Tag: UK

  • Muhammad is the most popular name in UK for third consecutive year

    Muhammad is the most popular name in UK for third consecutive year

    BabyCentre, a popular website for baby names and parenting, has released its annual list of most popular baby names in the United Kingdom and the name Muhammad has topped the list for the third consecutive year.

    Names like Marium, Fatima, Zara, Nur, Noah, Ibrahim, Ahmad, Ali, and Muhammad are all among the top 100 names of 2019. Muhammad was also the most popular name in the UK in 2014 and 2015.

    Noah take the second spot on the list while Leo is third. Oliver has failed to keep its place in the top 3 for the first time in 9 years. As per details, Muhammad entered into the list of top 100 names in 1924 and its popularity has been increasing ever since.

    On the other hand, when it comes to girls, the top three names are Olivia, Sophia, and Eva. Fatima has been ranked at 57th position and Marium at 59th place while Nur is on 45th.

    Baby-names from kids and musical movies are also included in the list with names Simba, Nala, Freddie, Brian, Mary, Elton, Bernie, Taran, Sheila, Ivy, Ally, Jaxon, Eleanor, and Penny all becoming favorites for parents.

  • Malik Riaz agrees to hand over assets worth £190m to UK crime agency

    Pakistani business tycoon, Malik Riaz has agreed to hand over cash and assets worth £190 million to National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom (UK).

    NCA in recent tweet disclosed the news about a settlement with a Pakistani businessman. The tweet said, “The NCA has agreed a £190m settlement with a family that owns large property developments in Pakistan and elsewhere after a frozen funds investigation”.

    The NCA has accepted a settlement offer in region of £190 million which includes a UK property, 1 Hyde Park Place, London, W2 2LH, valued at approximately £50 million and all of the funds in the frozen accounts.

    The agency also said that agreement had been reached with Hussain to hand over the cash and ownership of the exclusive address, which overlooks Hyde Park, adding that the assets will be given to the government of Pakistan.

    In August 2019 eight account freezing orders were secured at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in connection with funds totalling around £120 million.

    These orders followed an earlier freezing order secured in December 2018 linked to the same investigation for £20 million. All of the account freezing orders relate to money held in UK bank accounts.

  • UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    At least three fundraisers in the United Kingdom (UK), planned with former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar and Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, have been cancelled owing to “lack of public interest”.

    According to The News, I am Pakistan Worldwide Movement (IAPWM) had announced the “awareness dinner galas” in Birmingham, London and Manchester to raise funds for Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams with Nisar and Vawda.

    However, the three events to be held on June 24 at Piccadilly Banquetting Suite, Birmingham; June 21 at Royal Nawab Restaurant, London; and Royal Nawab in Manchester on June 23 were cancelled due to “lack of public interest”.

    Nisar has been in London for over two weeks now and dates of the events were announced in consultations with him as well as Vawda, however, the response from the local chapter as well as the community groups led to the events being cancelled, the report said.

    “Ex-CJP Saqib Nisar made London travel plans with his family to attend the fundraising events and to watch the ICC World Cup, but upon arrival, the organisers told him that the events had been cancelled due to lack of interest from the members of the public,” The News quoted sources as saying.

    The report further said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s close aide Aneel Musarrat “didn’t show any interest in the event unlike previously when he took lead in arranging a fundraiser when Saqib Nisar was the chief justice”.

    Vawda, on the other hand, said he failed to attend the events because “he was busy with the budget session and other commitments”.

  • ‘Tightening noose’: Ishaq Dar seeks political asylum in UK?

    ‘Tightening noose’: Ishaq Dar seeks political asylum in UK?

    Soon after Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said the British government has agreed to extradite Ishaq Dar, it was reported that the former finance minister had approached Home Office in London “to apply for political asylum”.

    Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts.

    He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

    With the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government continuing to claim Dar is only evading the cases against him since he has been spotted walking upright on the streets of London time and again, PM Imran Khan’s special assistant on Tuesday said the former finance minister “will be brought back soon”.

    A day later, a private media outlet claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader had reached the Home Office in London for a second interview with regard to political asylum in the United Kingdom (UK).

    Rejecting the reports, a close aide of Dar told The Current that he had visited the UK Home Office “only to inform them about the fabricated reports in the name of a recently-signed extradition agreement between the two countries”.

    The source’s claim was validated when British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the United Kingdom (UK) would not sign any extradition treaty that could be used for “politically-motivated” cases.

    Speaking at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Hunt confirmed the two had discussed the issue of an extradition treaty between Pakistan and the UK.

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    “Let me say it straightforward. The UK will never sign any treaty allowing for politically motivated extradition,” said the British official to which Qureshi added that Pakistan did not intend to use the treaty against political rivals.

  • Shehbaz Sharif applies for political asylum in UK?

    Shehbaz Sharif applies for political asylum in UK?

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif has applied for political asylum in the United Kingdom (UK), a private media outlet reported on Wednesday night.

    According to BOL News, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, who is facing multiple National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases of corruption and misuse of power as Punjab chief minister, has applied for political refuge.

    Soon after the report was aired, other media outlets made similar claims as another popular channel explained why one seeks humanitarian protection outside his or her home country.

    Social media was abuzz with conflicting reports when Shehbaz’s spokesperson Attaullah Tarar took to Twitter to clarify the situation.

    Rubbishing the claims, Tarar said Shehbaz will be returning to Pakistan before the budget session for the fiscal year 2019-20 in the National Assembly and Senate on May 24.

    He said that the younger Sharif had an appointment with a cancer specialist on May 8 in London and another one on May 14. “It is likely that he may be suggested a few more tests after which he will be returning to Pakistan,” he said.

    Earlier, Shehbaz himself had also said he would be back in Pakistan in a matter of days.

    “I have a few medical check-ups to attend to in the next few days and I will be returning to Pakistan after that. It could be much sooner than the budget session,” he had told a media outlet earlier this month.

    Shehbaz, a cancer patient, has been in London for over three weeks now. He has reportedly undergone various tests as part of his medical check-ups, especially for the pain he had developed while in NAB custody.