Rock star Benji Madden and Cameron Diaz, who got married on Monday, with author Vicky Vlachonis, in May 2014 in Los Angeles. Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Goop/AFP
Rock star Benji Madden and Cameron Diaz, who got married on Monday, with author Vicky Vlachonis, in May 2014 in Los Angeles. Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Goop/AFP
Rock star Benji Madden and Cameron Diaz, who got married on Monday, with author Vicky Vlachonis, in May 2014 in Los Angeles. Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Goop/AFP
Rock star Benji Madden and Cameron Diaz, who got married on Monday, with author Vicky Vlachonis, in May 2014 in Los Angeles. Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Goop/AFP

Cameron Diaz ties the knot with rock star Benji Madden


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For years, she said that she had no interested in settling down and getting married, instead romancing a series of actors, models and sportsmen. But it seems that maybe Cameron Diaz just hadn't found the right man to share her life with. It was announced on January 6 that the 42-year-old Charlie's Angels and Annie star had wed Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, 35, the previous night during a low-key ceremony in a marquee at their home in Los Angeles. Guests included Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Drew Barrymore, who was a bridesmaid, The Telegraph newspaper reported. Nicole Ritchie, who is married to Madden's twin brother Joel and played matchmaker in the romance, was also there and her five-year-old son Sparrow was a ring bearer. Diaz and Madden had been dating for eight months, and rumours of a wedding began to circulate at Christmas when she was spotted wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring. "We couldn't be happier to begin our new journey together surrounded by our closest family and friends," they told People magazine yesterday. Diaz's former boyfriends have included Justin Timberlake, actors Jared Leto, Matt Dillon, disgraced New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez and British model Paul Sculfor. – The National staff

Singer Jewel set to publish her “complicated” life story

The musician and actress Jewel is planning to publish a memoir in the autumn. She has signed a deal with Penguin Random House imprint Blue Rider Press for the yet-to-be-titled book. In 1998, the singer published A Night Without Armor, a poetry collection that sold more than a million copies. Blue Rider said that in the memoir 40-year-old Jewel would reveal details of a "far more complicated life" than previously known. She will write about her childhood and career while offering writing advice and insights on being a mother. The singer, full name Jewel Kilcher, had a successful musical debuts with the 1995 multiplatinum album Pieces of You. She has also appeared in movies, including Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. – AP

Hollande’s ex plans kiss-and-tell movie

A film adaptation is being planned of a best-selling kiss-and-tell book that embarrassed the French president Francois Hollande. It was written by his ex-girlfriend, a journalist, who is teaming up with a producer friend to make a movie. Saida Jawad told the French celebrity magazine Gala that she and Hollande's ex, Valerie Trierweiler, "are currently developing the movie adaptation of the bestseller and are looking at co-productions with French and international companies". The book, Merci Pour Ce Moment (Thank You for this Moment) was published in September and has been translated into 12 languages, including English. It laid bare the turbulent, six-year relationship between Trierweiler and Hollande, including 18 months by his side after he became president in 2012. It portrays him as a callous egotist. The relationship ended a year ago when a French magazine published photos of Hollande, 60, cheating on Trierweiler, 49, with the actress Julie Gayet, 42. – AFP

Producers Guild awards nominees announced

Independent movies Boyhood, Birdman and Whiplash lead the way in the nominations for best film in the Producers Guild of America awards. However, highly rated civil rights drama Selma failed to make the shortlist of the PGAs, one of the main awards shows leading up to the Oscars. The 10 nominated films also included Clint Eastwood's American Sniper; David Fincher's crime drama Gone Girl; The Imitation Game, about the wartime codebreaker and father of computing Alan Turing; Nightcrawler, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an unscrupulous TV news cameraman; Foxcatcher, the tragic true-life story about a billionaire's relationship with two Olympic wrestling brothers; Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel; and The Theory of Everything, the life story of the British physicist Stephen Hawking. The Dark comedy Birdman, starring the former Batman star Michael Keaton as a former superhero-movie actor trying to resurrect his career, is already flying high as the US awards season gears up, having topped nominations for the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and the Independent Spirit movie prizes. In the best TV drama category of the PGAs, the contenders are Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Game Of Thrones, House Of Cards and True Detective. – AFP

Kevin Hart plays down effects of Sony hack

The actor and comedian Kevin Hart has said the Sony cyberattack will not have any lasting consequences on him personally or the entertainment industry as a whole. The star, who was mentioned in a disparaging way in leaked emails, says "things happen" in showbusiness but "it has nothing to do with the entertainers". He summed up the hacking as "a bump in their road" and added: "It's not that serious to me. That's their deal." In one email, Sony's chief executive Michael Lynton criticised Hart for asking compensation for posting tweets. In a separate email exchange, the producer Scott Rudin and Sony Pictures cochairwoman Amy Pascal chatted about President Obama liking films with African-American actors, including Hart. His latest film, The Wedding Ringer, in which he plays a best man for hire, opens in the United States on January 16. – AP

Actress reveals Hemingway family history

Mariel Hemingway has a lot to say about the pain of being a part of her famous family. Publisher Regan Arts announced on Monday that the star has written a memoir and a young-adult novel that will be out in April. The memoir is called Out Came the Sun and has the sobering subtitle Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family.

Seven members of the Hemingway family have committed suicide over the past four generations, most notably author Ernest Hemingway, her grandfather. Hemingway, whose best-known role was as Woody Allen's young love interest in the movie Manhattan, will offer "never-before-told stories" about her life and career, including experiences with "world-class" filmmakers and actors. Her young-adult novel, Invisible Girl, is based on her childhood. – AP

Saved by the Bell star to stand trial over stabbing

Dustin Diamond, the actor who played Screech on the 1990s US TV series Saved by the Bell, has been ordered to stand trial over the stabbing of a man at a bar on Christmas Day. The 37-year-old is charged with felony reckless endangerment and two misdemeanours stemming from the incident in Port Washington, Wisconsin. His lawyer argued that none of witnesses reported seeing Diamond stab the man, who was not seriously injured, but a judge ruled there was enough evidence for a trial. Diamond's fiancée, Amanda Schutz, told police she had shoved a woman who was making rude remarks and antagonising her and Diamond, which led to a scuffle involving others, including the man who was stabbed. Diamond remains free on bail. – AP

Real Housewives star begins jail term

One of New Jersey's Real Housewives is now a real prison inmate. Reality-TV star Teresa Giudice, 42, began a 15-month sentence for bankruptcy fraud at Federal Correction Institution in Connecticut on Monday. Giudice, who appeared in Real Housewives of New Jersey, and her husband, Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice, pleaded guilty last year to hiding assets from bankruptcy creditors and submitting phoney loan applications to get about $5million in mortgages and construction loans. He also pleaded guilty to failing to pay more than $200,000 in taxes. Joe Giudice will start serving his 41-month sentence when his wife is released, a deal agreed to ensure that the couple's four daughters will have one parent at home to care for them. Joe Giudice, who was born in Italy and is not an American citizen, faces an immigration hearing when he completes his sentence and is expected to be deported. The Giudices will also have to pay $414,000 in restitution under their plea agreement. – AP

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPAD%20PRO%20(12.9%22%2C%202022)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012.9-inch%20Liquid%20Retina%20XDR%2C%202%2C732%20x%202%2C048%2C%20264ppi%2C%20wide%20colour%2C%20True%20Tone%2C%20ProMotion%2C%201%2C600%20nits%20max%2C%20Apple%20Pencil%20hover%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EChip%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20M2%2C%208-core%20CPU%2C%2010-core%20GPU%2C%2016-core%20Neural%20Engine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Storage%20%E2%80%93%20128GB%2F256GB%2F512GB%20%2F%201TB%2F2TB%3B%20RAM%20%E2%80%93%208GB%2F16GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPlatform%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20iPadOS%2016%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMain%20camera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dual%2012MP%20wide%20(f%2F1.8)%20%2B%2010MP%20ultra-wide%20(f%2F2.4)%2C%202x%20optical%2F5x%20digital%2C%20Smart%20HDR%204%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20ProRes%204K%20%40%2030fps%2C%204K%20%40%2024%2F25%2F30%2F60fps%2C%20full%20HD%20%40%2025%2F30%2F60fps%2C%20slo-mo%20%40%20120%2F240fps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFront%20camera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20TrueDepth%2012MP%20ultra-wide%20(f%2F2.4)%2C%202x%2C%20Smart%20HDR%204%2C%20Centre%20Stage%2C%20Portrait%2C%20Animoji%2C%20Memoji%3B%20full%20HD%20%40%2025%2F30%2F60fps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAudio%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Four-speaker%20stereo%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBiometrics%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Face%20ID%2C%20Touch%20ID%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20USB-C%2C%20smart%20connector%20(for%20folio%2Fkeyboard)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Up%20to%2010%20hours%20on%20Wi-Fi%3B%20up%20to%20nine%20hours%20on%20cellular%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinish%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Silver%2C%20space%20grey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20iPad%2C%20USB-C-to-USB-C%20cable%2C%2020-watt%20power%20adapter%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20WiFi%20%E2%80%93%20Dh4%2C599%20(128GB)%20%2F%20Dh4%2C999%20(256GB)%20%2F%20Dh5%2C799%20(512GB)%20%2F%20Dh7%2C399%20(1TB)%20%2F%20Dh8%2C999%20(2TB)%3B%20cellular%20%E2%80%93%20Dh5%2C199%20%2F%20Dh5%2C599%20%2F%20Dh6%2C399%20%2F%20Dh7%2C999%20%2F%20Dh9%2C599%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog

Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi

Age: 23

How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them

Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need

Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman

Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs 

Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing

THE BIO

Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain

Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude

Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE

Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally

Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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CREW
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERajesh%20A%20Krishnan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETabu%2C%20Kareena%20Kapoor%20Khan%2C%20Kriti%20Sanon%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
LA LIGA FIXTURES

Friday (UAE kick-off times)

Real Sociedad v Leganes (midnight)

Saturday

Alaves v Real Valladolid (4pm)

Valencia v Granada (7pm)

Eibar v Real Madrid (9.30pm)

Barcelona v Celta Vigo (midnight)

Sunday

Real Mallorca v Villarreal (3pm)

Athletic Bilbao v Levante (5pm)

Atletico Madrid v Espanyol (7pm)

Getafe v Osasuna (9.30pm)

Real Betis v Sevilla (midnight)

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Xpanceo

Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

Tamkeen's offering
  • Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
  • Option 2: 50% across three years
  • Option 3: 30% across five years 
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE

Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.