EC’s new feature for voter fraud, Typhoon Ragasa kills 15 | Hook News Wrap

India’s Election Commission has rolled out a new ‘e-sign’ feature on its ECINet portal and app. According to The Indian Express, the new feature requires those seeking to register as voters, or applying for deletion and corrections, to verify their identity using their Aadhaar-linked phone numbers.

The EC’s move comes less than a week after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi decried the misuse of online voter deletion forms in Karnataka’s Aland constituency ahead of the 2023 state Assembly polls.

Typhoon Ragasa makes landfall in China

Shifting focus, Typhoon Ragasa, 2025’s most powerful tropical cyclone yet, made landfall in southern China on Wednesday, which had evacuated some 2 million people in preparation. This after killing 15 people in Taiwan and lashing Hong Kong with ferocious winds and heavy rains.

Ragasa is said to have weakened from super to severe typhoon status but remains highly destructive with top winds of 241km/h.

H-1B visa: Trump administration proposes changes

Shifting focus, days after introducing a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed new changes to the H-1B visa selection process.

The DHS in a notification said that the current lottery system, which caps the visas at 85,000 per year, will remain in place for now. However, under the new rule, DHS would give greater preference to employer applications offering higher wages if annual requests exceed the cap.

DHS added the move aims to better protect Americans from unfair wage competition from foreign workers.

Market extends losses for 4th straight day

And finally, from the business world - Indian benchmark indices - Nifty and Sensex - extended losses for the 4th day in a row to clock the worst losing streak since July.

The Sensex fell 386 points to close at 81,716 with the Nifty closing at 25,057, down 113 points. The Nifty FMCG was the only sector which saw gains.

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