Obviously from the hostage’s families, the point of view is totally different and in most cases they would pay anything to get their loved one home. In the case of documentary film maker, Sean Langan, he was trying to make contact with Al-Qaeda in Pakistan when he was taken hostage.

These are very individual situations where organisations such as TV Channels send their people out to these places and feel that it is their responsibility to get them back. But from a government point of view they would rather see no ransom paid as this money can then go on to fund terrorism etc.

Source [Times]

With prices ranging from £50 right up £500, there is the potential for a good caring business which can help grieving pet owners say goodbye to their faithful friends in a manner that they seem fit.

The finance of pet ownership is increasing all of time, its not only the high cost of keeping the pet in the first place, but there are also vets bills and ultimately the costs involved when the pet dies.

Many people fail to realise the huge costs of that can occur with the ownership of pets. Of course there is insurance, but even this does not cover all of the bills, there is some need of being very cautious when it comes to buying pet insurance.

Source [Daily Mail]

Unfortunately in this case the trend has remained true, and according to the employers organisation the CBI there could be at least 10,000 jobs cuts in the UK financial service sector within the next three months alone.

This crisis in the financial sector is set to have a few more twists and turn before things settle down, but with so many jobs loses in such a short time there are doubts whether or not the industry in the UK could survive the long term or if this is the way forward. Whatever happens in the next few months is going to affect a lot of people.

Source [BBC News]

The collection was owned by Walter J Husak, who became interested in coin collecting when he was thirteen, this was mainly due to the chores he did for his grandparents, they paid him in old coins. Although it is not known if these were the same coins which started to the collection.

Out of the coins there were some very ones indeed, one particular coin dating back to 1793 was actually only minted for just two weeks and another coin which was from a year later were the top sellers, but in total the auction raised a massive $10.7 million.

So you see it does pay to save your pennies!

Source [CBS 2]

So in order for him to be able to continue his hip shaking and with his shirt undone to his trousers he needs to insure his chest hair! As this is part of his act, in a similar manner that any other professional would protect their assets. But we are not talking pennies here; no Tom Jones chest hair is worth $7,000,000!

What is not clear is how they will judge a claim if it is made. Do they count the hairs or measure the length? Maybe they will have to count the bald patches!

Source [Asylum]

Among the haul was the “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch” which was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1904, this painting alone is estimated to be worth around $50 million! The thieves used a car jack to open up a metal gate and then just smashed down the glass doors, got to the paintings on the second floor and then off they went all in under three minutes!

The total value of all the works taken could be in excess of over $100 million, but in reality to the thieves themselves the value is merely a fraction of that amount.

Source [MSNBC]

In a Federal report it is believed that more than forty million people do not have enough health cover and have to go without medication, glasses and even dental treatment.

But this would need to be put into some sort of perspective, this is at the beginning of an election build up, and are these actual true figures or just guess work. If it true and we have no reason to doubt them, then the NHS is not that bad after all.

Source [Reuters]