Sabine — a sales manager — was living over the border in Luxembourg in a house by a cattle farm.

As time passed she watched the daily life of the cows and one day she decided to ask the farmer if she could meet them, to restore her bond with larger animals.

"I still had a problem with horses, but I missed being in contact with them. So I headed down to the farm and spotted a cow that seemed more alert than the others," she said.

"I started to brush her. I could tell she was intelligent. She learned to raise her hoof to me, to say hello, to respond to her name," she said.

Sabine was delighted with her new friend but, when the cow had a calf, she took a dramatic decision, and bought them both — despite not having a farm of her own to keep them on.

"For me it was hellish," she says.

"They said I was completely mad and it's true I didn't know anything about how to go about things."

Bovine hurdler 

But Sabine knew how to train cats and, believing in the bond between humans and animals, set about training the calf, Aston, to live alongside her.

It wasn't easy. She fell from the young bullock at least 38 times in three months, but nine years later Aston is a show pony: vaulting small hurdles, galloping, prancing sideways.

Today, the team lives in France and Aston has been learning lessons from his neighbours.

"Watching me ride horses, Aston wanted to do the same thing," Sabine gushes. "By watching them, he learned a lot, so we played on his talent for mimicry."

"When people see that, they tell me that Aston thinks he's a horse, and it's true that he loves to copy them. But I can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do."

He's bull-headed, in other words.

"He weighs 1.4 tonnes and he has his own personality. If he jumps over obstacles, it's because he enjoys it."

And if he does enjoy online stardom, he's also spreading the joy. Aston is now much in demand to perform at equestrian events and has appeared in movies while developing an online brand.

"Now people contact me to ask how to ride their bulls. I give advice," says Sabine.

"I can't quite believe it, he's famous all the way to Japan."

PARIS — From "intelligent" vacuum cleaners and driverless cars to advanced techniques for diagnosing diseases, artificial intelligence (AI) has burrowed its way into every arena of modern life.

Its promoters reckon it is revolutionising human experience, but critics stress that the technology risks putting machines in charge of life-changing decisions.

Regulators in Europe and North America are worried.

The European Union is likely to pass legislation next year — the AI Act — aimed at reining in the age of the algorithm.

The United States recently published a blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and Canada is also mulling legislation.

Looming large in the debates has been China's use of biometric data, facial recognition and other technology to build a powerful system of control.

Gry Hasselbalch, a Danish academic who advises the EU on the controversial technology, argued that the West was also in danger of creating "totalitarian infrastructures".

"I see that as a huge threat, no matter the benefits," she told AFP.

But before regulators can act, they face the daunting task of defining what AI actually is.

'Mug's game' 

Suresh Venkatasubramanian of Brown University, who co-authored the AI Bill of Rights, said trying to define AI was "a mug's game".

Any technology that affects people's rights should be within the scope of the bill, he tweeted.

The 27-nation EU is taking the more tortuous route of attempting to define the sprawling field.

Its draft law lists the kinds of approaches defined as AI, and it includes pretty much any computer system that involves automation.

The problem stems from the changing use of the term AI.

For decades, it described attempts to create machines that simulated human thinking.

But funding largely dried up for this research — known as symbolic AI — in the early 2000s.

The rise of the Silicon Valley titans saw AI reborn as a catch-all label for their number-crunching programmes and the algorithms they generated.

This automation allowed them to target users with advertising and content, helping them to make hundreds of billions of dollars.

"AI was a way for them to make more use of this surveillance data and to mystify what was happening," Meredith Whittaker, a former Google worker who co-founded New York University's AI Now Institute, told AFP.

So the EU and US have both concluded that any definition of AI needs to be as broad as possible.

'Too challenging' 

But from that point, the two Western powerhouses have largely gone their separate ways.

The EU's draft AI Act runs to more than 100 pages.

Among its most eye-catching proposals are the complete prohibition of certain "high-risk" technologies — the kind of biometric surveillance tools used in China.

It also drastically limits the use of AI tools by migration officials, police and judges.

Hasselbach said some technologies were "simply too challenging to fundamental rights".

The AI Bill of Rights, on the other hand, is a brief set of principles framed in aspirational language, with exhortations like "you should be protected from unsafe or ineffective systems".

The bill was issued by the White House and relies on existing law.

Experts reckon no dedicated AI legislation is likely in the United States until 2024 at the earliest because Congress is deadlocked.

'Flesh wound' 

Opinions differ on the merits of each approach.

"We desperately need regulation," Gary Marcus of New York University told AFP.

He points out that "large language models" — the AI behind chatbots, translation tools, predictive text software and much else — can be used to generate harmful disinformation.

Whittaker questioned the value of laws aimed at tackling AI rather than the "surveillance business models" that underpin it.

"If you're not addressing that at a fundamental level, I think you're putting a band-aid over a flesh wound," she said.

But other experts have broadly welcomed the US approach.

AI was a better target for regulators than the more abstract concept of privacy, said Sean McGregor, a researcher who chronicles tech failures for the AI Incident Database.

But he said there could be a risk of over-regulation. 

"The authorities that exist can regulate AI," he told AFP, pointing to the likes of the US Federal Trade Commission and the housing regulator HUD.

But where experts broadly agree is the need to remove the hype and mysticism that surrounds AI technology.

"It's not magical," McGregor said, likening AI to a highly sophisticated Excel spreadsheet.

Footballers are more likely to develop worse brain health over the age of 65 than those in the general population, according to new research published on Friday.

The SCORES Project, which uses online activities to assess individuals’ cognitive function and monitor brain health decline, is based at the University of East Anglia. The study involves 145 former elite footballers including former Norwich stars Iwan Roberts and Jeremy Goss, plus ex-Crystal Palace striker Mark Bright.

It found in the 40-to-50 age group footballers were performing better in the assessments than the “normal” group, but that this was not the case among older individuals.

The new SCORES data follows work done by the FIELD study at the University of Glasgow, which found footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the population and has led to calls for greater protection for players against concussion as well as the sub-concussive impacts of heading a ball.

Lead researcher and sports concussion expert Dr Michael Grey said: “What we are seeing is that in the 40-50-year-old age group, the footballers are performing a bit better than the normal group.

“We know that regular exercise is really good for brain health, and our research confirms that professional footballers have improved brain health in their 40s compared with non-footballers.

“The physical exercise associated with professional football keeps their bodies and brains in tip-top shape, and this extends to their retirement.

“But when they get to 65 — that’s when things are starting to go wrong. The over-65s performed worse when assessed for things like reaction time, executive function, and spatial navigation. These are early warning signs for deteriorating brain health.

“This shows us that the exercise associated with playing football is good for the brain, but the negative effects of contact sport do begin to appear later in life.

“These assessments are ongoing, and the participants are being monitored for changing brain health over time, so we will hopefully follow our cohort of former footballers for the rest of their lives. This will give us a really clear picture of the potential damage caused by heading the ball.

“This research highlights the need to investigate ways we can limit the damage to the brain as people play sport and to monitor brain health as we get older.”

The study includes 55 former players aged 65 and over, whose results were compared to the 27 non-playing members of the study group aged 65 and over and also to a normative group containing thousands of participants amalgamated from other studies who have done the same tests.

SCORES — which stands for Screening Cognitive Outcomes after Repetitive head impact Exposure in Sport — is trying to collect more data from former amateur and professional female players, who it fears could be putting themselves at even greater risk of dementia than male players. Currently all the participants in the study are male.

Dr Grey accepts the findings are just a first picture, and that a larger sample size is now essential to provide even deeper insight and more refined age comparisons. He is working with the Professional Footballers’ Association to recruit more participants.

The League Managers Association is one of the project’s partners, as is brain injury charity Headway and the Jeff Astle Foundation.

The founder of the latter charity, Dawn Astle, has long campaigned for greater protection against concussive and sub-concussive injuries among footballers.

Her father Jeff, who spent most of his professional career at West Brom and represented England at the 1970 World Cup, died in 2002 with what the coroner determined to be the progressive brain disease CTE.

The coroner issued a verdict of death by industrial disease, claiming the CTE was caused by Astle’s repeated heading of a ball.

A group of former players and their families — including the family of 1966 World Cup winner Nobby Stiles who died with dementia in 2020 — are suing the football authorities, accusing them of failing to take reasonable action to reduce exposure to concussive and sub-concussive impacts.

TOKYO — From Super Mario to Final Fantasy, Japan has long been synonymous with gaming, but some experts and parents fear a growing addiction problem is going unaddressed.

While nearby nations like China and South Korea have imposed drastic restrictions on youth gaming in recent years — with mixed results — some Japanese families feel they are being left to deal with the issue on their own.

Each month, a group meets in Tokyo to swap stories and strategies for tackling their children’s gaming habits.

“My only comfort is that he has been keeping his promise to stay offline overnight,” one father says, as another confides their child has been attending a rehab day camp.

The group’s founder, Sakiko Kuroda, says children in Japan now start playing video games early in primary school, and pandemic restrictions mean many are playing for longer.

Many parents do not know how to deal with the issue, and there is “a lack of action by the government and the gaming industry”, said Kuroda, who started the group in 2019 as an informal meet-up.

“People come from across the country to take part, as this kind of self-help gathering is rare in Japan.”

The World Health Organisation describes “gaming disorder” as behaviour that results in “significant impairment” of areas like relationships, education or work, and lasts at least a year.

As gaming can overlap with other online activities like social media use, it is hard to quantify the problem, though anecdotal evidence from doctors suggests more families in Japan are worried — particularly since the pandemic.

‘Playing all night’

An education ministry survey this April showed that 17 per cent of children aged six to 12 spend more than four hours a day gaming — up from 9 per cent in 2017, with a similar jump seen among those aged 12 to 15.

“Games have clever systems to lure people into continuing to play... including constantly updated apps and virtual money,” said Mia Itoshiro, who works with a group that gives seminars on preventing gaming addiction.

“Parents are increasingly consulting us saying ‘my children can’t go to school because they’re tired after playing all night’.”

China in November announced it had “solved” youth gaming addiction by limiting the time children can play online games to just three specified hours a week, enforced through facial recognition software and ID registration.

Meanwhile, South Korea last year removed a decade-long ban on PC-based online gaming for children under 16 between midnight and 6am, which local media had branded outdated and ineffective.

Japan has had no similar rules, and even a much-debated 2020 local ordinance that banned under-18s from playing more than an hour on weekdays had no enforcement mechanism.

Parents and experts say gaming can tip into obsessive behaviour in children because of other problems, including Covid-related stress or bullying.

The mother of a 13-year-old girl told AFP that video games became a “lifeline” for her daughter when she was struggling at school.

When she tried to take away the girl’s tablet, her daughter, then 10, replied: “If you deprive me of this, I’d want to die.”

“I was shocked to hear her say something like that,” the mother said.

Others who have experienced gaming addiction also say it became a lifeline for them during times of struggle.

Underlying problems

Takahisa Masuda, now a 46-year-old social worker, plunged into gaming as a bullied middle school student, and he believes the escape mechanism saved his life.

“I had thought about killing myself, but I wanted to finish Dragon Quest,” Masuda told AFP.

By the time he had, he felt strong enough to face his tormentors, and he committed to his studies, eventually realising his goal of working in the gaming industry.

So, while parents are often inclined to ban gaming or remove devices, Susumu Higuchi, a doctor and director of the Kurihama Medical and Addiction Centre, instead offers children counselling to tackle underlying problems.

His clinic also provides offline activities from art and cooking to sports, intended to open patients up to other hobbies and social situations.

He wants the government and industry to do more to prevent children from becoming addicted in the first place.

“Discussing gaming and online tools requires a balance,” Higuchi said.

“But at the moment it seems to me that measures to rein in the negative aspects are dwarfed by the promotion of gaming.”

A popular fleet and entry-level seller in previous iterations, the Kia Picanto’s popularity is derived from a compelling and attainable package of reliability, refinement, utility and fuel efficiency, underlined by a youthful and perky persona and styling. A direct challenge to pricier Japanese and European city cars ever since its 2011 second generation that ushered in a leap forward in design, desirability, comfort and amenities, the third generation Picanto debuted in 2017 as a more evolutionary model that improves on the strides made by its predecessor.

Sportier style

Almost identical in size, proportions and design character as its immediate predecessor, the third generation Picanto, however, features a slightly longer wheelbase for added dynamic stability and cabin legroom. Styled with a similar direction as the previous Picanto, it features a similarly buffed and muscular body with detailed and sculpted surfacing, within a small, swept back and upright package. As narrow and nearly as tall, the third generation’s design is, however, more fluent, better integrated and lends the visual impression of greater width.

Downplaying its predecessor’s narrow aesthetic, the current Picanto features a broader grille and hungrier and more aggressive lower intake to imply a wider, more sporting stance. To this end, it also features a scalloped — rather than domed — bonnet, a more squinting headlight signature and more prominent wheel-arches. With better flowing integration of concave and convex surfacing, the current Picanto also employs a rising sill line, bigger rear wheel arches and an upwards rear waistline kink for a more flowing, urgent and athletic demeanour.

Eager and efficient

With a better incorporated front bumper section than its predecessor’s stepped and awkwardly jutting design, the third generation Picanto prominently uses a carryover version of the outgoing model’s naturally-aspirated 1.25-liter four-cylinder multi-point fuel injection engine for regional markets. Driving the front wheels through a reasonably responsive and smooth shifting 4-speed automatic gearbox — or sportier 5-speed manual, where available — the Picanto’s small yet eager engine develops 83BHP at 6,400rpm and 90lb/ft torque at 4,000rpm, and returns frugal 4.5L/100km fuel consumption on the combined cycle.

A small but refined and quiet motor, the Picanto’s 1.25-litre engine that is relaxed when cruising and responsive in town, and carries its slightly heavier, but still lightweight, 1,058kg mass with comparatively good confidence, even with only four gear ratios. In terms of performance, the Picanto 1.2L accelerates through the 0-100km/h benchmark in 13.2-seconds and can attain a 161km/h top speed. Flexible for its class, the Picanto 1.2L meanwhile happily winds up to peak power and rev limit, even with its under-square engine design.

Nimble and refined

A small light car with a big footprint and little overhangs, the Picanto feels is responsively tidy into, and nimble through tight and narrow corners. Its light electric-assisted steering, meanwhile, offers good accuracy and adequate feel when pushed hard through bends, but is otherwise well insulated from textural imperfections and user-friendly. Refined and comfortable for a small car, the lightweight Picanto still feels fun, direct and eager when hustled along at a brisk pace, if not quite as engagingly back-to-basics as some other less refined small hatchbacks.

With good safety credentials — including being built using 44 per cent advanced high strength steel — the Picanto 1.2L comes with all-round disc brakes, ABS and electronic traction and stability controls, which are particularly reassuring for a small and tall car when making quick highway lane changes and driving through fast sweeping bends, where it feels more stable and planted than expected. Taut and crisp through corners and mature and confident on highway, the Picanto is, however, in its element in the city where medium speed corners and manoeuvres are executed with agile precision.

Fresh and practical

Tastefully up-market for its class, the third generation Picanto’s cabin has a fresher, more welcoming and stylised ambiance, incorporating more defined elements, greater attention to detail and emphasis on design. With well-laid out buttons and rotary controls, the Picanto has a better centred and more symmetric presentation than its predecessor. Its dashboard has a more horizontal emphasis, and features a metallic strip drawing attention in that dimension, and a tablet-like infotainment screen perched above. Meanwhile, its centre console has a more upright orientation.

More stylish than the car it replaces, the Picanto also features a sportier three-spoke steering wheel and clearer, bigger and crisper instrumentation and dials. Its seats and driving position are more comfortable and supportive with good road views, while front space is marginally improved. Rear space is near unchanged, but adequate for such a small car, as its 255-litre minimum boot volume. Well-equipped and practical, if not over-loaded, the Picanto features manual A/C, USB ports, remote audio controls, Bluetooth connectivity, tilting steering wheel and a dual level luggage board.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.25-litre, transverse, 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 71 x 78.8mm

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable valve timing

Gearbox: 4-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 2.919; 2nd 1.551; 3rd 1.0; 4th 0.713

Reverse/final drive: 2.48/4.587

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 83 (84) [62] @6,400rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 90 (122) @4,000rpm

0-100km/h: 13.2-seconds

Top speed: 161km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 4.5-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 35-litres

Length: 3,595mm

Width: 1,595mm

Height: 1,495mm

Wheelbase: 2,400mm

Track, F/R: 1,394/1,403mm

Overhang, F/R: 675/520mm

Ground clearance: 151mm

Headroom, F/R: 1,005/960mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,085/820mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,300/1,280mm

Cargo volume, minimum: 255-litres

Kerb weight: 1,058kg

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/torsion beam

Steering: Electric-assisted, rack and pinion

Turning circle: 9.6-metres

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 256mm/discs, 244mm

Tyres: 175/65R14