MIAMI (AFP) – United States (US) coach Gregg Berhalter said his team have banished memories of their 2018 World Cup qualifying flop as they aim to take a giant stride towards Qatar 2022 with victory over Panama today (7am Brunei time).
The latest round of CONCACAF qualifying takes place on Sunday with five teams still in the hunt for the four berths on offer to teams from Central America, North America and the Caribbean.
With Canada all but assured of one automatic qualifying place – the Canadians need only a single point from two games to clinch – it leaves the USA, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica chasing the two remaining automatic qualification berths or a place in a playoff.
The second-placed USA, who battled to a 0-0 draw away to Mexico last Thursday, take on Panama at Orlando’s Exploria Stadium today.
A US victory over Panama would seal qualification if Costa Rica fail to beat already-eliminated El Salvador in San Salvador earlier in the day. A draw would guarantee Berhalter’s side at least a playoff place, regardless of the result of their tricky final game away to Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Defeat, however, would revive memories of the USA’s shock failure to qualify for the 2018 finals in Russia, when the Americans were beaten by Trinidad & Tobago in their final qualifying game.
In an echo of 2017, the USA also played Panama at home in their penultimate game – on that occasion winning 4-0. Berhalter said however that despite the similarities, his players are not dwelling on the past. “It’s really important not to get ahead of ourselves,” Berhalter said. “We can only control what we can control and that’s what we’re focussed on.
“I know there are similarities to 2017. But we’re we’re looking forward. I don’t think this is a group that looks back.
“We acknowledge what happened in the past. It’s part of who we are as US men’s national team players. We acknowledge that. But we have to forge our own path, and tomorrow’s a good time to do it.”
Berhalter took over as US coach in 2019 after a protracted search to find the long-term successor to Bruce Arena, who was in charge for the decisive period of the ill-fated 2018 qualifying campaign.
The 48-year-old former US international has the chance to finally make amends for that disappointment.
“Since we took over it’s been about positioning the team,” Berhalter said.
The Lost City is the kind of charming, star-driven, action-adventure that makes moviemaking look easy and effortless from the outside. It’s hard to imagine a world in which you pair Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum as a romance novelist and her himbo cover model on a Romancing the Stone-esque journey not being enjoyable.
Throw in a bit of Brad Pitt kicking up a storm without breaking a sweat and a dash of Daniel Radcliffe as an eccentric heir and you’ve got a surefire hit, right?
But if star charisma alone was enough to make a movie watchable, there would be many more good movies in the world. It’s why The Lost City is such a special creation. Sure, it lives or dies on Bullock, Tatum and the ensemble (including a delightful Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Patti Harrison), but there’s also so much more that had to go right to make it work, which it does exceedingly well. It’s the movie that Jungle Cruise wanted so desperately to be.
In the case of The Lost City, directed by brothers Aaron and Adam Nee, it seems to start with the script which is lean, smart and self-aware in a way that both winks at the absurdities of fish-out-of-water movies and pays homage to what we love about them. It’s never snarky or condescending.
As Loretta and Alan, Bullock and Tatum are pitted against one another as the brain and the beauty. She’s a writer who found success writing steamy romance novels, though she’d rather be an academic. He’s a yellow lab with a heart of gold and a vocabulary of malapropisms. She thinks he’s little more than a walking six-pack, but he’s fascinated by her and harbours a bit of a crush, so he’s more than eager to stage a rescue attempt when she’s abducted from a book event.
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Sandra Bullock (L), and Channing Tatum in a scene from ‘The Lost City’. PHOTO: AP
Usually having four writers (both Nees, Oren Uziel and Dana Fox) and a story by credit (Seth Gordon) on a project is a bit of a liability, indicating re-writes, disagreement and an attempt to please everyone. Cinephiles learn to celebrate individual vision and treat collaboration as suspect. And yet The Lost City seems to have been the product of a fair amount of teamwork, on screen and off – perhaps a throwback to the days when studio notes were a good thing and could make a project better.
Take Lorretta who is immediately against the outfit her book agent Beth (Randolph) has selected for her to wear at a promotional event for her new book. It’s a dangerously low-cut and tight purple sequin jumpsuit that she complains gives her a wedgie in the front and the back. Beth tells her to suck it up: She only has to wear it for two hours.
Of course that’s not the case when she’s kidnapped by Radcliffe’s polite psychopath Abigail Fairfax and taken to a lost island where he hopes she can help him locate an ancient artefact.
The outfit, which was too tight for her to comfortably get up on a barstool at the event, never becomes more practical in the wild and its inconveniences are never brushed aside.
In other words, nothing in The Lost City is a throwaway one-off joke, even a purple sequin jumpsuit. They commit. And Bullock and Tatum are screwball gold together. Neither are ever too vain for the bit, and she especially gets to show off her skills as a physical comedian.
MIAMI (AP) – Kyrie Irving is finally going to play a home game for Brooklyn again today. And he apparently intends to play home games with the Nets for years to come.
Irving, speaking to reporters on Saturday following Brooklyn’s game-day shootaround practice in Miami, said he feels comfortable being a member of the Nets and that he wants to remain teammates with Kevin Durant.
Irving holds a USD36.5-million player option for next season. He could opt out and sign up to a five-year contract worth as much as USD246 million this coming summer – assuming the Nets offer such a deal.
“I love it here,” Irving said. “Once summertime hits, I know that we’ll have some conversations but there’s no way I can leave my man seven anywhere.”
That was a reference to Durant, who wears jersey number seven for Brooklyn.
Irving’s revelation wasn’t exactly a revelation to the Nets, coach Steve Nash said. Brooklyn has been working under the assumption that Irving will be back next season and beyond.
“I think we all feel confident that we’ll have Kyrie back,” Nash said. “But that’s a front office discussion.”
Irving’s comments came one day before he’s scheduled to play his first home game for the Nets this season, now that New York City mayor Eric Adams exempted athletes and performers from the city’s coronavirus vaccine mandate.
Irving has said he is unvaccinated, which has meant that he’s been eligible to only play road games for the Nets since re-joining the team in January. Adams’ decision has been criticised by some, since the city’s mandate still applies to many workers such as police officers and teachers.
“If the mandate isn’t necessary for famous people, then it’s not necessary for the cops who are protecting our city in the middle of a crime crisis,” President of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York Patrick Lynch said this week.
Irving indicated that he understands why many believe Adams’ decision creates a double standard.
“I think there are a lot of people dealing with real consequences from being unvaccinated,” Irving said. “I don’t think it’s talked about enough in terms of our essential workers and people on the front lines.”
Offering Irving an extension would mean that the Nets may have roughly USD560 million promised to three players.
THE WASHINGTON POST – The more you cook, the more you learn. And sometimes unlearn.
Take tofu. My knowledge of how to best prep and cook it has taken many twists and turns over the years, especially when it comes to the one thing that seems to be so vexing: how, why and whether to get extra moisture out of it.
Long ago, I used to press. You may know the drill: If you don’t have a special device, then it’s a matter of balancing plates and maybe a heavy can to squeeze the tofu for a half-hour or so. The reason? To make room for a marinade to penetrate, theoretically adding flavour to each millimetre of the interior. But in my experience, those marinades don’t ever penetrate all that well, even when the tofu is pressed. More often, I just focus on the power of a glaze or sauce to add so much flavour to the exterior that it provides a nice contrast to (or compensates for) the neutral interior.
Instead of worrying about getting too much moisture out of the tofu, you can focus on just getting it off the tofu. By drying the outside, you set it up for better pan-frying, getting the exterior firm and a little chewy-crisp, while leaving the interior creamy. (Shatteringly crisp tofu, on the other hand, happens only when you dredge it in a starch before frying, and for that you don’t even need to dry it, because the moisture helps the starch adhere).
A few years ago, after I read about a microwaving technique, where you wrap it in towels and nuke it for a minute or so, I went that direction. Besides expelling moisture, that can also help the tofu hold up better in stir-fries and the like, although if you use extra-firm or firm tofu, this isn’t much of a problem.
Since I’m always on the lookout for new tofu methods, I was intrigued by one I read about in J Kenji Lopez-Alt’s comprehensive new book, The Wok. He calls for you to slice the tofu and pour boiling water over it, writing that the hot water “will actually cause the tofu to squeeze out more moisture”.
When I tried it in Lopez-Alt’s recipe for Korean-style spicy braised tofu, though, the tofu never felt “slightly tacky and dry to the touch” as promised. I patted it dry, moved right along, and loved the dish that resulted: A quick pan-fry gets the tofu wonderfully crisp-chewy, then it quickly simmers in a spicy soya sauce that becomes a glaze.
After talking to my friend Andrea Nguyen, author of Asian Tofu and other great books, I tried the same recipe three more times, prepping the tofu a different way for each.
Korean-style spicy braised tofu. PHOTO: THE WASHINGTON POST
For pan-frying, Nguyen likes to dry brine tofu, lightly salting slices and letting them sit for a few minutes before blotting away moisture. That worked nicely, too, as did the microwave method. Do you know what also worked? Doing nothing. That is, I sliced the tofu and simply patted it dry before frying.
This was another suggestion from Nguyen, who has proven in such cookbooks as the wonderful Vietnamese Cooking Any Day that she has an unerring sense of just what is worth doing in the kitchen, and what isn’t. (She often just lets the tofu drain for a few minutes as she preps other ingredients. “I rarely press it,” she said).
Again, I got that crisp-chewy exterior, virtually indistinguishable from the tofu I prepped using the other methods.
Lopez-Alt’s recipe, which puts a delicious dish on your table in a mere 25 minutes, works beautifully whether you fuss over your tofu – or just let it be.
KOREAN SYTLE SPICY BRAISED TOFU
Four servings
This recipe from J Kenji Lopez-Alt results in a slightly chewy, sweet-spicy tofu dish that goes from start to finish in less than half an hour. After prepping the tofu, you cook it twice in a wok: first pan-frying it in oil, then braising it in a simple, fiery sauce that turns into a syrupy glaze.
Note that while this recipe was written for the wok, and is from Lopez-Alt’s new book extolling that pan’s virtues, you can make it in a cast-iron or other heavy skillet, instead.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE TOFU
One (14- to 16-ounce) block firm tofu, drained and cut into half-inch slabs
Two tablespoons peanut, rice bran or other neutral oil
FOR THE SAUCE
Quarter cup water
Three tablespoons low-sodium soya sauce
One tablespoon gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), or to taste (may substitute crushed red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper)
Two teaspoons granulated sugar
Two teaspoons toasted sesame oil
One teaspoon toasted sesame seeds, plus more for serving
Two medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
One scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced
DIRECTIONS
Make the tofu: Pat the tofu dry with a clean dish towel. If you’d like, wrap the tofu slices in the towel and microwave on HIGH for one minute. (Alternatively, you can sprinkle the tofu slices on each side with quarter teaspoon of fine salt and let sit for 10 minutes before patting dry).
Heat a wok over high heat until lightly smoking. Reduce the heat to medium, add the oil and swirl to coat. Add the tofu, one piece at a time, in a single layer (it will come up the sides of the wok a little) and cook, occasionally swirling the pan gently, until crisp and dark golden brown on the first side, three to five minutes. (If the tofu sticks at all when you swirl the wok, let it cook undisturbed for one or two minutes before gently prying it off with a thin metal spatula and swirling the wok to ensure nothing is sticking).
Slide the tofu out of the wok onto a large plate and return the wok to medium heat.
Flip the tofu pieces (pry them apart if they’re stuck together on the edges), then return them to the wok and cook on the other side, swirling the pan gently, until crisp on the second side, three to five minutes. Slide the tofu back out onto a plate and set aside.
Make the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together the water, soya sauce, gochugaru, sugar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, garlic and scallion until the sugar dissolves.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the sauce and the tofu to the wok and cook, turning the tofu occasionally, until the sauce reduces to a syrupy glaze that coats each piece, about two minutes. Sprinkle with additional sesame seeds and serve.
UPI- A fifth-grade class in Indiana is aiming to spread a little happiness with a special hotline titled, ‘When Life Gives You Lemons, Call a 5th Grader’.
Cheryl Can Laeken, who teaches fifth grade at Milford School in Wawasee, said she came up with the idea for the phone line with her class after reading about a similar project by a California kindergarten class.
“The world is really chaotic, it’s kind of dark,” Van Laeken told WSBT-TV. “On the news it’s kind of hard to find a good news story to share with kids right now. I teach my kids to be positive and do good things for other people and this just seem like a really easy way to get my kids thinking about others.”
Sixteen mentors and mentees began a five-month long mentoring programme organised by the Global Awareness and Impact Alliance (GAIA) yesterday.
The GAIA mentoring programme, part of the GAIA Youth Series, is in its second edition and focusses on creating a nurturing environment for youth to learn and develop and creating changemakers and leaders of the future.
It is also a follow-up to Camp Wira, a three-day virtual camp conducted last month that sought to push the youth to new limits.
After the mentoring programme, a Youth Leadership Summit, a conference-style workshop to equip them with new skills such as negotiation, critical thinking, public speaking, conflict resolution, confidence building, and effective communication, will follow.
The programme is led by Dayangku Ayesha binti Pengiran Haji Mohd Salleh.
SHAH ALAM (BERNAMA) – Police seized 1.33 tonnes of cannabis worth about MYR3.33 million following four separate raids around Selangor, Malaysia last Thursday.
Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) Director Dato Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said four men, aged between 23 and 46, were detained by the Bukit Aman NCID and Selangor NCID at about 4.40pm and 11pm at four locations in Subang Jaya, Rawang and
Semenyih, Selangor.
“During the raids, police found and seized grade two cannabis at a house which was being used to store the drugs,” he told a media conference at the Selangor Contingent Police Headquarters yesterday.
“Investigations revealed that the drug trafficking syndicate had been active since mid-January this year and that two of the suspects are jobless, one is a businessman and another, a delivery worker. He said one of the suspects tested positive for Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and checks also found one of them has two previous drug-related criminal records.
“The police have also seized various assets including four vehicles and cash of about MYR331,900 and the estimated total drug and property seizure is worth about MYR3.7 million,” he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and the suspects are on a seven-day remand from March 25, to facilitate investigations.
“The NCID is hunting down the remaining syndicate members, including the mastermind. The investigation is still ongoing, within this week we will have more details on the syndicate’s activities,” he said.
Meanwhile, commenting on the arrest of several civil servants for their alleged involvement with a drug trafficking syndicate, Ayob Khan said police were still waiting for a decision from the Home Ministry on the action against those detained on March 6.
He said the civil servants were detained under Section 3 (1) of the the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.
“We will prepare the case file to be sent to the Home Ministry and the police are satisfied with the information gathered regarding their involvement with this syndicate,” he said.
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (AP) – Nabih Bakhsh’s family has been part of Afghanistan’s musical tradition for generations. His great-grandfather was a musician in the court of the Afghan emperor 150 years ago. His father was a famous maestro and singer. Nabih too carried on the family art, performing and running an instrument repair shop.
Until now. The 70-year-old had to give up music and turn his shop into a convenience stall selling soda.
Since the Taleban’s blitz takeover of Afghanistan six months ago, the songs have gone silent in the historic musicians’ quarter of Kabul.
Gone are the instruments that once filled shop windows in the alleys of Kucha-e-Kharabat. Their owners packed them and left, putting a centuries-old Afghan musical heritage at risk of vanishing.
Many are being driven out as work has dried up both because of the country’s economic collapse and out of fear of the Taleban.
The Taleban government has not formally banned music, but musicians said individual Taleban fighters take matters into their own hands and target them, halting performances and breaking their instruments because they said music is haram.
On a recent day, Nazir Amir Mohammed tearfully bid farewell to his family. A minibus waited to take him and other musicians to Iran, where they hope they can practice freely and pass their expertise down to the next generation.
ABOVE & BELOW: Well known Afghan singer Mobin Wesal, 35, sings and plays his Harmonium musical instrument at his home in Kabul, Afghanistan; and Zabiullah Nuri, 45, covers his face to protect his identity as he shows his harmonium musical instrument that Taleban fighters broke with their guns when he was carrying it home from his shop. PHOTOS: AP
Afghan vendors sit outside their shops where they used to repair and sell musical instruments and now sell kitesABOVE & BELOW: Mobin Wesal, who switched to selling fabrics after the Taleban took over, checks merchandise at his shop; and Mobin Wesal stands next to his stored musical instruments at his home
In a bag, concealed between layers of clothing, was his beloved rubab, a traditional lute-like instrument that took Nazir 10 years to master.
”The Taleban came to this street, told us music is not allowed and should be banned,” he said. Like most of the street’s residents, his income had come from playing at weddings, concerts and parties. Now that is gone.
Those who stay have adapted to new realities. Instrument repair shops that lined the street have transformed into small stalls selling soda and chips, or garments.
Traditional instruments are hidden in homes, or even buried – including drums, lutes and harmoniums, an accordion-like instrument.
Instruments are also gone in the bazaar of Kucha Shor, meaning ‘Noise Street’. Here, shopkeepers have turned to selling kites, a national pastime.
Empty is the famed music school, Afghanistan’s only formal one, its pupils and teachers evacuated. Taleban stand guard outside.
In Kucha-e-Kharabat, classical music traditions have been passed down for generations, dating back to the 1860s when Afghan emperor Sher Ali Khan invited Indian masters to enrapture Kabul’s royal court.
The convergence of two music cultures bestowed Afghanistan with a unique fusion: Indian classical music structures are blended with Afghan traditional folk songs.
Like in India, Afghan music is also an oral tradition. The young study for years under a single master, called an ustad, and carry on their legacy.
Nabih’s great-grandfather, Ustad Khudabakh, was one of the first Indian masters to heed the emperor’s call.
After a lifetime in music, Nabih now sells sodas to get by, making about AFN100 (USD1) a day. Worshippers at the nearby mosque are his main customers. All that remains of the shop’s past life is the empty shell of a harmonium, full of rags. ”I don’t know what happened to the guy who commissioned me to repair it, he must have left,” he said.
”We don’t have any other skills, music is our life,” he said. ”We don’t know how to be merchants, we don’t even know how to use weapons to rob people.”
Residents are fearful of Taleban fighters. One month ago Zabiullah Nuri, 45, was carrying his harmonium home from his shop when a Taleban patrol saw him.
”They beat me and took my instrument. They broke it with their guns,” he said, sitting in his home and holding up the remnants of his harmonium.
To make ends meet, Zabiullah sold everything he could, including his television.
”Everything is finished, my whole life has changed,” he said.
Issa Khan, 38, was an hour into playing at an engagement party in a private residence when a group of Taleban stormed in. The militants also broke his instrument and told him music was forbidden.
He stopped playing after that.
But folk tunes still ring out from the home of Mobin Wesal. The 35-year-old singer’s voice enlivens the empty salon, bare except for his instruments packed away in the corner.
The tune is a Pashtu favourite: ”Teacher please don’t fail me in my exams. Love has made me an idiot.”
He was part of a new generation of Afghan musicians breathing life back into their heritage, he said, by introducing new lyrics and clever styles into the art form.
His younger son sat listening intently. ”I won’t teach him,” Mobin said, motioning toward the boy. ”He would be in danger.”
SINGAPORE (CNA) – The foreign worker levy rebate for work pass holders in the construction, marine shipyard and process (CMP) sectors has been extended for another three months, at SGD250 per month for April and May, and SGD200 for June this year.
It is originally due to expire at the end of this month.
The move is in light of continued manpower shortages and elevated business costs arising from COVID-19, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Ministry of National Development (MND) said in a media release yesterday.
The rebate was introduced in 2020 to help businesses retain their enterprise capabilities amid challenges caused by the pandemic.
The lower rebate for June reflects the “improving manpower inflow” for the CMP sectors, with manpower costs expected to moderate accordingly, said MOM and MND.
The ministries added that the authorities would continue to monitor the situation before deciding closer to June whether a further extension is necessary.
“As the (foreign worker levy) rebate is meant to be a temporary support, we encourage firms to press on with longer-term productivity improvements to be more manpower-lean and resilient against future manpower disruptions,” they said.
MOM and MND noted the government has also supported the built environment sector with other measures, including financial assistance through the SGD1.36 billion construction support package, manpower support and legislative relief through the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act (COTMA).
A provision which allows contractors to seek a determination from an assessor to adjust the contract sum to address the increase in foreign manpower salary costs will also be extended.
Set to expire on March 31, it will now be extended for an additional three months, till June 30.
This will complement the extension of the foreign worker levy rebate and provide additional assurance to firms in the built environment sector, the ministries added, noting the relief is “meant to be time-limited”.
“As the sector continues to recover and Singapore shifts towards living with COVID-19, firms will need to partner one another even more closely to ensure business sustainability and longer-term resilience of the (built environment) sector.”
In August last year, the government removed the minimum period of employment requirement of three years for work pass holders in construction and two years for those in the process sector arriving from countries such as China and Bangladesh, so as to qualify for the man-year entitlement waiver.
This was aimed at supporting the inflow and retention of workers, and was due to expire this month.
This removal will now be made permanent, in line with the dismantling of the man-year entitlement framework from 2024, said MOM and MND.
Incoming or renewal work pass holders from these countries will no longer need to meet the minimum period of employment requirement to qualify for the waiver, they said.
“The CMP sectors are key to Singapore’s economy, and the government will continue to work closely with the sectors through the Industry Transformation Maps to transform businesses and reduce their reliance on manpower,” they added.
