TONY Blair has pledged that Britain would respond "positively" to a United Nations appeal for the victims of the Asian tsunami.

Speaking at his monthly Press conference, Mr Blair repeated predictions that official British aid would run into hundreds of millions of pounds.

He hailed the "remarkable" response of the British public to the Boxing Day tragedy.

And he said his heart went out to the hundreds of British families who have lost loved ones. Many of those now listed as missing would eventually prove to have died, he said.

Mr Blair said: " We will respond positively to today's UN flash appeal."

Brown calls for debt freeze CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown today called for a new deal between the richest and poorest countries and a "shared resolve" to do everything possible to help victims of the Asian tsunami.

He praised the "unprecedented" demonstration of generosity in response to the disaster and said there was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver a new deal for the world's poorest countries.

Mr Brown called for a modern-day Marshall Plan along the lines of the original scheme set up by the United States to help Europe recover after the Second World War.

""The true test of the international community will be how we can fund and assist both the immediate day-to-day emergency services needs but also the long-term reconstruction of these countries.