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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Company secretary of pvt firm loses Rs43L in online task scam
Pune: A company secretary (38) working with a private company in Hadapsar lost Rs44 lakh in an online task fraud between May 3 to 8. The woman transferred the amount between May 3 and 8 through 23 transactions to different bank account numbers provided to her. When she tried to withdraw her money, she was asked to pay Rs20 lakh more. Realising that she was being duped, she approached the cyber police on May 10. After preliminary investigations, a case was registered with the Hadapsar police on Thursday. An officer from the Hadapsar police said, "She worked with a prominent chemicals manufacturing company's office in Hadapsar. She received a message on May 3 on a mobile messenger app about a part-time job. When the woman contacted that number, she was offered a job of giving online reviews to hotels and earn Rs8,000 per day by sitting at home." "The woman accepted the offer. A link was shared with her and she completed the task given to her. Once done, Rs150 was transferred to her bank account," the officer said. He said the woman was offered more profit if she invested in prepaid tasks. She then transferred Rs2,000 and got Rs 2,800 in return. "The woman then went on transferring amounts to earn more profit. After transferring Rs44 lakh, she could see that she earned a profit of Rs6 lakh. When she tried to withdraw her Rs 50 lakh, she was not allowed. Instead, she was told to transfer Rs20 lakh more," the officer said. He said when the woman refused to give the crooks more money, they stopped responding to her. The woman discussed the issue with her uncle, who advised her to lodge a complaint.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why 99 Million Americans Have to Live in a Climate Danger Zone — And How to Fix It
This article may contain affiliate links that Yahoo and/or the publisher may receive a commission from if you buy a product or service through those links. In January 2025, six months before the typical start of California's wildfire season, a series of wildfires prompted the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people in the Los Angeles area. At its peak, seven different wildfires were blazing, and the fires lasted for 24 days. By the end of the 24 days of raging fires, entire neighborhoods were razed and at least 30 people died. The factors that cause wildfires can develop rapidly. In Los Angeles' case, exceptionally strong Santa Ana winds — raging past 80 miles per hour in some areas — collided with extremes of wet and dry seasons. Drought had returned after a period of rainfall from 2022-2023 that supported vegetation growth. It would later become fire fuel. These realities are becoming more common and hard to control due to climate change. The Eaton and Palisades fires only burned a fraction of the area of the largest fires in California history (about 1,000 wildfires occur each year), but they became the second and third most destructive blazes, earning the reputation as 'the big ones.' Entire blocks in Altadena, a historically Black suburban enclave in Los Angeles County, and Malibu, a wealthy beachside city west of LA, were destroyed. Meanwhile, 11,000 single-family homes burned to the ground — and those burned houses fed the flames. The 2025 wildfires proved how devastating and unrelenting the damage of these disasters can be when they collide with one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Los Angeles County — already grappling with a housing crisis with the number of households growing by over 700,000 over the past three decades and the number of housing units by just under 500,000 — now faces an even tighter crunch. At the very heart of the problem in Los Angeles, and increasingly across the country, is the number of housing units that are being built in what's called the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The WUI, per the U.S. Fire Administration, is the 'transition between unoccupied land and human development. It is the line, area, or zone where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels.' Data from SILVIS Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates about one-fifth of the county's housing stock is in the WUI. But the WUI isn't just an LA problem; nationally, an estimated 99 million people live in the WUI, about one-third of the total population. Increasing risk of evacuation and damage from wildfires isn't just due to more fires, but also the growth of people living on the front lines of the WUI. The most damaged regions in the LA fires — the Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and Malibu — were largely located in the WUI. The share of housing stock located in the WUI has also been expanding across the country, growing from 29.5% in 1990 to 31.5% in 2020. Two percentage points may seem small, but it represents an additional 14 million units. Housing in the WUI is growing faster than it is in areas outside of them. Counties located along the periphery of San Antonio, in Virginia's Piedmont region, as well as in Clark County (home to Las Vegas), Nevada, have seen some of the fastest growth in the percentage of WUI housing units over the last 30 years. Not every area has equal risk of wildfires, though — Waldo County, Maine, for example, has seen an 11 percentage point growth in share of WUI housing units over the past 30 years, but the chance of a fire breaking out each year according to the USDA Forest Service is just 5%. By contrast, the Jacksonville, Florida, suburb St. John's County has seen a 21.5 percentage point growth in WUI housing units, and an annual burn probability of 76.4%. Even with a lower chance of burning, living in the WUI can also increase proximity to bad air quality when fires do break out. And lower fire risk now doesn't necessarily mean low fire risk forever. Climate change is lengthening the number of fire-weather days across the U.S., including in Texas, the Eastern Carolinas, and Colorado. The downed trees and other vegetation in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene last spring are providing fuel for a series of wildfires, prompting evacuations throughout North and South Carolina, both of which have seen hundreds of thousands of housing units added to WUI since 1990. (North Carolina accounted for just under 830,000 new housing units in the WUI, while South Carolina had over 530,000. Homes in the WUI can become fuel for fires — and human activity plays a major part. In Horry County, South Carolina, where most land is zoned for single-family homes and the number of WUI housing units tripled from 1990-2020, one resident was arrested this year for causing a 2,000-acre wildfire after burning debris in her yard. Nearly 85% of all wildland fires are caused by humans. In California, the five most populous counties all have annual burn probabilities over 92%. Between population and fire risk, even marginal increases in WUI housing could mean devastating consequences. Los Angeles is a city known for its sprawl. An estimated 75% to 78% of land is zoned for detached single-family homes. By contrast, in New York City, known for its density and walkability, just 15% of residential land is zoned for single-family units. Sprawl-oriented design has been the standard for many U.S. cities since the early 20th century, spurred by the rise of the automobile and outdated beliefs around how multifamily housing units would negatively change neighborhoods. This restrictive zoning has fueled the cities' housing crises for years. In Los Angeles, the median rent for a two-bedroom home is nearly double the national average, and the median sale price of all homes reached $1.1 million this year, according to Redfin. Single family homes sold for around $1.25 million. Homes in the WUI, especially those further from the city or popular areas, can be cheaper and offer a path to homeownership buyers may not find elsewhere. 'You can see that in most U.S. cities there's this pattern where areas that are safer tend to have more restricted housing supply,' says Augusto Ospital, an economist and professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, who has studied how land-use regulations impact proximity to natural disasters. If building limitations were removed (lot size and multifamily bans, for instance), he found that the estimated average rent would fall as much as 28% and the share of people living in high risk zones could drop by 7%. Ospital recognizes that removing every zoning limitation isn't feasible, but even modest improvements he says could make a difference. 'By upzoning about 5% of the land in targeted central areas, you could get about 80% of the gains in well-being in terms of reduced prices and exposure to wildfire risk,' he says. Passing upzoning programs isn't always easy, though. Under California law, cities must adopt a housing plan and update it every eight years, adding a specified number of housing units during that period. Based on LA's housing plan, they have to add over 450,000 units between 2021 and 2029. The city's existing zoning law is equipped to meet only about half of that demand. The city's housing plan included a number of programs to meet this shortfall, some of which involved rezoning lots currently zoned for detached single-family homes. The city, however, removed proposals for rezoning single family areas in the plan's final version. Under the new plan, existing capacity will increase by 30%, but it won't be enough to reach the target of 456,000, UCLA researchers found. Instead, it will encourage higher housing costs and potentially sprawl from people seeking to escape them. California adopted wildfire building codes in 2008, and since then, new developments are required to have fire safety features. But the law didn't mandate retrofitting older homes, and other states don't have as stringent requirements. Even if not legally mandated, making fire safety upgrades can protect homeowners and also lower insurance rates. Kelly Berkompas, cofounder of Brandguard Vents, a fire-rated vent company that protects homes from flying embers during fires, says the first step for people already or considering living in the WUI is completing a wildfire risk assessment, usually available for free from a local fire department. Homeowners can also get a wildfire prepared home certification which requires a 5-foot zone around the house of noncombustible material. This means removing any plants, flammable landscaping material, and combustible fencing. Other upgrades include using fire-rated roofing, ember-resistant vents, and metal gutters. Berkompas says the LA wildfires were a wakeup call for how people thought about fire safety. 'I've been in this industry for almost 20 years, and there have been many fires in that time,' she says. 'There's always a little bit of an uptick in people calling and being more aware after a wildfire … but nothing like what happened after these fires.' According to Zachary Subin, associate research director at the Terner Center at Berkeley, the focus on making WUI housing more resilient shouldn't overshadow the need to also build density in areas that aren't in high-risk zones. Subin, who studies the intersection of housing policy and climate change, warns that, 'in the aftermath [of the fires], it's important to not lose sight of the rest of the city … The more housing you can build that isn't at risk, the more opportunities you give people to live in that kind of housing. And the lower the cost of that housing can be because there's less of a constrained supply.' The LA wildfires were brought on by a perfect storm of events, but scientists don't expect the level of devastation seen in January to be an anomaly. Across the country, climate change is increasing the frequency of billion-dollar natural disasters, and the places most at risk aren't always expensive beachside villas, but may also be a starter home in a newly developed suburb or a house in a flood-prone valley. As cities like Los Angeles continue to grow, it's not just a matter of building more housing, but building the right kind of housing that can both ease housing prices and keep more people away from the frontlines of wildfires. I Just Discovered the Smartest Way to Store Paper Towels in Your Kitchen (It's a Game-Changer!) See How a Stager Used Paint to Transform a 1950s Living Room We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On, and Here's What They Said Sign up for Apartment Therapy's Daily email newsletter to receive our favorite posts, tours, products, and shopping guides in your inbox.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Burglars steal cash and articles worth over Rs 90 from two-wheelers parked near exam centre
Nashik: Multiple aspirants appearing for the Teachers Aptitude and Intelligence Test (TAIT) reported theft of cash, cellphones and other articles worth over Rs 90,000 from scooter storage boxes parked near an examination centre along Dindori Road on Thursday. The Mhasrul police registered a case under Section 303(2) for theft and said they were reviewing CCTV footage of the area to identify the culprits and would take necessary actions. The complainant said he came to take the test at PVG College along Dindori Road between 11am and 2.30pm. Before going to the exam, he parked the scooter in the designated parking area and kept his cash and other articles in the storage box of his two-wheeler. After the test, he discovered that Rs3,500, a debit card and other articles were missing. He later learned that a few more aspirants had also complained of theft. Subsequently, three people went to the police station and registered a common complaint of theft of over Rs91,000.
The Spinoff
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
‘If I were starting out again…': Life and writing advice from David Hill
After nearly half a century as a full-time writer, David Hill considers what he might have done differently. This year is my 44th as a full time writer. I've been earning a sort of living with words for a sliver over half my time on the planet. Feel free to do the maths. If I were starting out again, would I do it differently? Hell, yes. I'd start trying to write novels sooner. For nearly a decade, I was so obsessed with making a living that I took on only small-scale projects, many of them ephemeral: short stories, reviews, brief plays, columns, etc. I also lacked the confidence, the guts to try anything requiring novel-sized skills and stamina. I'll explain that part later. It wasn't till our teenage daughter's friend died, and the short story I began writing to acknowledge her courage was still going at page 73, that I realised I'd lurched into a longer form almost by default. With that form came the rewards of watching your narrative choose its own direction, making friends with your characters, trying different voices, etc – the rewards that novels may bring. Plus, novels can be a financial investment. You might earn virtually nothing during the months/years you're working on one, but if you're lucky, royalties and the Public Lending Right may keep bringing a return long after the toil involved has faded from memory. Along with this, if I were re-beginning as a full-timer, I'd try to have a more comprehensive vision. As I say, 44 years ago, that vision was mostly financial survival. I had few plans beyond the next fortnight. I'd been able to take 1981 off from high school teaching to write, thanks to an ICI Writer's Bursary – $3,000 kept you going for several months in those days. I wrote an awful adult novel which met multiple rejections and doesn't exist in any form now. Anyway, I taught for another year, and started off in 1983 feeling that anything longform was beyond me. Janet Frame compared novel writing to 'going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land', and my first dismal shopping trip put me off for years. With hindsight, I'd try to have more faith in myself, to aim higher and sooner. How easily said; how easily postponed. I'd also drink less coffee during those early days. I suspect my wife Beth and our kids found it a touch disconcerting to come home from work or school to a figure with red rotating eyeballs. I'd learn proper keyboard skills. It seems so trivial, but I've always been a two-finger, head-bent-over-the-keys user. After 44 years of stupidly bad posture, my neck is now permanently stuffed, and I have to work in 15-minute spells. Serves me right. I'd keep a copy of everything. Everything. It's relatively easy now, thanks to computers, files, that thing called The Cloud, which I still envisage as white and fluffy. But for… 20?… 25? years of hand-written drafts and manual-typewriter copies, I chucked away so much, especially when it was rejected. I still half-remember lost work, know I could now see what to do with it, shape it better. But it's gone forever. Since going electronic – and if that makes me sound like a cyborg, who am I to argue? – I throw away absolutely nothing. I'd learn to say 'No' early on. Writers are constantly being asked to talk to Rotary, to give advice on how to get 10-year-old Zeb reading, to look over the history of the local golf club that Jack whom you've never heard of is writing. Early on, I cravenly surrendered a lot of hours to such unpaid requests (demands, occasionally). I still agree to do so in some cases, but it took me a long time to learn how to mention the issue of time and expenses. Carl, the excellent gardener down the road, charges $60 an hour. I use the comparison sometimes. From the start, I'd try to see my readers as potential friends, not critics. I'd find an accountant immediately. Yes, they cost, but you can claim them on tax. Plus they add a certain legitimacy to your return, and they think of expenses that would challenge any fantasy writer's imagination. Mine (thanks heaps, Robyn; never retire) even got me a few dollars back on 'Deterioration of Office Fittings', as in shampooing the rugs in my office after the cat puked on them. If I were starting out again, I'd try to stay reasonably technologically savvy, to accept that your writing life needs to change when resources and tools change. Specifically, I'd hope to respond more quickly to the arrival of something like online publishing, e-books, e-zines, etc. I ignored them for years, kept telling myself they were a fad, something ephemeral and distracting. Yes, just like a 14th century literary hack sticking to vellum manuscripts, and knowing this printed book nonsense wouldn't last. My denial – my continued denial; I still struggle to accept that anything other than hard copy is 'real' publishing – has cost me so many contacts and contracts. I'd try also to prepare myself for shifts in my abilities. Over the past half-dozen years, I've shrunk as a short story writer. I no longer have the imaginative spark or the energy to find the dramatic switch, the revelation, the power within a small space that makes a good short story. Conversely, my ability to assemble, to build, seems to have edged up a degree. Essays and novels attract me more and more. If I were restarting, I'd resolve to feel pleased with what I can still do, not despondent at what I can't. It would no doubt go the way of my other resolutions. Let's finish with four questions: 1. Would I have an agent? I never have, partly from laziness and meanness, partly because they weren't common in the early 1980s when I went full-time, and partly (I can't phrase this without sounding vainglorious) because I've been around long enough in our little country for my name to ring the odd bell. A distant, cracked bell. But if I were starting now, I certainly would. Many publishers these days won't consider submissions unless they come via an agent. And, of course, a skilled agent knows the where/when/who to save you so much hassle. They can also soften the jolt of rejection … a bit. 2. Would I enrol in a writing course? Like agents, they weren't around much in the Jurassic. There were writers' groups all over the country. There were journalism schools. But organised instruction, direction, encouragement for fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction? Pretty much zilch. If I were starting now, I'd certainly look hard at the collegiality, informed critiques, professional presentation, funding sources and multiple other facets that such courses can provide, along with their environment that makes you write. 3. Would I self-publish? It's an option that has flourished, become a legitimate alternative, lost the stigma attached to it when I started off. 'Vanity publishing', we arrogantly called it then. But I probably wouldn't do it. I'm too ignorant of what's involved; I treasure the skills of the editors and publishers who work on and always improve my stuff. And … well, I took up this job to be an author, not an entrepreneur. 4. Would I do it all over again? See final words of paragraph two above. How many other jobs are there where you have to shave only twice a week, where a 10-year-old consumer writes to you saying 'After I read your book, I felt all kind and good', where you get up from the keyboard after an hour and know you've made something that never existed in the world before? I hope to be feeling exactly the same when I've been in the said job for 55 years. All I need is for medical science to keep taking giant strides.
Express Tribune
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
ATC convicts 11, including PTI's Abdul Latif, for May 9 violence
PTI protesters take to the streets in Lahore on May 9, 2023. SCREENGRAB Listen to article An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Islamabad on Friday convicted and sentenced 11 accused to various jail terms and fines in cases related to the violence on May 9, 2023, over charges of attacking the Ramna police station, attacking policemen, setting properties on fire, and spreading terrorism. The convicted men include Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) member of the National Assembly Abdul Latif and former member of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly (MPA) Wazirzada Kailashi. After the verdict, four convicts were arrested from the court premises, while warrants were issued against seven others. The four arrested convicts were Muhammad Akram, Mira Khan, Shahzeb, and Sohail Khan. Warrants were issued against Abdul Latif, Wazirzada Kailashi, Zaryab Khan, Samuel Robert, Abdul Basit, Shan Ali, and Muhammad Yousuf. ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra delivered the verdict, stating that the accused attacked the Ramna police station and opened fire, pelted stones, and tried to kill the policemen. The accused also set fire to motorcycles. The court said that the accused were sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of Rs200,000 each for terrorism; five years in prison and a fine of Rs50,000 each for attempting to kill police officials; four years in prison and a fine of Rs40,000 each for burning motorcycles. Another four-year prison term and a fine of Rs40,000 each were awarded for burning the police station; three months in prison for interfering in police work; and one month in prison for violating Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). May 9 cases refer to the violent attacks on state installations in 2023 following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan over corruption charges. Several people were arrested in these cases, which were tried and convicted by military courts as well as ATCs in different cities. Meanwhile, ATCs across the country have been hearing more cases. In April, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, ordered the ATCs to decide on the May 9 cases within four months. Of those, 14 cases of the Lahore district were pending in two ATCs in the Punjab capital, which are being heard in Kot Lakhpat Central Jail on a daily basis. However, an ATC judge said that the unavailability of case records was creating hurdles for the court in meeting the Supreme Court's deadline. ATC Administrative Judge Manzer Ali Gill wrote to Punjab Prosecutor General Syed Farhad Ali Shah, pointing out that police records were not available to the deputy prosecutor conducting the trial because of one reason or another. The judge said that he brought the matter to the notice of the prosecution office for taking necessary actions for recording as many witnesses as possible on each date of hearing. Otherwise, the court would proceed as per law. It has been noted that most of the May 9 cases were adjourned owing to the unavailability of the records of the cases. On each date, police officials informed the courts that the records of the cases were available with the Supreme Court. (WITH INPUT FROM OUR LAHORE CORRESPONDENT)
