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Salary is not enough for mostThe monthly income is sufficient for just 19 days for around 61% of households in Greece, as price hikes in basic goods and services eat away at incomes for the third year in a row, while inflation has been at much larger levels than any salary increase in recent times.How do households manage the other 11-12 days? Either they draw from their savings, as shown by the data of the Bank of Greece, or they cut back on spending on entertainment, travel, clothes and shoes, or they stop being consistent with their obligations to the state and banks, or, even worse, postpone visits to the doctor.
Horizon scandal: Sussex sub-postmistress cleared after years of sufferingA former sub-postmistress who was convicted of fraud and ordered to repay more than £18,000 has had her conviction quashed at London's Court of Appeal.Kathleen Crane, who had a Post Office branch in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was convicted based on evidence from the faulty Horizon IT system.She was also given a 12-month community order when she was convicted in 2010.The 68-year-old mother-of-two wept as her conviction was quashed.At the hearing on Thursday, three appeal judges ruled there was no doubt Mrs Crane's conviction was unsafe, adding she was "kept in ignorance" over defects in the Horizon system.Giving their judgment, Lord Justice Holroyde said: "We have no doubt that her prosecution was an abuse of process. Nor do we have any doubt that her conviction is unsafe."
Ex-post office operator claims she was told British Asians were often pushed into theftA former post office operator has come forward claiming she was told British Asian women were often pushed into theft as auditors urged her to confess to stealing £30,000 – a charge of which she was later cleared.Before her trial in 1997, it was allegedly suggested to Kuldeep Kaur Atwal, then 46, that her cultural background may have played a role in her criminality and that she was likely to receive a custodial sentence unless she admitted to stealing from her branch.A jury at Coventry crown court was subsequently instructed by the judge, Richard Cole, to return a not guilty verdict due to lack of evidence but the Post Office went on to demand that Atwal pay the money she had been falsely accused of taking.Atwal, a mother of three, whose husband, Gurpal Singh Atwal, was a teacher, was contractually obliged to make good on shortfalls and had to quickly sell her branch for a fraction of its market value to pay off the debt.The Post Office apologised last year after a document was discovered in which operators were categorised as “negroid types”, “Chinese/Japanese types” and “dark-skinned European types”. Other victims have claimed that racism fuelled the prosecutions, with one claiming that he was told by a staff member that “all Indians are doing it”.
Greece lags in EU for internet speedGreece lags in the EU in terms of internet speed, despite the significant investments that have been made in recent years, according to Eurostat data for 2023.The country comes last (with only 2.9%) In terms of the ranking of countries with the highest percentage of enterprises with “fast” connections, according to Eurostat data for 2023.Compared to 2019 levels (91%), 2023 saw an increase of 2.9 percentage points in fixed broadband connections for businesses in the EU, data show. The most notable increases were in Greece (15.8%), Romania (15.6%) and Bulgaria (8.7%).
NHS data sale can fuel tech boom - Blair and HagueThe NHS should sell anonymised medical records to harness a new biotechnology "industrial revolution", Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague have said.The former Labour PM and ex Tory leader said the NHS' wealth of data could give the UK an advantage in new technologies shaping the future economy.Speaking to the BBC, the former rivals said selling NHS data could help boost public services and research.The NHS has repeatedly faced lawsuits over sharing data with tech firms... Previous NHS data-sharing schemes have provoked controversy.
Workers sacked after film shows pigs ‘beaten to death with iron bar’ on RSPCA Assured farmExclusive: RSPCA suspends ‘high-welfare’ business supplying Morrisons and Tesco after ‘illegal and inexcusable’ attacks Two farm workers have been sacked after a film revealed pigs apparently being beaten to death on a free-range farm supplying Morrisons and Tesco supermarkets. Other animals were sick or paralysed, but left untreated, footage appeared to show.The RSPCA suspended the farm from its Assured scheme after The Independent notified it of the scenes of cruelty.Secret filming over eight days at the “high-welfare” farm in Norfolk appears to have captured a worker bludgeoning a pig with an iron bar for 23 seconds while the animal screams.The worker then apparently leaves it alive and twitching for nearly two mins before returning and again attacking it. The pig is seen still moving as it’s dragged away.Four days later a female worker is filmed also using an iron bar to beat a pig, which is thought to have died as a result.Using blunt trauma to kill pigs is illegal in England and Wales. Most are killed in controversial carbon dioxide chambers.Waitrose used to be a customer of the farm but severed ties with it four months before the beatings took place.Tesco did not respond to requests for comment but it’s understood the supermarket giant no longer buys from the farm.
Tourists could face 14-hour queues to enter Europe under post-Brexit schemePost-Brexit rules mean Britons travelling to Europe could face waits of 14 hours or more at border control, MPs have heard.Parliament’s European Scrutiny Committee heard that the Port of Dover and the surrounding area could be hit by major disruption when the EU Entry-Exit System launches unless measures are introduced to prevent delays.The committee was told by Ashford Borough Council that 14-hour queues were a “reasonable worst case” scenario if the scheme were to be implemented as planned in OctoberThe new controls will mean people entering the EU will have to register their fingerprints and a photograph alongside their passport.
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Topic: 25/01/24 (Read 806 times)
