House of the Dragon finally has its king.
British actor Paddy Considine will star as King Viserys Targaryen, an ancestor of the smash HBO hit Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons.
In the new 10-part TV show, which is based on Game of Thrones author George R R Martin's Fire & Blood and set 300 years before GoT, it charts the reign of the Targaryen family in the Seven Kingdoms. King Viserys is chosen by the lords of Westeros to succeed the Old King, Jaehaerys Targaryen, at the Great Council at Harrenhal.
Written by Martin as a kind and decent man, King Viserys wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy, but treachery awaits in every dark corner of Westeros.
And there’s no doubt the Staffordshire-born actor has landed one of Hollywood’s most sought-after roles.
Considine, 47, is best known for his performances as Father John Hughes in Peaky Blinders, Steven Prince in the Simon Pegg comedy The World's End, and as journalist Simon Ross, who tries to get the truth about Operation Treadstone from Matt Damon's Jason Bourne, in The Bourne Ultimatum.
‘Vikings’ star Fimmel rumoured to be in contention
With the leading man now locked in, attention has turned to the other main roles from Martin's books. Leading the pack is Vikings star Travis Fimmel, 41, who plays Norseman Ragnar Lothbrok in the long-running Netflix series.
Rumoured to be in the running to portray Prince Daemon Targaryen, the Australian former model would seem to fit the bill perfectly as the character is a skilled warrior and swordsman.
Veteran GoT director Miguel Sapochnik, who helmed fan-favourite episodes The Battle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter, will return as co-showrunner alongside Ryan Condal. Condal is penning the script with TV writer Sara Lee Hess, who has written for House, Deadwood and Orange is the New Black.
Although a release date hasn’t yet been confirmed, the series is said to be scheduled to air in 2022.
Main characters still to cast
As befits the cutthroat world Martin has created in his A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the new characters in House of the Dragon are set to be as complex and ambitious as any Lannister could hope to be.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: A skilled dragon rider, she is King Viserys's chosen heir to the throne, and has been raised to believe she will become the first ruling Queen of Westeros.
Queen Alicent Hightower: Viserys's ambitious second wife and stepmother to Rhaenyra, she has three children with the king and would like to see one of them on the throne.
Aegon II Targaryen: Princess Rhaenyra's younger half-brother. He challenges Rhaenyra's claim to the throne which starts a civil war in the Seven Kingdoms.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: A skilled warrior and swordsman, he is the brother of King Viserys. He is both the uncle of and husband to Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and supports her claim to the throne.
So, get set for 2022. It looks like winter is coming once more.
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
SPECS
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Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
MORE ON CORONAVIRUS & THE ECONOMY
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The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
