Tag: British

  • American kickboxer Andrew Tate converts to Islam, prayer video goes viral

    American kickboxer Andrew Tate converts to Islam, prayer video goes viral

    Former American kickboxer Andrew Tate has confirmed that he is Muslim after a video of him praying with a friend in a mosque in Dubai went viral.

    https://twitter.com/CobraTateKING/status/1584549763231322112

    Tate revealed his conversion to Islam last week after a video of him learning an Islamic prayer from Tam Khan went viral.

    According to a tweet uploaded from his account on the social media platform Gettr, controversial social media star Andrew Tate, who has been blocked from the majority of social media platforms, has mentioned that he is now a Muslim.

    After being questioned about his views on Islam earlier this year and calling it “the last authentic religion in the world,” Andrew made his announcement today.

    A video of Andrew and Tam Khan in a UAE mosque was shared earlier this week by British Muslim and former MMA fighter Tam Khan.

    Alhamdulillah, which means “praise be to God” in Arabic, was the description for the video, which showed Tam praying while Andrew imitated his actions.

    On social media, the video elicited a variety of responses, and many users believed Andrew had embraced Islam.

    Tam defended the controversial personality from the backlash and tweeted: “I personally know Andrew & mashAllah his love for Islam is genuine & it’s real. No PR stunts. He is one of us”.

    American-British kickboxer Andrew was born in Luton but raised in Chicago. He is the son of chess player Emory Tate.

    The 35-year-old has participated in the heavyweight and cruiserweight weight classes, according to his website. In 2016, he briefly appeared in the British television series Big Brother.

    Due to his outspoken opinions, major streaming networks like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have banned Andrew’s profiles.

  • Prince George warns his classmates to ‘watch out’ because his dad Prince William will be king one day

    Prince George warns his classmates to ‘watch out’ because his dad Prince William will be king one day

    Prince George warned his classmates who were on his bad side that they better “watch out” because his father, Prince William, will one day be king, according to royal author Katie Nicholl.

    The Daily Mail reported this incident citing a new book —‘The New Royals — Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown’ by Nicholl.

    “William’s aim as a father is to give his son a normal family upbringing, enabling the monarchy to stay relevant and keep up with modern times,” wrote the author of ‘Battle of Brothers’.

    Prince George, the eldest grandchild of King Charles III, is second in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father William.

    Aside from George, William and Catherine, Princess of Wales also shares two children—Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales.

  • Majority of property owners in London are Indians, followed by English and Pakistani people

    Majority of property owners in London are Indians, followed by English and Pakistani people

    Indians are among the people who own the most real estate in the capital of the United Kingdom (UK), London, more than the English themselves.

    According to London-based residential developer Barratt London, the largest group of property owners in London are Indians, who are represented by those who have lived in the UK for generations, NRIs, investors from other countries, students, and families who travel to the UK for education. English and Pakistani people are next in number.

    These Indian investors, who reside in both the UK and India, are prepared to spend anywhere between GBP 290,000 and GBP 450,000 for a one, two, or three-bedroom property in London, the nation’s capital.

    “We are seeing a strong demand from Indian investors looking to purchase properties in London and invest in the stable and long-term property market. Outside of London, most of our products are sold to UK residential buyers, who buy these properties and live in them,” Stuart Leslie – International Sales and Marketing Director for Barratt London, told Financial Express.

    In London, 30 per cent of sales are made to pure investors (those who want to use the apartments as rentals), and 30 per cent of those buyers come from foreign markets.

    “This year we have seen a growth in the percentage of Indian homebuyers, who make up 7-8 per cent of the overseas market players. We are really reacting to where the demand is coming from rather than speculating and looking for business,” Stuart Leslie said.

    According to a Knight Frank survey, 10 per cent of India’s UHNWIs intend to purchase a new home in 2022, and they prefer to invest in domestic real estate, followed by homes on the UK, UAE, and US foreign markets.

    London is well-liked by Indian investors and homebuyers because it is a hub for finance and education and one of the major international entry points for investors.

    Additionally, it makes sense for Indian homebuyers to look at the real estate market in London given that the cost per square foot is roughly comparable between London and Mumbai and that the two cities also share a similar legal framework, making transactions simpler.

    “The reason why Indians are comfortable with buying property is because of the market fundamentals and confidence along with a history of Indians investing in houses in London. They’re eager to invest in the UK residential markets because they are getting better returns owing to the exchange rates and market presence presently. It is relatively a safer market in comparison to the UAE or India,” he said.

    In addition to being a “stable market” for residential real estate, the UK has advantages over other international potential markets, such as good weather and quicker travel times.

    Many families and students, especially those from India, relocate to the UK for educational opportunities. According to Stuart Leslie, the number of Indian students applying to UK colleges and universities has surged by 128 per cent in just one year.

    Therefore, there are several reasons why Indians have traditionally preferred to invest in the UK, including the country’s high-quality educational institutions, business-friendly environment, cosmopolitan mindset, language familiarity, and expanding investment opportunities.

    Currently, there is a demand for finished or nearly finished projects since people are looking to move quickly after the pandemic. Barratt London’s common price range for real estate is between GBP 390,000 and GBP 450,000.

    “This is not a price which people normally associate with the London market but with tier-II or tier-III cities. This makes people want to own properties in London rather than smaller cities of the UK,” he said.

  • After five days of losses, British stocks holding firm

    After five days of losses, British stocks holding firm

    A day after economic slowdown fears dragged the major British stocks to their sixth straight session of losses, UK equities stabilised on Tuesday, with some positive momentum from financial sectors and some excellent earnings announcements.

    By 0712 GMT, the FTSE 100 had up 0.6 per cent, with shares in British bank HSBC up 2.6 per cent providing the biggest boost to the blue-chip index.

    Following volatile crude prices, oil majors BP Plc and Shell Plc climbed 1.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

    After finishing at its weakest level in more than three months on Monday, the domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index gained 0.7 per cent. Paragon Banking increased by 4.7 per cent after raising its expectations for 2022 and indicating robust new lending growth.

    FirstGroup jumped 1.2 per cent when the transportation company reported a higher yearly profit and restarted dividend payments, as passenger numbers on its buses increased after COVID-19 limitations were relaxed.

    Crest Nicholson rose 6.1 per cent after projecting an adjusted profit before tax of between 135 and 140 million pounds for fiscal year 2022. In 2021, the housebuilder made an adjusted profit of 107.2 million pounds.

  • British-Pakistani Baroness to the House of Lords Shaista Gohir: ‘Anger drives me’

    British-Pakistani Baroness to the House of Lords Shaista Gohir: ‘Anger drives me’

    Shaista Gohir OBE, CEO of the Muslim Women’s Network UK was appointed Baroness to the House of Lords through her nomination as a non-affiliate peer at the House of Lords. ‘OBE’ [Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire] next to her name refers to the title used for the second highest ranking officer in the order of the British Empire.

    Gohir has been a trailblazing women’s rights campaigner, especially as an ambitions Muslim woman striving to achieve progressive attitudes amidst Islamophobia and the response of active gendered Islamisation. She joined the Muslim Women’s Network UK (MWNUK) in 2005 and spent almost 17 years developing the organisation from a handful of volunteers to a nationally acknowledged charity, becoming Executive Director, then Chair and eventually Co-Chair so she can diversify her efforts.

    In a report for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Gohir writes, “More Muslim women need to be empowered with information to be able to challenge religious extremist rhetoric… More resources need to be created to highlight role models and relevant role models need to be included in the education curriculum.” Shaista Gohir has done extensive work on building the epistemic necessity of female Muslim role models in society.

    On January 15, 2015, Gohir launched a national helpline for Muslim women to help those who are stuck in situations of domestic violence or sexual abuse from family members. Born to parents who hailed from Daultalla, Tehsil Gujarkhan in Rawalpindi, they moved to England in the 1960s, where she was raised by a single mother who worked long hours in a clothing factory. Growing up, even as a child, she had to take care of her siblings and feed them as her mother continued to labor to financially sustain the family. On this subject she tells The Guardian, “Even in a single-parent family, I saw how women would take responsibility for men’s bad behaviour.”

    Her organisation MWNUK has researched extensively the sexual exploitation of Asian girls and their ability to report and on child sexual exploitation and how it can be reported by the members of the service industry. She has also written for The Guardian, advocating Muslim women’s rights, where she talks about a comprehensive report compiled in 2015 by her organisation on the subject of shariah councils and Muslim divorce for women, titled “Information and Guidance on Muslim Marriage and Divorce in Britain”.

    Shaista Gohir has extensively advocated for the rights of Muslim women and given a way of articulation to the problems they face in the West. And so naturally, in light of her relentless efforts, she was appointed as a Baroness to the House of Lords earlier today. Talking to The News and GEO, she emphasised that through her organisation Nisa Global Foundation in Pakistan she wants to expand her mission of supporting and empowering women.

    “A lot of these women are suffering in silence, and they aren’t strong enough to vocalise that they want help,” Gohir says in an interview with The Guardian, “I don’t mind taking the flak.”

  • British PM Boris Johnson ‘loses his place’ makes awkward, lengthy pauses during speech

    British PM Boris Johnson ‘loses his place’ makes awkward, lengthy pauses during speech

    British Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson was briefly left lost for words, when he misplaced notes during a speech on Monday to the Confederation of British Industry, reports Reuters.

    While organising and searching for words in his notes, the conservative party’s leader sighed, said “blast it” and repeatedly muttered, “forgive me”.

    Not only this, while addressing, he mentioned Peppa Pig, a British animated cartoon series. He said, “Yesterday I went, as we all must, to Peppa Pig World. I loved it. Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place: it has very safe streets, discipline in schools.” “Who would have believed that a pig that looks like a hairdryer or possibly a Picasso-like hairdryer, a pig that was rejected by the BBC, would now be exported to 180 countries with theme parks both in America and China?”

    In the speech, PM Boris, who also performed an impression of a car told business leaders about what he terms the green industrial revolution.

    Reacting to his speech, Boris said he had made the points he wanted to.

    “I think that people got the vast majority of the points I wanted to make. I thought it went well”, Johnson said.

    After this episode, according to The Guardian, his party MPs (Members of Parliament) are worried about the prime minister’s competence.

  • Prince Harry says ‘The Crown’ is ‘loosely’ based on the truth

    Prince Harry, in his first interview after moving to North America, has revealed that he stepped down from royal duties and away from the spotlight because of the “toxic” British press adding that it was negatively affecting his mental health.

    “I did what any husband and what any father would do,” said Harry. “It was like, I need to get my family out of here.”

    The royal further went on to clarify that “it was never [about] walking away. It was stepping back rather than stepping down.”

    “There was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw,” he added.

    When asked about his thoughts on Netflix’s The Crown, Harry said: “[The Crown doesn’t] pretend to be news.”

    “It’s fictional, but it is loosely based on the truth. It gives you a rough idea of what that lifestyle and the pressures of duty and service over family and what can come from that. I am way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family and my wife or myself because it’s the difference between [The Crown] is obviously fiction.”

    “Take it as you will, but [the tabloids] have been reported on as facts because you’re supposedly news. I have a real issue with that,” said Harry further.

    Read more – UK Government wants Netflix to classify ‘The Crown’ as fiction

    Harry also revealed that his and Meghan’s relationship went from “zero to 60” in the first two months because they were forced to spending so much time alone together.

    “It’s kind of flipped upside down. All the dates become dinners or watching the TV and chatting at home, then eventually once you become a couple, then you venture out for dinners, the cinema, and everything else,” said Harry.

    “Everything was done back to front with us. So we got to spend an enormous amount of time just the two of us … And that was great, an amazing thing.”

    Earlier this month, Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle made a final split with the British royal family, telling Queen Elizabeth that they will not be returning as working members of the monarchy.

    In January 2020, Harry and Meghan sent shockwaves across the world by suddenly announcing they were splitting from the family and embarking on a new future across the Atlantic – one of the most extraordinary royal exits in decades.

    It is pertinent to mention here that Harry and Meghan are expecting their second child. The couple announced the news on Valentine’s Day.

  • Man dies, kills bystander after ‘falling from hotel balcony’

    Man dies, kills bystander after ‘falling from hotel balcony’

    A British man has died after falling from a balcony of a five-star hotel in Spain, killing another person on the ground below.

    According to reports, the man is said to have fallen from the seventh floor of the in Marbella, Spain landing on top of another man in the early hours of Saturday.

    One of the victims is said to be 46 years old, while the other’s age remains unknown. Spanish police are now investigating the incident.

    A Foreign Office spokesman said officials were supporting the family of a British national in Spain after a death at the hotel.

    The spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man following his death in Spain, and are in touch with the local police.”

  • Jemima lauds Pakistani-British cab driver for dealing with a racist sensibly

    Jemima lauds Pakistani-British cab driver for dealing with a racist sensibly

    Jemima Goldsmith gave a shoutout to a Pakistani-British cab driver who tackled a racist sensibly.

    A video which has gone viral on social media shows a British passenger abusing the cab driver for his ethnicity.

    “Who do you think you are?” says the passenger. “You think you’re something special? Pakistan! But I’ll tell you what? No wonder the Indians are bombing you!”

    Throughout the exchange, the driver kept searching his bag as if looking for a change and responded calmly, “I don’t think about who I am. Have fun.”

    Soon the video was widely circulated on social media and caught Jemima’s attention, who lauded the driver for “keeping his cool”.

    Later, it was revealed that the West Midlands Police arrested the man for his actions. Another user also shared the alleged response of the cab driver to the arrest.

    Mr Mustafa is being made the first honorary ambassador of the West Midlands Taxi Drivers’ Association (WMTDA) for the way he handled the incident in Birmingham. The father-of-four had spent the last few weeks shuttling vital Covid-19 samples for the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation trust during the pandemic.