MADRID (AFP) – Xavi Hernandez has praised the professionalism of Philippe Coutinho and said the Brazilian took a wage-cut to complete his loan move to Aston Villa, which was confirmed by both clubs on Friday.
Villa will pay around half of Coutinho’s salary for the duration of the deal, which expires in the summer, although Villa will then have an option to buy the midfielder for a reported fee of around EUR40 million.
Coutinho’s Barcelona contract, which expires in 2023, earned him around EUR20 million a year but Xavi said on Friday the 29-year-old agreed to a reduction in terms to return to the Premier League, where he links up with former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard.
“It says a lot about him that he wanted to leave to get more minutes,” Xavi said. “His salary has been reduced. He is a great professional and he wants to succeed. He was struggling here and he has looked for a solution.”
Coutinho’s exit is not thought to have reduced Barcelona’s wage bill enough to allow them to register Ferran Torres, who they signed earlier this week from Manchester City.
Torres is currently unavailable after testing positive for COVID-19 but he is also not allowed to play until Barca make his arrival comply with their spending limit of EUR98 million.
“Mateu Alemany (Barcelona’s director of football) is working 24 hours a day so that Ferran can play when he tests negative for coronavirus. I am optimistic, I trust the most in the club management,” Xavi said.
A royal wedding song competition is launched by Radio Televisyen Brunei (RTB) in conjunction with the royal wedding of Her Royal Highness Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bolkiah and Yang Mulia Awang Abdullah Nabil Mahmoud Al-Hashimi.
The top three winners will get cash prizes of BND2,000, BND1,000 or BND500.
Entry forms and further information on the song writing competition can be obtained from www.rtb.gov.bn and must be submitted by 2pm on January 11.
THE WASHINGTON POST – The Washington Post Food staff recently fielded questions about all things edible. Here are edited excerpts from that chat.
Q: What is/are a good substitute(s) for leeks in a recipe?
A: Leeks are relatively mild, so in most cases, thinly sliced sweet onions are best – or shallots. Depending on what you are making, you could also try other onions or scallions.
Ann Maloney
Q: What were your favourite food-cooking-related gifts received (or sent!) this year?
A: I got two large bags of homemade granola from a friend. It is delicious, not too sweet, toasty and nutty. It brought a big smile to my face. I sent spicy cheddar cheese straws, but instead of straws, we cut them into bite-size stars – like cookies – and everyone seemed to love that.
AM
A: We got a Turkish teatime giftbox from a cafe/shop we love that included not only the tea and teacups, but also tea snacks! I gave vanilla bean paste to someone who’s an avid baker and she loved it.
Kari Sonde
Ricotta gnocchi with leeks and peas. PHOTO: THE WASHINGTON POST
A: I sent a friend who is dealing with her first holiday since both her mother and live-in mother-in-law died one of those From Roy panettones, and given that I thought the one we got for ourselves was the most delicious one I had ever tasted, I’m sure that’ll be my favourite gift sent!
Joe Yonan
A: I gifted myself some Jasper Hill Farm cheese boxes – wow. I received a cake from Red Truck Bakery. Also fantastic. I sent Lou Malnati’s deep-dish pizza to friends and family with kids and folks stuck at home with covid. Those went over big.
Becky Krystal
Q: I have been making a wonderful cheesecake for a number of years except for one thing – the crust is always soggy. No matter what I do to not make the crust not soggy (longer baking time for the crust or reducing the amount of butter) it still gets soggy. The main thing with this cheesecake is that it is very voluminous. The height of it goes to the very top of the springform pan whereas commercially made cheesecakes and other recipes are half or less than half of the height. I make other, less-voluminous cheesecakes, but the crust is still soggy. I am at my wits end.
I started out by wrapping the springform pan with foil, but when I took it out of the oven, I noticed that water had collected inside the foil. I changed that up by putting the pan in a silicone barrier, so no water touches the pan at all but to no avail. Still soggy. The only reason I can think of now is that the volume of the cheesecake is pressing down on the crust and forcing liquid into the crust.
A: It does sound like maybe your springform pan is the issue? Even with the foil, you may still be getting leakage. I had this problem, and it took me getting a new pan to figure it out.
I don’t know if it would work with this recipe because you like the height, but another option is to do a very long bake at a very low temp. In that case you don’t need the water bath because the oven will not get above the temperature at which the egg proteins start to cause problems.
BK
Q: I eat local as much as possible. I wonder about fish which has traveled to more countries than I have plus the treatment of the workers/employees overseas and in the United States (US). Outside of a CSA, what options exist?
A: For fish, you’ll want to check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, where you can search for a type of fish you want to eat and the most ethical producers.
KS
Q: I have a lot of small, cayenne-size dried peppers that are really hot. I don’t remember the variety I planted. Can I use them to make chilli crisp? If so, how? If not, what can I do with the peppers?
A: Dried peppers will last more than a year in your pantry, so no need to use them up right away! For a riff on chilli crisp, I would fry one or two thinly sliced shallots and four thinly sliced cloves garlic in a cup of peanut or neutral oil until barely toasted – don’t fry until browned, or the residual heat will cause them to burn – then add all at once one to three tablespoons each: fresh minced ginger, crushed dried chillies, cracked Sichuan peppercorns, chopped peanuts or cashews. Season to taste with salt.
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (AP) – Tighter pandemic measures came into force in Romania yesterday as authorities hoped to quell sharply rising coronavirus cases amid concerns that the next virus wave could overstretch the country’s health care system.
In mid-December, Romania was reporting fewer than a thousand COVID-19 infections a day, but over the past week, daily cases have surged to around 6,000.
It is the highest number of infections since early November when cases were on the decline following a vicious fourth virus wave.
Over the winter holiday period, hundreds of thousands of Romanians return home from other countries, many from the West, which fueled concerns over the threat of the fast-spreading Omicron variant. Romania has so far confirmed almost 300 cases of the new variant.
Health minister Alexandru Rafila said in a press briefing Friday that Romania is “already in the fifth wave of the pandemic” and that Omicron is expected to soon become the dominant virus strain.
“For the time being, there is a sporadic transmission (of Omicron),” he said. “But it is very possible that in the coming days, the coming weeks, we will witness a community transmission supported by this new strain.”
The new measures yesterday include the mandatory wearing of face masks in outdoor and indoor public spaces, and textile masks have been banned.
Non-compliance with mask rules could result in hefty fines of up to EUR500, authorities said.
Establishments can stay open until 10pm and operate at 50 per cent or 30 per cent capacity depending on the area’s infection rate, and COVID-19 passes are required. The same goes for sporting events, gyms, and cinemas.
Meanwhile, quarantine and isolation periods have been reduced.
Through October and November, Romania recorded pandemic highs of COVID-19 infections and deaths, and at one time had the highest mortality rate globally.
Romania, a European Union country of around 19.5 million, is the bloc’s second-lowest vaccinated nation against COVID-19, with just 40 per cent fully vaccinated. Experts blame widespread disinformation, a strong distrust of government authorities and an ineffective national campaign.
THE STAR – A total of MYR108.51 million will be channelled by the Malaysian federal government to Sabah as post-flood aid, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.
The Prime Minister said of that amount, MYR90.86 million will be allocated to repair public infrastructure damaged by the recent floods, including roads and bridges.
“We have just obtained the list (of damaged public infrastructure) which will be verified by the Public Works Department and other relevant parties. I have instructed that all (post-flood) matters, not just the Bantuan Wang Ihsan (BWI) aid and others but also infrastructure, must be expedited.
“Those affected by the floods are already facing difficulties and we do not want to burden them further with damaged infrastructure in their respective areas. This can hinder economic activities, so if possible, we must expedite (repairs),” he said yesterday.
HARTFORD (AP) – Principals, superintendents and counsellors are filling in as substitutes in classrooms as the surge in coronavirus infections further strains schools that already had been struggling with staffing shortages.
In Cincinnati, dozens of employees from the central office were dispatched this week to schools that were at risk of having to close because of low staffing. The superintendent of Boston schools, Brenda Cassellius, tweeted she was filling in for a fifth grade teacher.
San Francisco’s superintendent, Vince Matthews, has called on all employees with teaching credentials to take a class.
“This is the most challenging time in my 36 years as an educator,” Matthews said during a break from filling in as a substitute sixth grade science teacher. “We’re trying to educate students in the middle of a pandemic while the sands around us are consistently shifting.”
Staff absences and the surge driven by the Omicron variant have led some big districts including Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee to switch temporarily to virtual learning. Where schools are holding the line on in-person learning, getting through the day has required an all-hands-on-deck approach.
ABOVE & BELOW: English teacher Meghan Hatch-Geary and; special education teacher Jennifer Graves. PHOTOS: AP
A teacher at Benito Juarez High School protests with other members of the Chicago Teachers Union and supporters over COVID-19 safety protocols
“It’s absolutely exhausting,” said history teacher Deborah Schmidt, who was covering other classes during her planning period at McKinley Classical Leadership Academy in St Louis. On Thursday, she was covering a physics class.
In a school year when teachers are being asked to help students recover from the pandemic, some said they are dealing with overwhelming stress just trying to keep classes running.
“I had a friend said to me, ‘You know, three weeks ago we were locking our doors because of school shootings again, and now we’re opening the window for COVID.’ It’s really all a bit too much,” said Meghan Hatch-Geary, an English teacher at Woodland Regional High School in Connecticut.
“This year, trying to fix everything, trying to be everything for everyone, is more and more exhausting all the time.”
Labour tensions have been highest in Chicago, where classes were cancelled after the teachers union voted to refuse in-person instruction, but union leaders in many school systems have been clamouring for more flexibility on virtual learning, additional testing and other protections against the virus.
In New Haven, Connecticut, where hundreds of teachers have been out each day this week, administrators have helped to cover classrooms. When her classroom aide did not show up for work on Wednesday, special education teacher Jennifer Graves borrowed paraprofessionals from other classrooms for short stretches to get through the day at Dr Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School -an arrangement that was difficult and confusing for her young students with disabilities.
“It’s very difficult to get through my lesson plans when somebody doesn’t know your students, when somebody is not used to working with students with disabilities,” Graves said. “Some students need sensory inputs, some students need to be spoon-fed. So it’s very hard to train someone on the spot.”
Even before infection rates took off around the holidays, many districts were struggling to keep up staffing levels, particularly among substitutes and other lower-paid positions. As a result, teachers have been spread thin for months, said President of the National Education Association Becky Pringle.
“All of these additional burdens and stresses on top of being worried about getting sick, on top of being stressed like all of us are to after a two-year pandemic … it just compounded to put us in a place that we are now,” Pringle said in an interview.
Some administrators have already been helping for months in classrooms and cafeterias to fill in for sick and quarantining staff.
“We’re not in love with the circumstances, but we’re happy to do the work because the work is making sure that we’re here for our kids,” said superintendent of the Hamburg Central School District in New York Mike Cornell, who spent time this fall on cafeteria duty poking straws into juice pouches and peeling lids off chips to fill staffing gaps.
In San Francisco, 600 of the district’s 3,600 teachers were out on Thursday. Even with administrators, curriculum developers and teacher coaches filling in, there were not enough substitutes to cover all classrooms and some classes needed to be combined, said Matthews, the superintendent.
Among the schools that went virtual this week because of staffing shortages was second grade teacher Anna Tarka-DiNunzio’s school of roughly 200 students in Pittsburgh.
Some taught their students despite being sick with the virus, said Tarka-DiNunzio, who was disappointed to hear some characterise staffing shortages as the result of teachers arbitrarily taking off work.
“It’s not just people calling off. It’s people who are sick or who have family members who are sick,” she said.
The strains on schools this week might have been even tougher if not for large numbers of students being absent themselves. In New Haven, teachers said classes have been only about half full.
Jonathan Berryman, a music teacher, said some of his students haven’t shown up for weeks. He worries what that will mean for the performance targets set for students and their teachers.
“Before Omicron came along, there was fairly smooth sailing. Now the ship has been rocked,” he said.
“We get to make mid-year adjustments in our evaluation system. And some I’m sure are wondering whether we should even be concerned about that academic progress piece.”
Graves, who is in her 12th year of teaching in New Haven, said that she is grateful for administrators who have been helping out in classrooms and the aides who have pitched in, but that her students have struggled with the lack of consistency in staffing.
She also has been frustrated with quickly changing health protocols, and worried about the health of herself and her extended family.
Most of her young students are not able to tolerate wearing masks for long stretches, and many have been coughing lately.
The increase in the number of local cases over the past few days is a cause of concern, Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar said at the daily press conference on Saturday. More details in Sunday’s Borneo Bulletin.
The High Court last October made a decision in favour of a defendant in a civil suit resulting in costs to be borne by the plaintiff company. More details in Sunday’s Borneo Bulletin.
Little Bear Childcare Centre employee Nor Hafidah binti Abdul Jaya on Saturday said the centre is making preparations prior to re-opening of Child Care Centres (CCC). She said the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) announcement regarding the re-opening of CCCs was “welcoming news.” More details in Sunday’s Borneo Bulletin.
