We looked at inspection reports from the body which certifies “highest standard” farms with a public-facing ‘green tick’ — and found there have been breaches of its rules at dozens of fish farms.
Threats facing our mountains, forests and national parks are increasing, but the level of monitoring of our “protected sites” has almost halved in five years, Scottish Environment LINK has found.
The Scottish Government has been supportive of controversial green data centres and is liaising with the industry. But critics argue there are environmental considerations and companies must not be allowed to “write the rules”.
The emergency alert that appeared on the phones of millions of people across the UK has been connected to a number of conspiracy theories and claims.
One claim shared widely across social media suggested the company in charge of implementing the alert was owned by prime minister Rishi Sunak’s wife.
Here’s a smashing story. That phone alert yesterday, which cost the taxpayer millions [sic] was contracted to Fujitsu. They subcontracted it out to a company called Infosys. A woman owns it. Here’s her husband [Picture of Rishi Sunak].
Ferret Fact Service looked at this claim and found it False.
The emergency alert sounded on millions of phones at 3pm on Sunday 24 April, with 4G or 5G phones getting an alert accompanied by sound and vibration.
The UK government said the system is meant for use in potentially life-threatening situations including flooding and wildfires. There are similar schemes in the US, Canada, Japan and the Netherlands.
Rumours on social media suggested that the development and implementation of the emergency alert system was linked to Akshata Murthy, a businesswoman married to prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The claim suggested the contract to deliver the system had been won by Fujitsu, who then subcontracted the work to a company called Infosys, which was owned by Murthy.
It is true that some of the work surrounding the alert system was contracted to Fujitsu. This led to controversy due to the company’s involvement in the Post Office Horizon scandal, in which accounting software produced by the firm wrongly detected financial discrepancies, leading to employees being sacked and facing criminal prosecutions.
There is no evidence that Fujitsu passed this contract on to Infosys however. The UK Government denied this in a statement to Ferret Fact Service, saying: “This is completely untrue – there are no connections with Infosys in the running of the emergency alerts system”.
A spokesperson for Infosys also denied the company had any role “directly or indirectly” with the alerts.
Minister of state at the cabinet office, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, told the House of Lords that Fujitsu has a “small role in the development of the UK’s emergency alert system, initially providing a subject matter expert to support early development by DCMS [department for digital, culture, media and sport]”.
Infosys is an Indian multinational company that specialises in IT services, business consulting, and outsourcing.
It was founded by N.R. Narayana Murthy, who is the father of Akshata Murthy and father-in-law of the prime minister. Akshata Murthy owns about one per cent of the company.
Claims that Infosys was involved in the emergency alerts system are not accurate. Fujitsu were contracted to assist with part of the alerts system’s development, but Infosys was not subcontracted by them to deliver any work. Infosys is not owned by Akshata Murthy, but was founded by her father, with Murthy owning a one per cent share in the business.
Cover image: The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty visit a Family Hub in Cornwall. Credit: Number 10.
Loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland murdered hundreds of people during The Troubles. But far right activists flew their flag at an anti-immigration rally despite terror laws banning public support for terrorists.
Covert filming of farmed trout apparently suffering at an abattoir last year led to a firm being formally warned. New footage has prompted a fresh complaint.
Posters appeared on social media purporting to be from the local authority, but they are fake.
Tensions are high in Glasgow following a series of protests over alleged sex crimes by migrants. Police and anti-racism groups fear extremists could inflame the situation.
