Latest news with #2017
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Trader held for availing ITC worth Rs 15.19 cr by submitting fake invoices
A textile trader has been arrested by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) in Surat for allegedly submitting fake invoices of Rs 100 crore to avail Input Tax Credit worth Rs 15.19 crore. According to DGGI sources, the accused, arrested on Friday has been identified as Yatin Dudhat, a resident of Varachha, who runs textile business by the name of Dudhat International in Surat. Dudhat allegedly received fake invoices from different firms without any supply of goods. The officials had earlier raided his office and business place in Surat and recovered several incriminating documents. Dudhat has violated the provision of sections of 132 of Central Goods and Services Tax, Act, 2017, an official said. Sources said that the name of Dudhat cropped during a probe following the arrest of Chetan Patoliya, proprietor of Kunj Fashion, Surat. On Saturday, Yatin Dudhat was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate court of Judge R M Kalotara. He was sent to 14 days judicial custody at Surat Central jail by court. DGGI sources added, they had carried out a search operation at Kunj Fashion, on May 2. During investigation, the officials found Patoliya's involvement in availing the Input Tax Credit of around Rs 12 crores, with the help of fake invoices of sales and purchase of goods. Patoliya in his statements to DGGI had mentioned that he had passed on (sold) ITC to different firms – including Infinity Impex, Salton Impex, Manya Overseas and Shreeji exports, without supply of goods – in Surat. The DGGI is currently carrying out a probe in this case and are collecting the details of the firms that had received ITC from Kunj Fashion and Dudhat International.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Horror as 'dark Peppa Pig' videos that are terrifying kids rack up millions of views on YouTube
Parents are being warned about 'Dark Peppa Pig' after horror videos began circulating online to target terrified children. The famous cartoon pig is often watched on YouTube by young children but now depraved creators on the channel are taking advantage of Peppa Pig's popularity and creating harmful versions of the show. One clip, which has over 18 million views called MLG Peppa Pig (PARODY), showed the character holding a machine gun. Meanwhile a second twisted video called 'Peppa does Drugs' showed the cartoon pig snorting cocaine. A YouTube spokesperson has since confirmed the clips have been taken down, but millions of children may have been exposed to them. 'We've removed both videos from YouTube and terminated a channel for violating our child safety policies, which we rigorously enforce,' a spokesperson told the Mirror. 'Dark Peppa Pig' videos first came to light in 2017, when an investigation by the BBC found hundreds of harmful clips on YouTube which appeared to be episodes of Peppa Pig but were actually terrifying content for children. In 2018, one mother Moonee Ponds, from Melbourne, was taking a conference call while her daughter watched Peppa Pig online, but she noticed something was wrong when she noticed the absence of the cartoon character's voice. She checked on her daughter to find footage of a kneeling man about to be beheaded, hitting the power button seconds from the gruesome act playing out, The Advertiser reported. Fortunately she was able to protect her daughter from the grim clip, but wanted other mothers to know the 'kids' function on YouTube did not guarantee cyber safety. YouTube has marketed its offshoot as 'safer and simpler for kids to explore the world through online video', but a string of similar instances has proven this might not be the case. The platform has come under fire several times for not policing its content thoroughly enough, with a number of lewd clips reported to have appeared part-way through children's videos. A recent incident involved preschool children in New South Wales and Queensland enacting sexual behaviour in school hours after being accidentally exposed to pornographic content on YouTube Kids. While YouTube claimed the family-friendly version was free of adult material, it has been revealed it's in fact no safer than the regular service. Inappropriate material was only removed from 'kids' once it was reported - the same process as content shared to the adult site. Such loose regulatory policies could contribute to the one in five children aged eight and under that now watch pornographic material online. Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Safety Angus Taylor called on social media companies to be more vigilant with its policing of content. 'I am aware of these types of cases. Social media companies absolutely have a responsibility to do more,' Minister Taylor said. 'All versions of the YouTube Kids app use filters powered by algorithms to select videos from YouTube. We continually work hard to make our algorithms as accurate as possible in order to provide a safer version of YouTube,' a spokeswoman said. Digital expert Dr Kristy Goodwin was called into schools following reports children as young as four imitated 'doggy style' sexual positions. 'These four and five year-olds are imitating doggy style, they are trying to force other children to imitate the act of fellatio all in the schoolyard because of things they have been exposed to online,' Dr Goodwin said. Esafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said such instances were highly concerning because children of that age did not have the cognitive ability to process the content. Cyber Cop's Susan McClean said parents could protect their children by boycotting internet streaming services and instead putting on a DVD or VCR. Meanwhile a father-of-two previously expressed outrage after his son started watching an explicit fake version of Peppa Pig while browsing YouTube. The seemingly innocent video started as any normal tale involving Peppa, George and her parents. However, the content soon changed with references to a paedophile dentist and a plastic phallus which were not included in the original version. Joe Pritchard, 25, from Cornwall let his three-year-old son watch some genuine Peppa Pig videos on the internet. He told MailOnline: 'Jack is three and is in the process of being tested for autism, and we've found that if he watches a show for 15 minutes on the phone it calms him down and helps him relax.' Mr Pritchard said he asked Jack about the episode he was watching and was disgusted when he realised the content of the video. My partner went to the kitchen when she heard the language and turned it off immediately. Some of them have Peppa Pig getting killed. It's happening to Bob the Builder and Paw Patrol. 'We had to warn the nursery that he had seen this in case he repeated something. 'If a slightly older child saw this, it could be traumatising. There is nothing to warn people that the content is graphic. 'I think there should be more control on the internet. If you go on kids YouTube, there are. 'I work all the hours god sends to provide for my children. I am going to have to get Netflix to protect my children. They show genuine copies.' The prankster had used a genuine Peppa Pig episode and re-dubbed sections of it to include the reprehensible content. He said: 'Now we're not going to be able to let him watch things on the mobile anymore. It's going to make our lives ten times harder now and it's a shame because he enjoyed it.'
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Climate
- New York Times
NOAA Predicts ‘Above Average' Hurricane Season
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its forecast for this year's Atlantic hurricane season on Thursday, saying it expected to see between 13 to 19 named storms this year. That would make this an above-average season, and most likely not as active as 2024 ended up being. An average Atlantic hurricane season has 14 named storms, including seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Ken Graham, the director of NOAA's National Weather Service said at a news conference on Thursday morning that the agency's forecasters believed six to 10 of the named storms could become hurricanes, meaning they would include winds of at least 74 miles per hour. Those could include three to five major hurricanes — Category 3 or higher — with winds of at least 111 m.p.h. According to NOAA, there is an 30 percent chance of a near-normal season and a 60 percent chance of an above-normal season, with a 10 percent chance of a below-normal season. Even so, some experts are concerned that the current setup may resemble something closer to the 2017 season, the year of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. That year, the season reached the upper limit of its forecast, ending up with 17 named storms from a forecast of 11 to 17. More of those storms became major hurricanes than forecasters had originally expected. The NOAA forecast on Thursday joins more than a dozen other recent projections from experts at universities, private companies and other government agencies who have predicted a more tempered hurricane season than last year's, but still one that is average to slightly above average. There are 21 entries on this year's official list of storm names, from Andrea to Wendy. If that list is exhausted, the National Weather Service will move on to an alternative list of names, something it has had to do only twice in its history. One of those two instances was in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit southern Louisiana and Mississippi, flooding New Orleans and setting off a new urgency for better hurricane forecasts. Thursday's announcement was made from New Orleans to honor the history of that storm and the importance of hurricane forecasts, which have improved since then. But the National Weather Service and NOAA, its parent agency, have lost hundreds of employees to layoffs and retirements in recent months after the Department of Governmental Efficiency, the Trump administration's initiative to downsize the federal work force, mandated they reduce staff. That has left many people in hurricane-prone areas wondering how the season could unfold with much of the federal disaster mechanism left in tatters. Some weather offices have curtailed their traditional twice-daily weather balloon launches, which are meant to collect data from the atmosphere that helps feed forecasts and forecast models. James Franklin, a meteorologist who retired from the National Hurricane Center in 2017, warned that just a little bit of missing data could be the difference between a successful forecast and an inaccurate one. 'The key for the forecast models is to keep all of the input data coming in,' agreed Phil Klotzbach, a researcher at Colorado State University, which issued a similar seasonal forecast last month. 'If we were to suffer from significant reduction in weather balloon launches or buoy data, for example, that could curtail forecast skill. But at this point, we don't really know how much input data we would lose.' Vijay Tallapragada, a senior scientist with the environmental modeling center at NOAA, said it was 'very hard' to estimate whether models have already been affected by the cuts. It could be months until forecasters know for sure if there has been degradation in the computer forecast models, other experts said. There is solid consensus among scientists that hurricanes are becoming more powerful because of climate change. Although there might not be more named storms overall, the likelihood of major hurricanes is increasing. The United States has had a Category 4 or 5 hurricane make landfall in six of the last eight years. That's one of the highest frequencies in records dating back to 1851, said Adam Smith, who created and ran a federal database that tracked how many natural disasters caused more than $1 billion in damage. This month, NOAA shut the project down. Historically, many of those disasters have been hurricanes. Last year, with combined damage over $100 billion, hurricanes Helene and Milton were responsible for more than half the total losses from Mr. Smith's list. Well before hurricane season, Mr. Smith said, this year was off to a record pace, largely because of the wildfires in Los Angeles in January.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Punjab battles drug crisis, Mental Healthcare Act yet to be fully enforced
Chandigarh: Even as Punjab has waged a high-decibel war on drugs through its flagship 'Yudh Nasheyan De Virudh' campaign, the state govt has fallen short on a crucial front — the full implementation of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (MHCA), which experts say is essential for effective, rights-based treatment of drug addiction. While the state made progress in expanding treatment access, with over 10 lakh individuals currently undergoing treatment at 529 govt-run outpatient opioid assisted treatment (OOAT) centres and 180 private centres, experts have flagged critical gaps in aligning de-addiction services with the provisions of the MHCA. Punjab initiated steps toward implementing the Act by establishing the State Mental Health Authority (SMHA) in 2018 and notifying the Punjab State Mental Healthcare (Standards of Care) Rules in 2019. However, full enforcement remains elusive. The Punjab and Haryana high court earlier this year had directed the state to comply with all the mandatory provisions of the MHCA, pointing to the gaps in execution. The Act, once fully implemented, ensures that drug addiction is treated as a mental health issue — not a criminal one. It promotes care over punishment, dignity over stigma, and sustainable recovery over temporary detox, while safeguarding patient rights and ensuring standardised, ethical treatment practices. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like No dark spots, 10 years younger! Just take this from Guardian URUHIME MOMOKO Learn More Undo The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) wrote to Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh, urging the govt to expedite the MHCA implementation across the state. The IPS lauded the intent behind 'Yudh Nasheyan De Virudh', calling it a timely and sensitive response to Punjab's worsening substance abuse crisis. The society also welcomed the inclusion of private sector psychiatrists in the campaign, labelling it a much-needed step toward inclusive public health reform. The Indian Psychiatric Society members, however, expressed concern over the current treatment protocols in the state, calling these "flawed and a hindrance" in treatment. They stressed that all matters regarding the treatment of addiction had to be monitored under the provision of the MHCA and not under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. They also called for the routine use of evidence-based medications such as buprenorphine, in line with international standards, to ensure effective outcomes. The IPS recommended that during inspections of de-addiction centres or psychiatric facilities, any concerns involving psychiatrists should be referred to the district or state mental health review boards constituted under the MHCA. Disciplinary action, they said, should follow only after recommendations from these statutory bodies. A senior health department official said efforts were underway to implement the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 in its entirety, and the enforcement process was expected to be completed soon. Despite repeated attempts, health minister Dr Balbir Singh could not be reached for comments. Health Department Working On Modalities (BOX) Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh has announced that private psychiatrists would be permitted to dispense buprenorphine and naloxone to patients undergoing treatment for substance abuse. The department has started working on the modalities. MSID:: 121271378 413 |
Express Tribune
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Most parties off the digital radar
Despite increasing digital engagement in Pakistan, nearly two-thirds of the country's political parties lack a fully functional website, revealed a report by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Sunday. Titled "Assessing Web Presence of Political Parties in Pakistan", the report found that only 35 per cent or 58 out of 166 registered political parties maintain fully or partially operational websites. Even among the 20 parties currently represented in the parliament and provincial assemblies, just 14 (70 per cent) have functional websites. The web presence is a prerequisite for compliance within the overall purview of Section 208(4) of the Elections Act, 2017, which mandates political parties to publish updated lists of their central office bearers and executive committee members on their websites. Among those parties with functioning websites, only 40 parties (69 per cent) comply with the legal requirement of publishing a list of central office bearers on the website, and just six (ten per cent) with publishing the names of their executive committee members. While many parties maintain active social media profiles, they cannot serve as a substitute for an official website. The short-lived and algorithm-driven nature of social media feeds makes them less suited for hosting structured and accessible information. FAFEN's assessment of political parties' websites found that those with parliamentary representation generally offer more content-rich digital platforms compared to other parties. Among them, JI leads by providing on its website 18 out of 30 distinct types of information that FAFEN examined. It is followed by PTI with a score of 15. However, its website is currently blocked in Pakistan and can only be accessed through a VPN. The website of PPPP scored 12; PML-N 11; ANP nine; Haq Do Tehreek Balochistan (HDT) and MQM-P eight each; SIC and PkMAP seven each; TLP and JUI-P six each; MWM five; BAP four; and PML-Q one. Among the parties without parliamentary representation, the highest score was 13, which was achieved by Pakistan Tehreek Shadbad (PTS). Thematically, most websites were more forthcoming in sharing contact information and general organisational details, while financial transparency remained the most under-reported area. The most consistently shared content was the aims and objectives of political parties, featured on 88 per cent of websites. Section 201(1)(a) of the Elections Act, 2017 mandates the political parties to include this information in the party constitution. Contact details for at least one party office were present on 83 per cent of sites, while 79 per cent linked to official social media handles. The list of central office bearers (Section 208(4)) was available on 69 per cent of the websites, although it was not always clear whether these reflected the most recent intra-party election results. Similarly, membership procedures (Section 203) were outlined on 69 per cent of sites. The availability of foundational documents, campaign material, and financial disclosures varied considerably. Only 38 per cent of parties shared their constitutions on websites, albeit with little to no information about any recent amendments. Moreover, while 62 per cent posted at least one general election (GE) manifesto, only 12 per cent uploaded their latest manifesto clearly mentioning their electoral promises for GE-2024. Notably, just one party published its consolidated financial statement, which is required to be submitted to the ECP annually under Section 210(1) of the Elections Act, 2017. Moreover, FAFEN found the statements of assets and liabilities of party office bearers on only one website.
