DOHA (AFP) – Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was rightly hailed after his team’s stunning World Cup quarter-final win over Brazil, but their midfield trio were also crucial.
Luka Modric (AP pic; below), Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic helped Croatia earn a 1-1 draw with the record five-time winners after 120 minutes, with the European side triumphing 4-2 on penalties.
Even though Brazil had by far the more dangerous openings, with 11 shots on target to Croatia’s one, possession was split evenly.
Croatia’s midfield was able to help them keep the ball for an hour of the game, stopping the likes of Neymar, Vinicius Junior and Raphinha racking up even more opportunities.
“I said several times that Croatia has the best midfield in the world,” proud coach Zlatko Dalic told a press conference.
“We can pass the ball, control the game and control the ball, we did that today. Our midfielders were not hasty, that was the most important part.
“I believe the midfield is the best part of our team, they (kept) possession and blocked our opponents.”
Celtic right-back Josip Juranovic, who also put in a fine display in the win over Brazil at the Education City Stadium, agreed with his coach.
“We believe in ourselves – I can say we have the best midfielders ever,” said Juranovic.
“Brozovic, Modric and Kovacic – if they are in the game I think that we will control the game 90 per cent.”
PHNOM PENH (XINHUA) – Cambodia yesterday began to provide cash handouts to almost 360,000 households with about 1.3 million people affected by inflationary pressures and recent floods, a senior official said.
“The government is expected to spend USD31 million for inflationary pressures-hit families and USD15 million for recent floods-stricken families for three months (from December to February),” said the undersecretary of state of the Economy and Finance Ministry Chan Narith during a press conference.
According to a directive signed by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen last week, those affected families had been identified by the Ministry of Planning to receive cash assistance based on areas.
Those in the capital Phnom Penh will receive USD25 per family, with each household member getting an additional USD7, and those in provincial towns will be given USD22, with each household member provided an additional USD6, while those in rural areas will receive USD20, with each household member getting an additional USD5.
Recent flood-hit households in Phnom Penh and 15 provinces will receive USD20 for each family, with each member getting an additional USD4, according to the directive.
The World Bank said in its Cambodia Economic Update released on Wednesday that rising global energy, fertiliser and food prices prompted a surge in inflation in the country, saying that consumer price inflation accelerated to 7.8 per cent in June but eased to 4.9 per cent in August 2022.
“Rising inflation is particularly harmful to poor households,” the bank’s report said.
An aerial view of a flooded region. PHOTO: THE STAR
CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt is using the ancient grandeur of its pyramids as a backdrop for modern pop concerts and fashion shows, hoping to boost its image, tourism and the luxury brand sector beloved by its moneyed elite.
French fashion house Dior debuted its latest collection on Saturday at the Giza pyramids, after Italian designer Stefano Ricci held a show at Luxor’s dramatic Temple of Hatshepsut in October.
Dior CEO Pietro Beccari told AFP the fashion house chose the pyramids as far more than “just a useless background”, drawing on Egyptian astrology for the collection named “Celestial”.
Before that, American pop bands Maroon 5 and the Black Eyed Peas performed at the Giza Necropolis, where contemporary art was also recently shown at the latest Art d’Egypte exhibition.
The modern cultural push is a new direction for Egypt’s image.
Long a cultural powerhouse in the Arab world, with wildly popular singers and movie stars especially in its heyday in the 1950s-70s, Egypt has set its sights on its ancient heritage to attract the global spotlight once more.
A harbinger of the new embrace of ancient culture and history was a “golden parade” last year of 22 pharaohs that crossed Cairo from an old to a new museum in a carnival-style grand spectacle.
Models present creations at the temple of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Hatshepsut. PHOTO: AFP
It was part of a push by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government to revive tourism, which accounts for 10 per cent of GDP and some two million jobs but has been hammered by political unrest, economic upheaval and the COVID pandemic.
Showcasing Egypt’s heritage in a new context “will encourage other brands and international cultural figures to come to Egypt”, said art historian Bahia Shehab.
Fashion photographer Mohsen Othman agreed that such glamorous events are “vital”.
Big brands like Dior “come in with a huge budget”, employ local talent and “support young creators who can put Egypt on the global fashion map”.
Iman Eldeeb, whose agency cast two Egyptian models for Saturday’s show, told AFP it was a “long-awaited step for the fashion world in Egypt”.
Egypt’s luxury goods sector has grown despite years of economic turmoil that saw the pound lose half its value in a 2016 currency devaluation.
Despite the downturn, Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is home to 86,000 millionaires, according to the bank Credit Suisse. “The richest one per cent are enough to create demand,” said public relations specialist Ingy Ismail, who advises luxury brands.
The boutiques in the shopping centres of Cairo’s chic new satellite cities, she said, are “up to the standards of international luxury brands”.
Egypt’s bubble of super rich has helped create a home-grown fashion design scene whose pioneers have recently ventured onto the catwalks of Milan and Paris.
At this year’s Paris Fashion Week, Cairo-based luxury brand Okhtein showed a resin-made bustier that evoked Egyptian alabaster at French fashion house Balmain’s show.
It was a rare success story for Egypt’s creative sector, where “most people are self-taught, working hard with scarce resources to try and meet international standards”, said Othman, the photographer.
Ismail said the country’s luxury clothing and jewellery market “has gone from under 100 Egyptian brands to more than 1,000 today”, fuelled by “a huge pool of young creative talent”.
International events offer rare exposure, but getting them to the country is still a challenge. “It is a big step for the government to authorise Art d’Egypte and Dior to organise events at the foot of the pyramids,” the art show’s curator, Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, told AFP.
Red tape and tight restrictions can still get in the way, she suggested, conceding that “the legislative framework is complicated”.
But “promoting the country’s culture” must be a priority, added Abdel Ghaffar, who believes a dedicated government body could better promote exhibitions, concerts, shows and even film production.
Shehab, the art historian, said many realise that Egypt, known for its timeless architectural marvels in the desert, needs to project an updated image of itself.
“There’s more and more awareness about the need for soft power and for culture as a representation for the country,” she said, cautioning however that Egypt still requires “better infrastructure” to make this happen.
She even dared dream that Egypt could draw in Hollywood productions, if it only starts granting permits.
“We have lost count of the number of international productions that have resorted to shooting in Morocco, Jordan or Saudi Arabia,” she said.
The latest Egypt-themed production was a Disney+ TV miniseries, Marvel Comics Moon Knight for which two entire Cairo city blocks were built from scratch – on a set in Budapest.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – “Scream Queen” Jamie Lee Curtis (AP, pic below) will be this year’s recipient of AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups Awards career achievement honour.
Curtis will receive the honour at the AARP’s annual Best Movies and TV for Grownups ceremony, the group announced on Thursday.
Alan Cumming returns to host the ceremony.
“Jamie Lee Curtis’ longstanding, ever-increasing career shatters Hollywood’s outmoded stereotypes about ageing, and it exemplifies what AARP’s Movies for Grownups programme is all about,” AARP Chief Executive Officer Jo Ann Jenkins said in a statement.
Since stepping into the role of Laurie Strode in Halloween in 1978, the 64-year-old horror queen starred in her last installment of the slasher series Halloween Ends, and the blockbuster indie film, Everything Everywhere All at Once this year.
“We are delighted to honour Curtis, who at 19 became an iconic ‘scream queen’ in Halloween, then grew up to be a master in comic and dramatic roles, too,” Jenkins said.
Curtis, whose other credits include, True Lies, A Fish Called Wanda, Freaky Friday, Knives Out and the television series Scream Queens, is an Emmy nominee and a British Academy Film Award winner.
Her films have, over her four-decade-long career, earned USD2.5 billion at the box office, the statement said. The AARP’s Movies for Grownups programme champions movies that resonate with viewers 50 and over, and fights ageism in the entertainment industry.
Previous honorees include Lily Tomlin, George Clooney, Annette Bening, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro and Michael Douglas.
ANN/THE STATESMAN – With the growing addiction of mobile phones, people are also becoming victims of degenerative spinal changes, especially in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions.
Our posture at the time of receiving and making mobile calls can potentially give rise to musculoskeletal issues. A host of studies have linked the wrong posture while using phones with pain and dysfunction.
The joints of the body suffer from wear and tear process while it is active and it gets repaired during the period of rest. If we use the joints in abnormal posture for long time or pressure the joints in a single posture for long times, it will suffer for more wear and tear and one point will come where the wear and tear will be more in comparison with the repairs and the degeneration will start in the joints, Head of Department, Rheumatology Dr Uma Kumar at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), told Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).
“When we hold the mobile in hands, not only the fingers are used but our hands, elbow, muscle and neck are involved as we usually watch the mobile while bending the neck from netural position which is over the head and complete straight,” Dr Kumar said.
AIIMS doctor said that there is a constant weight of brain, skull and muscles over the neck which falls on cervical spine.
So if we work or watch the mobile in wrong way, the weight proportionally increase the pressure on the spine and muscles creating pains.
“When you tilt your head or angle it forward, the cervical spine’s (neck) muscles, tendons, and ligaments support the head. During exertions on the neck, it’s the neck’s intervertebral discs that help the force to be absorbed and distributed evenly,” Dr Kumar said. Talking about the increasing number of such patients, Dr Kumar said “We often in OPD meet such patients complaining of pain in waist, fingers or neck due to following the wrong posture.”
Long-term forward head posture may also increase the risk for accelerated degenerative spinal changes, warned AIIMS Dr Kumar. Rather tilting the head down, keep it up and bring the mobile and laptop up to meet the eyes, she advised.
“Our head has around five to eight kilogrammes (kgs) of weight, if we tilt it in any direction, it will exert more pressure on supporting muscles of neck, due to the gravitational force, but on long standing fixed position (prolong sitting on computer and use of mobile) it will result into the muscles fatigue, pain and degenerative disorders due to chronic long bad posture,” said Director, Bone and Joint Institute Dr Kaushal Kant Mishra at Fortis Escort Hospital.
Dr Mishra said that “If our neck are in normal position, we exert 5.4kg of weight on neck, if head is tilted 15 degree forward, the weight will increase to 12.2kg, if it is tilted 30 degree, weight will be 18.1kg, if 45 degree, weight will be 22.2kg and if head is tilted 60 degree, the weight over the neck will become 27.2kg.”
“That is why paying attention to the posture while using the mobile and laptop is a must to avoid the pain and disorder. When the neck and shoulder move forward, the muscles in the front get tighter and the back side becomes weaker and thus muscle imbalance happens,” Dr Mishra said.
Proper posture, good ergonomics, and above all, strengthening of neck muscles will be the best prevention as well as treatment for neck, shoulders and upper back pain, Dr Mishra told IANS.
“We are obliged to look after our health as well as the health of our family and society, without which the blessings of life would be lessened,” Royal Brunei Armed Forces Religious Officer Pengiran Fakhrul Syakirin bin Pengiran Haji Zainuddin from Kampong Bengkurong Mosque said.
He said this during a religious talk at the Munajat night on Saturday.
“Certain members of the public disregard their health, saying that medicine and treatment are always readily available at the hospital or clinic. This contradicts with the order from Allah the Almighty which calls on people not to carry out matters that bring harm to themselves,” he said.
The Munajat night held for the 65th time was participated by mosque congregants from Kampong Bengkurong Mosque and Utama Mohammad Salleh Mosque in Pekan Bangar as well as staff and students of Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) Sultan Saiful Rijal campus.
Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman was in attendance.
Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman attends the event. PHOTO: AZLAN OTHMAN
Also participating were officers and staff of Temburong Arabic School as well as congregants from 97 mosques, suraus and religious schools and workforce at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Kampong Bengkurong Mosque Adviser Dato Paduka Dr Haji Ismail bin Haji Duraman began the weekly religious gathering with the recitation of Sayyidul Istighfar and Surah Al-Fatihah.
Hospitality in Travel and Tourism student at IBTE Sultan Saiful Rijal campus Awangku Muhammad Waie Wazirrudin Shah bin Pengiran Salahuddin followed with a recitation of Surah Yaasiin.
Doa Munajat was recited by Temburong Arabic School Temburong principal Morsidi bin Haji Tuah from Utama Mohammad Salleh Mosque, Pekan Bangar while Selawat Tafrijiyyah was led by mosque youth at Kampong Bengkurong Mosque Muhammad Danish Ahsanuddin bin Jamil.
Doa Peliharakan Sultan dan Negara Brunei Darussalam was read by Religious Officer at Kampong Bengkurong Mosque Mohammad Zahid Zakwan @ Mohammad Thaib Hasbullah bin Mohd Said.
THE STAR – Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh is not the only Malaysian in the highly anticipated film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, Wicked.
London-based Malaysian actor Aaron Teoh will be joining A-list stars such as Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum and Yeoh in the two-part Wicked films directed by Crazy Rich Asians’ filmmaker, Jon M Chu.
“Ummmm am I gonna get to work with these people for real?!?! Look at these talented humans! @wickedmovie,” Teoh, 33, tweeted his excitement.
Later, his wife posted a video of the actor celebrating the news the way most Malaysians can relate to.
“I am celebrating my big movie news and my big job with instant noodles cos Hollywood can never take that away from me. Asian at heart, baby!” Teoh said tongue-in-cheek while cooking.
Malaysian actor Aaron Teoh. PHOTO: THE STAR
Hollywood trade publication Variety reported that Teoh will be playing the role of Avaric in the movies.
Avaric is said to be a friend of Glinda (Grande) and a frenemy of Elphaba (Erivo).
Teoh, who worked as a vocal teacher in Malaysia for nine years, has appeared in local theatre productions such as Merrily We Roll Along (2014) and Tick Tick Boom (2015). He then moved to Britain in 2017 with his wife who was pursuing her Masters at the time.
Naturally, he was also active in the theatre scene there and started going for auditions.
In 2019, he landed the role of Prince Chulalongkorn in the travelling musical production of The King And I.
“The pool of talent is so much bigger in Britain and you have layers like casting directors and agents. Without an agent to represent you, it’s pretty difficult to get seen for auditions,” he told The Star in an interview in 2019.
“I was prepared for rejections, that’s part of the job. But I wasn’t prepared for how difficult it would be to even get an audition,” he added.
The two-part Wicked movies are prequels to The Wizard Of Oz and tell the origin stories of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch.
The movies are slated for release in December 2024 and 2025.
The Mosque Affairs Department, through its Youth Unit, Imarah Division, in cooperation with the nationwide Mosque Belia and Beliawanis Group Highest Working Committee, organised a Nationwide Mosque Youth Forum 2022 at the Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Mosque, Kampong Sungai Akar yesterday.
Titled ‘Identity formation Among the Youth’, the forum was held in conjunction with the Brunei December Festival 2022.
Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Mohd Tashim bin Pengiran Haji Hassan was the guest of honour. The forum provided an opportunity for the mosque youth to gather and get acquainted with their leaders.
It also gave parents the opportunity to participate in learning their children’s activities, on top of providing awareness on the importance of achieving success while being involved in beneficial activities.
Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Mohd Tashim bin Pengiran Haji Hassan at the forum. PHOTO: MORA
THE STAR – The lack of interest of youth in higher education and the issue of cost reductions for universities will be addressed by the government, said Malaysian Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
“There have been a lot of changes, especially after COVID-19. A lot of things need attention and a deep understanding before we can come up with solutions to address these issues,” he said.
Khaled said that a new tertiary education agenda would be rolled out next January which will address all concerns involving his ministry. He added that this agenda will address all of the concerns involving the ministry and the way forward for lifting the education level in the country.
“Currently, I am attending a briefing by the ministry and the Higher Education Department on the challenges in the higher education landscape.”
He said this when met by The Star after attending the meet-and-greet session with the Kota Tinggi community at the Dewan Muafakat Taman Pasak Indah yesterday.
The Kota Tinggi MP added that the new direction would also address the production of higher-quality human capital and local talent, which was in line with the government’s effort in making the country a hub for higher education. “There are so many things that we want to share, and I prefer to do this one day (in January) so that I detail our agenda for the country,” said Khaled.
“It’s not like we have prepared all the things we need to do once we come into the office; we have plans, but they still need time to be prepared before we can share them with the country,” he added.
The new agenda will also focus on securing the higher education plans for the future, the current level of higher education in the country, and the potential efforts made by the ministry to address its challenges.
ANN/THE DAILY STAR – A baby’s skin is more sensitive than that of a grown-up, as they are more prone to conditions like dry skin or rashes.
That is why special attention is a must when you are taking care of your growing baby, as healthy skin keeps them away from many associated diseases. Here are some ideal skincare routines for your little one:
USE MOISTURISERS FREQUENTLY
We lose water from our skin fast. What is more alarming is that babies lose water at a faster rate than adults. This is a cause for concern as the chilly winter makes it challenging in taking care of a baby’s skin. To prevent this excessive loss, it is best to always use quality products like lotions or baby oils, as they help to protect against dry skin. It’s also a very important routine as your baby will reap the benefits of moisturising as they grow up.
GIVE SPECIAL CARE TO EARS, EYES, AND NOSE
Your baby’s skin around the ears, eyes, and nose is very delicate, so always use extra precaution and attention when tending to them.
Clean the outside of the ears gently with soft cotton buds, but be careful to never push a bud into the ear canal!
Use moist cotton pads to clear the nose and to keep the skin fresh.
Again, use a soft cotton pad to wipe the insides of the eyes very gently.
TRIM THE NAILS REGULARLY
We know your little one loves to scratch anything they get their hands onto.
This can be very problematic as when their nails are long, germs accumulate and spread infections to the skin when they scratch themselves. That’s why always pay extra attention to the length of their nails and make sure to trim them with clippers when they get too long.
A good time to cut their nails is after a bath as the nails are very soft at that time. In addition, use baby nail clippers and a magnifier to see exactly how much you need to cut.
MAINTAINING NICE HAIR
A baby’s hair is thinner and much more delicate than adult hair. So, when you are bathing your little one, always be sure to use a shampoo that has been tested dermatologically and is recommended by paediatricians, so that your baby’s hair will be healthy. Good hair maintenance should not stop when your child grows up either as hair continues to develop until the age of 12. Always use quality shampoo and other hair care products like oil that is specially designed for children.
