BBC News Online: World: Europe

Gurkha troops to receive pension boost

Britain says it will double pension payments to Gurkha troops recruited in Nepal to bring them in line with their colleagues in the British army.

The Defence Ministry said the decision followed a review of pension arrangements for Nepalese Gurkhas and will benefit more than twenty-thousand retired soldiers.

The review was called for following the death in action of two Gurkha regiment soldiers serving in Kosovo this year.

The incident highlighted a long-standing resentment when it later emerged that the family of the Nepalese-born Ghurka would receive less than his British colleague.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service