TOKYO (AP) – Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura turned 58 recently. Happy Birthday to the player known as “King Kazu”. But there’s more to celebrate.
He’s also set to start his 40th season in professional football, the oldest player in the Japanese Football League.
Miura plays for Japanese fourth-division team Suzuka, on loan from second-division club Yokohama.
Suzuka began training last week with the season to open next month.
“Retiring isn’t an option. I want to play as many minutes as I can in games,” Miura said late last year at a news conference, quoted by Japanese news agency Kyodo.
Miura has played professionally in Brazil, Italy, Croatia, Australia and Portugal. He made his debut in 1986 with Santos in Brazil.
In 2017 at age 50, he became the oldest player to score in a professional match. That topped the record held by highly decorated England international Stanley Matthews.
Miura was one of the first big names in Japanese football. He scored 55 goals in 89 appearance and was a star with Japan’s national team in the 1990s.
ROCHESTER, NY (AP) – This year’s finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame include trailblazers in esports, electronic pets and portable gaming, as well as the arcade favourite brought to life in a 1998 episode of Seinfeld.
The Hall of Fame revealed the 12 finalists up for induction on Thursday and opened a week of public voting. The winners will be enshrined on May 8 at the hall’s new space inside The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.
The 2025 finalists are: Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Defender, Frogger, Golden Eye, Golden Tee, Harvest Moon, Mattel Football, Quake, NBA 2K and Tamagotchi.
“This year’s finalists span the decades and range from arcade classics to one of the most popular mobile games of all time,” director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games Jon-Paul C. Dyson said in a news release.
“All of these games have enormously influenced pop culture or the game industry itself.”
Released in 1977, Mattel Football was the first blockbuster handheld electronic game. It paved the way for systems like Nintendo’s Game Boy and today’s mobile devices, according to the hall.
PHOTO: AP
Three decades later, cellphones put another nominee into the hands of countless players. Rovio’s 2009 Angry Birds was downloaded billions of times and launched movies and merchandise.
Notable for their influence on esports, according to the Hall of Fame, are nominees: Golden Tee: Fore! by Incredible Technologies, the 1989 arcade golf game whose sequels included a 1995 version that allowed for tournaments; Sega’s 1999 NBA 2K, which inspired a professional esports league, and Id Software’s Quake, one of the first esports whose first-person shooter’s 3D engine became an industry standard.
Tamagotchi, which created a digital pet for its owner to raise, earned a nomination for bridging toys and video games in 1996. It was reborn as an app in 2013.
The nominees also include two arcade games released in 1981: Defender, by Williams Electronics, which the Hall of Fame said proved players would embrace more complex and challenging games; and Frogger, developed by Konami.
Frogger cemented a place in pop culture with a 1998 episode of Seinfeld, in which George navigates a Frogger-style arcade cabinet across a busy road, mimicking the game’s frogs.
Microsoft’s 1997 Age of Empires was the company’s bestselling PC game to that date and is still played by millions around the world, the Hall of Fame said.
Farming game Harvest Moon, released in 1996, offered a peaceful alternative to the combat and action games that dominated the industry – and would be central to fellow nominees Goldeneye 007, released by Rare and Nintendo in 1997; and Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare, the 2007 installment of Activision’s hit franchise.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame gets thousands of nominations online each year for arcade, console, computer and handheld games.
SYDNEY (AFP) – Gusts and torrential rain have blacked out more than a quarter of a million properties and swamped parts of Australia’s east coast, officials said yesterday, with one driver confirmed dead and a dozen troops injured in the wild weather.
After days hovering off the coast as a category 2 tropical cyclone and battering a 400-kilometre stretch of coastline, Alfred weakened into a tropical depression before making landfall on Saturday evening.
But as the remnants of the cyclone moved inland, hundreds of thousands of people remained without power yesterday, and video images showed knee-high water pouring through roads in some of the worst-hit areas of southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.
A total of 23 centimetres of rain had descended on the Queensland resort of Hervey Bay in just a few hours, flooding homes and forcing emergency rescues in rapid waters, the state’s premier, David Crisafulli, told a news conference.
The weather system “continues to pack a punch” as it moves inland, Crisafulli said, adding that more than 1,000 schools shuttered across the state would gradually start re-opening today.
Utility companies said about 268,000 homes and businesses in southeast Queensland and another 12,500 in northeast New South Wales were still without power yesterday afternoon.
“Customers need to be prepared to be without power for several days,” Queensland’s Essential Energy said.
“The biggest challenges to getting power back on will be rising flood waters and swollen creek beds, fallen vegetation and mud slides impacting access roads,” it said in a statement.
About 14,600 people are under emergency warnings related to the weather system in New South Wales, the state’s emergency services said.
“In the last 24 hours, 17 incidents have occurred as a result of people driving into flood waters,” said emergency services deputy commissioner Damien Johnson. “Not only is it a danger to yourself and your family, it is also dangerous as well for the volunteers, the emergency services workers that need to rescue you.”
A 61-year-old man’s body was found on Saturday, a day after his four-wheel-drive pickup truck was swept off a bridge into a river in northern New South Wales.
A woman takes photos of a flooded road in the northern New South Wales town of Lismore, Australia. PHOTO: AP
COX’S BAZAR (AP) – Rohingya refugees in crammed Bangladeshi camps say they are worried about a United States (US) decision to cut food rations by half beginning next month, while a refugee official says the reduction will impact the nutrition of more than one million refugees and create “social and mental pressure”.
US President Donald Trump abruptly stopped most foreign aid and dismantled the US Agency for International Development, which has significantly hampered the global humanitarian sector. Trump’s January 20 executive order froze the funding for a 90-day review. The World Food Program (WFP), the main United Nations (UN) food agency, recently announced that cuts to food rations will take effect from April 1 in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar starting in late August 2017 when Myanmar’s military launched a “clearance operation”. The ethnic group faces discrimination and are denied citizenship and other rights in the nation. Following a military takeover in 2021, the country has been engulfed in an armed conflict widely seen as civil war.
It was not immediately clear if the WFP’s decision was directly related to the Trump administration’s action.
“They used to get USD12.50 per month, and from now USD6, this will greatly affect them,” additional refugee relief and repatriation commissioner of Bangladesh Shamsud Douza told The Associated Press.
“As the food is cut, they will get less nutritious food, which may lead to a lack of nutrition. There will be social and mental pressure created amongst the Rohingya people in their community. They will have to look for an alternative for the food,” he said.
Rohingya refugees collect food stuff distributed by the World Food Programme at their refugee camp at Kutupalong in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. PHOTO: AP
BAHIA BLANCA (AFP) – Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said.
The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighbourhoods into islands and cut electricity throughout the city. National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.”
Two young girls – reportedly aged four and one – were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities said. The mayor’s office said more casualties were possible in this city of 350,000 residents, located 600 kilometres southwest of the capital Buenos Aires.
The missing girls “may have been carried away by the water,” said Bullrich. At least five of the victims died on flooded roadways, possibly after being trapped in their cars by fast-rising water. The downpour, which began on Friday morning, dumped more than 400 millimetres of rain in the area in just eight hours, “practically what Bahia Blanca gets in an entire year,” provincial security minister Javier Alonso said.
“This is unprecedented,” he added. Sirens flared as Bullrich and Defense Minister Luis Petri tried to visit an affected neighbourhood, with residents complaining they should have visited the area the previous night.
For environment official Andrea Dufourg, the extreme weather event “is a clear example of climate change.”
“Unfortunately this will continue to take place… we have no other option than to prepare cities, educate citizens, establish effective early warning systems,” said Director of Environmental Policy for the city of Ituzaingo Dufourg.
The number of evacuees on Saturday stood at 850, down from a peak of 1,321, according to the mayor’s office.
The storm forced the evacuation of Jose Penna hospital, with news footage and video shared on social media showing nurses and other medical staff carrying babies to safety. They were later assisted by the army.
Nearly 1.5 metres of muddy water gushed into doctor Eduardo Seminara’s office.
“Everything is ruined,” he told local channel C5N, pointing to a pile of soggy chairs, cushions and books dumped on the sidewalk. But “I’m not complaining, we didn’t lose any lives, our family is fine,” he said.
The government has authorised emergency reconstruction aid of USD9.2 million. The storm left much of the surrounding coastal area without power.
At one point, city officials in Bahia Blanco suspended electricity due to the huge amount of water in the streets.
Bahia Blanca has suffered past weather-related disasters, including a storm in December 2023 that claimed 13 lives. It caused houses to collapse and provoked widespread infrastructure damage. Heavy rains also fell on Friday night in the resort town of Mar del Plata, with officials suspending evening activities and urging people to remain indoors.
Buenos Aires was also hit by the storm but suffered no major damage.
People carrying belongings walk through flooded waters a day after the heavy storm. PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK (AP) – Fast-moving bush fires fuelled by strong winds swept across a large stretch of land on Long Island, New York sending thick plumes of grey smoke into the air and forcing the evacuation of a military base while a major highway was shut down.
Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and confirmed that state agencies were responding to the fires, which were burning near the Pine Barrens – a wooded area located east of New York City, home to several commuter towns. She warned that homes, a chemical factory, and an Amazon warehouse were at risk, and further evacuations could be necessary.
“This fire is still out of control,” told Hochul. “We are evacuating people from the Westhampton area as we speak.”
Officials reported that three of the four fires had been fully contained, though the fire in Westhampton was only 50 per cent under control. Two commercial buildings had been partially damaged, but authorities confirmed that no homes were currently in the direct path of the flames.
One fire-fighter was transported to the hospital with facial burns, while local authorities struggled to control the blaze. “The wind is our biggest challenge,” said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine. “It’s driving this fire.”
Videos circulating on social media showed towering flames and massive columns of black smoke rising above the roads, while Air National Guard helicopters worked to douse the flames with water. To reduce wildfire risks, the Town of Southampton issued a warning against starting recreational fires as the situation escalated.
Governor Hochul emphasised the state’s commitment to safety in a statement, noting that the National Guard was assisting with helicopter support and collaborating with local law enforcement.
“The safety of the public is my top priority, and I am dedicated to doing everything possible to protect Long Islanders,” she said.
Despite the intensity of the situation, Hochul refrained from providing an estimate of the fire’s extent, only confirming that the flames were spreading rapidly.
Satellite imagery suggested the fire and smoke stretched over roughly 4.02 kilometres along Sunrise Highway, according to NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System. As a result, authorities closed a section of Sunrise Highway, a key route to the East End of Long Island. The fires were burning near Francis S Gabreski Airport, where the National Guard had deployed helicopters.
One of the partially burned commercial buildings was also located near the airport.
Personnel at the base were evacuated as a precautionary measure, according to spokesman Cheran Cambell.
ABOVE & BELOW: Photos show firefighters respond to a bush fire. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States (US) Secret Service agents shot an armed man near the White House during the night, an agency spokesman said early yesterday, while US President Donald Trump was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The man had been hospitalised and his condition was “unknown,” the spokesman said in a statement that did not specify whether the White House or Trump may have been the intended target.
No injuries to Secret Service agents were reported, according to the statement posted by spokesman Anthony Guglielmi on social media platform X. The agents had been warned by local police of a “suicidal” man travelling to Washington from Indiana and around midnight found his parked vehicle near 17th and F Streets, the statement said – very near the White House. They then spotted an individual nearby who matched the description they had been given, the statement said.
“As officers approached, the individual brandished a firearm and an armed confrontation ensued, during which shots were fired by our personnel,” the statement said.
“The suspect was transported to an area hospital and his condition is unknown,” it said, adding that Washington police were investigating.
LONDON (AFP) – Britain’s King Charles III made an appeal for unity in “uncertain times”, as the 76-year-old monarch emerges as a key figure in the United Kingdom’s (UK) diplomatic drive over Ukraine.
Britain and European countries have been scrambling to present a united front following the United States (US) President Donald Trump’s sudden withdrawal of support for Ukraine three years into the conflict.
By tradition, the UK head of state’s role is politically neutral.
But in recent days, Charles has hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his private estate and invited Trump for a historic second state visit.
Today, Charles will deliver a message for Commonwealth Day, which celebrates the 56-nation club of mostly former British colonies.
According to extracts published late on Saturday, Charles said nations’ differences should be a “source of strength”.
“In these uncertain times, where it is all too easy to believe that our differences are problems instead of a source of strength and an opportunity for learning, the Commonwealth’s remarkable collection of nations and peoples come together in the spirit of support and, crucially, friendship.” Earlier on Saturday, British leader Keir Starmer said that Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was considering joining a group of countries prepared to protect an eventual ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict.
British officials have held talks with around 20 countries interested in being part of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” a UK official said. The official refused to name the nations but said they were “largely European and Commonwealth partners”.
Britain’s King Charles III appealed for unity in ‘uncertain times’. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS (AFP) – Tourists and French visitors alike filled Paris’ landmark Pompidou museum on the weekend to catch a last glimpse of its prestigious art collection ahead of a five-year closure for a major renovation.
“Five years – it’s long!” exclaimed one guide, Elisa Hervelin, as people around her took photos of many of the museum’s permanent works, among them paintings by Salvador Dali and Henri Matisse and sculptures by Marcel Duchamp.
The 2,000-piece collection, on display on the fourth and fifth floors on the 48-year-old multicultural centre, are to start being taken away today. The artworks are to be given temporary homes in museums across France and in other countries while the lengthy overhaul of the building – famously designed with its pipes and ventilation shafts colourfully adorning its facade – is carried out.
The full closure of the Pompidou Centre – which also comprises a vast library and a music research unit – will occur on September 22 this year. The EUR262-million renovations include removing asbestos from the structure.
With free entrance for its last weekend, visitors made the most of a last swing through the galleries, taking in the art as well as workshops, performances and DJ sets put on for the occasion.
Some were regulars to the museum, while others were seeing its collection in person for the first time.
With 3.2 million visitors last year, the Pompidou Centre is one of the most popular museums in Paris, ranking behind the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay in terms of attendance.
Opened in 1977, it is named after Georges Pompidou, France’s president between 1969 and 1974.
The renovation work will run through to 2030.
Eiffel Tower at sunset from a terrace of the Centre national d’art et de culture Georges-Pompidou. PHOTO: AFP
ZURICH (AP) – Swiss police said they had solved a kidnapping involving two dogs and a demand for ransom of CHF1 million.
Zurich police said that two Bolonka dogs were stolen from the home of a 59-year-old man in Schlieren near Zurich last week, while the dog owner was away.
When the man returned, the dogs were gone and he found a letter demanding money to release the small dogs.
Instead of paying the ransom, the man, who was not identified by name in line with Swiss privacy rules, called the police.
In the course of the investigation, police arrested a 30-year-old Norwegian man at Zurich Airport who police said was strongly suspected of being involved in the theft.
Following further leads and cross-European cooperation, police in Poland then detained a 38-year-old suspect and discovered the kidnapped Bolonkas, which they returned safely to their owner on Friday. Swiss police said the Norwegian is in custody in Switzerland and authorities in Poland are further investigating the Polish suspect.
A Bolonka is a toy breed of dogs bred in Russia and sold for up to a couple of thousand dollars.
