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Britain’s generous gesture a £500K payout for injured victims

The aftermath of last week’s atrocities, during which a British businessman was killed, resulted in advent of a new funding system so as to match the maximum £500, 000 payout to UK citizens injured in a terror attack.

According to the Guardian report,

“The London law firm Lovels said it was entering advanced stages of talks between the government and 10 big travel insurers to evolve a compensation system for Britons caught up in terrorist atrocities abroad.”

Last month, Tessa Jowell, the minister for humanitarian assistance, agreed the situation was unsatisfactory. She said: “We must find a solution and not be prompted by the next atrocity alone.”

It was two years ago, when the government offered assurance that it was seeking to extend the amount given to UK victims abroad. Trevor Lakin’s, son Jez died in the 2005 Shram el-Sheikh bombings along with his girlfriend Annalie Vickers. Trevor opined “the government should stop offering ‘excuses’ for the delay.

Apparently, there seems to be some difficulty in determining what constitutes a violent crime abroad and a terrorist incident, but the fact remains that a system where a terrorist victim’ on a British soil receives a certain amount and a victim abroad gets nothing needs to be rectifed.”

The race for the ‘fastest slimmer’ title is on the way

It will be a 100-day contest where one fat cat and seven heavy hounds will compete for the UK’s “fastest slimmer” title for the pets. The 13-year-old feline, who lives in Gillingham in southeast England, weighs around 9.8 kilograms which makes him almost 95 percent overweight.

The feline is also one of Britain’s most obese pets, eight of which are to undertake a 100-day diet and fitness regime in a kind of animal version of the TV show The Biggest Loser. Globe and Mail reported the winner will be crowned this year’s feline or canine weight-loss champion.

The veterinary charity PDSA, which is running the slimming contest, picked “Tinks” and
Seven dogs, who incidentally are severely overweight and together, weigh a total of 191 kg,

The animals, to reach their ideal weights, need to lose a total of 74 kg- equivalent to the weight of soccer star David Beckham. The fete is to be achieved over the next three months. During this period, they will under go a specially tailored diet and exercise programmes.

The winner will be the pet who achieves the biggest percentage of weight loss and will be judged the best contestant and then crowned champion thereby winning its owner a pet friendly holiday.

Deryck Wilson, spokesperson of PDSA, in a telephone interview told Globe and Mail:

“The competition does have a serious veterinary basis. As well as providing free treatment for those that come through the doors of our pet hospitals, we also have a mission to improve pet health in more general terms.”

Saying that the competition is in its fourth year, he added,

“More and more people are becoming aware that by feeding scraps to their pets and giving them chocolates, although they’re doing it as an expression of their affection towards their pet, in reality they’re killing with kindness.”

Gordon Brown feels it is too early to confirm UK links with the Mumbai attacks

According to the British Prime Minister Gordon, there was no evidence to confirm reports that Britons of Pakistani origin were involved in the world’s probably worst terrorists attack.

On the evening of 26th November, Mumbai was subjected to one of the world’s horrifying and large scale terrorist attack witnessed so far.

After Indian government sources revealed that some of the gunmen were British, London’s Evening Standard newspaper, carried a report on the matter.

A British security source told Reuters that the reports may be speculative but at the same time might contain “elements of truth”.

“We are keeping an open mind. It is likely to take a little bit longer before we can say categorically one way or the other.”

Brown said

”He had talked to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the attacks, in which more than 140 people were killed and hundreds of others injured. At no point has the prime minister of India suggested to me that there is evidence at this stage of any terrorist of British origins. But obviously there are huge investigations that are being done and I think it would be premature to draw any conclusions at all.”

England cricket team leaves Indian Shores.

As an aftermath of terrorists attack on Mumbai on the 26th of November, touring England team decided to end the tour half way. KP and company flew back to London boarding home borne flight from Bangalore.

The valuable kit on which the players depend on for their lively hood has been left at the Taj. Skipper Kevin Petersen said they may have to play the test series in blue.

He said “If we’re looking what’s going on at the moment, all our cricket stuff is in storage at the Taj hotel so we’ll be the first team to play a Test match in blues (one-day kit) that’s for sure. So I don’t know. If we do come back, we’ll have to get all the logistic stuff sorted out first.”

Kevin added,

“the decision to go back to London will buy us some time and if we need to fly back on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday next week then so be it.”

However it is believed that suspense will end soon. An emergency meeting is on the cards involving England team management comprising players, representatives of the professional cricketers association, security experts and every concerned party.

Former captains Bob Willis and David Gower backed Ian Botham and Mike Atherton in urging the English cricket team to reconsider their decision and return to India. They expressed fears that other teams may boycott England if KP & Co doesn’t return.