Mimi O'Donnell, centre, the estranged partner of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, comforts her daughter Tallulah, along with daughter Willa, left, and son Cooper, at his funeral on Friday. Jason DeCrow / AP
Mimi O'Donnell, centre, the estranged partner of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, comforts her daughter Tallulah, along with daughter Willa, left, and son Cooper, at his funeral on Friday. Jason DeCrow / AP
Mimi O'Donnell, centre, the estranged partner of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, comforts her daughter Tallulah, along with daughter Willa, left, and son Cooper, at his funeral on Friday. Jason DeCrow / AP
Mimi O'Donnell, centre, the estranged partner of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, comforts her daughter Tallulah, along with daughter Willa, left, and son Cooper, at his funeral on Friday. Jason

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s funeral draws stars to New York City


  • English
  • Arabic

Philip Seymour Hoffman's private funeral on Friday drew such stars as Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Ethan Hawke and Amy Adams. Police did not allow anyone to linger on the block outside the church and the media were penned in an area far from the mourners, who also included Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Joaquin Phoenix, Louis C K and Spike Lee. Hoffman, 46, was found dead last Sunday of an apparent heroin overdose in his Manhattan apartment. A larger ­memorial service is being planned for later this month. – AP

A one-legged dance for injured SRK

The Bollywood filmmaker Farah Khan said she's choreographed a special dance number for Shah Rukh Khan, who injured his leg on the set of their new film Happy New Year. "Exciting day ahead! Entire star cast of Happy New Year in a song starting today. Will figure out some one-legged moves for Shah Rukh Khan? It may just start a trend," the director posted on Twitter on Thursday. The action comedy, which co-stars Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani and Sonu Sood, is scheduled for release at Diwali. – The National staff

Leno gave Tonight his farewell

The Tonight Show host Jay Leno ended his run on Thursday with high emotion at concluding what he termed "the greatest 22 years of my life". "You're very kind," Leno told his audience at the start of his last monologue. "I don't like goodbyes. NBC does. I don't care for them." Leno brought his show full circle with Billy Crystal, who was his first guest in May 1992. Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, Carol Burnett and others did a musical tribute to Leno with a Sound of Music parody. Jimmy Fallon takes over The Tonight Show on February 17. – AP

The X Factor US cancelled

The American edition of The X Factor is ending after three seasons, the show's producers announced on Friday. The reality show's head judge and creator-executive producer Simon Cowell will instead return to the British version of The X Factor later this year. Since its 2011 premiere in the US, The X Factor never won stellar ratings, which continued to dip in last year's third season. It also failed to produce a winner as successful as past champions of its rival American Idol. – AP

Frozen keeps icy grip on charts

The soundtrack of Disney's Frozen kept the top spot on the weekly Billboard 200 album chart. It is the first film soundtrack to spend four weeks at the top of the album chart in a decade, Billboard said. Frozen continued to hold off the official 2014 Grammy Nominees Album, which held steady in second place. Katy Perry's single Dark Horse, which she performed at the Grammys, held the top spot on the Digital Songs chart this week. – Reuters

Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
  • 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
  • 2nd Test India won by innings and 53 runs at Colombo
  • 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
The bio:

Favourite film:

Declan: It was The Commitments but now it’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Heidi: The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Favourite holiday destination:

Declan: Las Vegas but I also love getting home to Ireland and seeing everyone back home.

Heidi: Australia but my dream destination would be to go to Cuba.

Favourite pastime:

Declan: I love brunching and socializing. Just basically having the craic.

Heidi: Paddleboarding and swimming.

Personal motto:

Declan: Take chances.

Heidi: Live, love, laugh and have no regrets.

 

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Company profile

Name: Infinite8

Based: Dubai

Launch year: 2017

Number of employees: 90

Sector: Online gaming industry

Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor

match info

Maratha Arabians 138-2

C Lynn 91*, A Lyth 20, B Laughlin 1-15

Team Abu Dhabi 114-3

L Wright 40*, L Malinga 0-13, M McClenaghan 1-17

Maratha Arabians won by 24 runs

While you're here
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face

The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.

The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran. 

Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf. 

"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said. 

Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer. 

The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy. 

 

Company profile

Date started: 2015

Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki

Based: Dubai

Sector: Online grocery delivery

Staff: 200

Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends

UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
  • The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
  • The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
  • The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
  • The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
  • The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest

Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.

Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.

Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.

Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.

Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.

Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia