Ever heard of the term shadow-ban? It is a special kind of online penalty. Lets use an online message board as an example. If a user is shadow-banned after breaking the rules, the user can still post messages and comments. However, no one else will see them. Its different from a full ban, which results in users being notified that they no longer have access to participate on the message board.

The Associated Press explained shadow-banning in 2018: Shadow-bans started in the early days of online discussion groups and the tools used to police disruptive participants. Moderators could always just disable the accounts of spammers, harassers or those who were just too argumentative. But sometimes banned users came back with new accounts, prolonging the turmoil and creating a lengthy round of whack-a-mole.

So forums came up with an alternative punishment: the shadow-ban. Instead of disabling the targets account entirely, shadow-banning just seals the offending account in a hermetic bubble. The shadow-banned user can still post freely but no one else sees their messages.

For details, see APs full reporting.

Read more here:

Snopestionary: What Does 'Shadow-Ban' Mean? | Snopes.com

Shadow Assassin Armor

Total

Head

Chest

Legs

Boots

+735 (775 with frags)

+100 (120 with frags)

+28% (32 with frags)

+160 (170 with frags)

+25 (30 with frags)

+7% (8 with frags)

+240 (250 with frags)

+25 (30 with frags)

+7% (8 with frags)

+210 (220 with frags)

+25 (30 with frags)

+7% (8 with frags)

+125 (135 with frags)

+25 (30 with frags)

+7% (8 with frags)

SHADOW_ASSASSIN_HELMET

SHADOW_ASSASSIN_CHESTPLATE

SHADOW_ASSASSIN_LEGGINGS

SHADOW_ASSASSIN_BOOTS

The Shadow Assassin Armor is an Epic Dungeon Armor set that can be obtained in Dungeons by reward chests in The Catacombs - Floor V (5). It grants various buffs upon teleporting.

Shadow Assassin Armor can be obtained from Dungeon Reward Chest within The Catacombs - Floor V.From the reward chests, the prices of the armor are as follows:

Like most Dungeon Reward Chest armors, it has a rare chance to be claimed starred, recombobulated or enchanted with Growth VI or Protection VI.

Each piece of the set provides a buff after teleporting, buffing the use of Ender Pearls, Silent Pearls, Aspect of the End/Aspect of the Void, Silent Death, Shadow Fury and the Wither Impact ability on the Necron's Blade and variants with it. The helmet provides +20 Speed and applies the invisibility status for 10s, the chestplate provides +10 Strength for 10s, the Leggings heal its wearer for 1% of their Health, and the boots give +10 Mana. This stacks with each teleport.

The full set ability grants +1 Strength per mob kill within a Dungeon run. This does not carry over to outside dungeons and is reset at the beginning of every run.

For each piece upgraded with Livid Fragments, it gives +10 Health, +5 Strength and +1 Speed. It also upgrades the rarity of the armor piece which can be used for better Reforges. It also changes the gemstone slot from a Jasper Slot to a Combat Slot, allowing more types of Gemstones to be applied.The upgrade costs 8xLivid Fragments surrounding each piece.

Continued here:

Shadow Assassin Armor | Hypixel SkyBlock Wiki | Fandom

Ex-pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli speaks to the press in front of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York with members of his legal team after the jury issued a verdict on Aug. 4, 2017.

A federal judge issued a scathing order against so-called Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli banning him for life from participating in the pharmaceutical industry in any capacity. Shkreli also must pay a $64.6 million disgorgement to states that filed an antitrust suit against him.

Banning an individual from an entire industry and limiting his future capacity to make a living in that field is a serious remedy and must be done with care and only if equity demands, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote noted in a 135-page ruling. Shkrelis egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous illegal conduct warrants imposition of an injunction of this scope.

Heartless and Coercive

In January 2020, New York State Attorney General Letitia James(D) filed a lawsuitwhich was later joined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and attorneys general from other statesaccusing Shkreli of exerting monopoly control to jack up the price of the life-saving drug, Daraprim.

The Daraprim scheme was particularly heartless and coercive, Judge Cote wrote. Daraprim must be administered within hours to those suffering from active toxoplasma encephalitis.

Judge Cotes ruling describes how Shkreli cornered the market on the drug through a company then known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, which was later rebranded as Vyera, the entity sued by regulators.

From day one, Shkreli focused his new venture on acquiring sole-source drugs that were the gold standard treatment option for life-threatening diseases with a small patient population and inferior alternative treatments, with the intent to raise their prices, block generic competition, and reap extraordinary profits, the ruling states.

His 40-fold hike of Daraprims price earned him national scornand a cult following for his unapologetic defense of his actions as a capitalist savvy.

Moreover, in the face of public opprobrium, Shkreli doubled down, Cote wrote. He refused to change course and proclaimed that he should have raised Daraprims price higher.

Shkreli was later criminally prosecuted, not for anything related to Daraprim, but for defrauding investors in a separate company named Retrophin, which led to a seven-year sentence on securities fraud convictions in 2018.

Accounting for his stint in pre-trial confinement, Shkreli is approaching the end of his prison sentence and is slated for release on Nov. 7 of this year. The lawsuit seeking his ban from the pharmaceutical industry hit federal court while Shkreli was behind bars.

Without a lifetime ban, there is a real danger that Shkreli will engage in anticompetitive conduct within the pharmaceutical industry again, the ruling states. Shkreli established two companies, Retrophin and Vyera, with the same anticompetitive business model: Acquiring sole-source drugs for rare diseases so that he could profit from a monopolist scheme on the backs of a dependent population of pharmaceutical distributors, healthcare providers, and the patients who needed the drugs.

Recklessly Disregarded the Health of a Particularly Vulnerable Population

Regulators claimed that not even incarceration inside the Federal Correctional Institution in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, could keep Shkreli from keeping prices for Daraprima critical tool in the fight against toxoplasmosissky high. Toxoplasmosis particularly afflicts people with compromised immune systems, such as people with HIV or who have received organ transplants.

The context in which Shkreli conducted his schemes cannot be ignored, Cote wrote. He cynically took advantage of the requirements of a federal regulatory scheme designed to protect the health of a nation by ensuring that its population has access to drugs that are not only effective but also safe. He recklessly disregarded the health of a particularly vulnerable population, those with compromised immune systems. His scheme burdened those patients, their loved ones, and their healthcare providers.

Citing reporting in the Wall Street Journal, regulators said that Shkreli exercised shadow control over Vyera and its Swiss corporate parent Phoenixus from behind bars.

Judge Cote found that the facts bore out that reporting.

Shkreli initiated every anticompetitive decision that Vyera pursued to its conclusion, the ruling states. He maintained shadow control of the company, staying in close contact with Vyeras directors and officers, providing guidance on how to maintain control of the market, and threatening to use his authority as the largest shareholder to call an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) that would install more pliant officers and directors. He did exactly that in 2017 and again in 2020, each time installing loyalists.

The New York attorney general who sued Shkreli celebrated the courts decision.

Martin Shkreli is a Pharma Bro no more, James tweeted, hinting at the defendants lifetime ban. A court found that the former Vyera Pharma CEO illegally monopolized the market of the life-saving drug Daraprim.

The powerful dont get to make their own rules, despite Shkreli thinking cash rules everything around him, James added.

Shkrelis attorney Christopher H. Casey, from the firm Duane Morris, did not immediately respond to Law&Crimes email requesting comment.

Read the ruling below:

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Have a tip we should know? [emailprotected]

Read the original here:

Judge Determines Martin Shkreli Deserves to Be Banned for Life from Participating in Pharmaceutical Industry 'in Any Capacity' - Law & Crime

Labour members in the House of Lords are to oppose last-minute amendments to the police and crime bill, which human rights activists have described as a dangerous power grab, in a move that could kill the proposals entirely.

In a low-key announcement on the LabourLordsUK Twitter account on Friday, the party said it would be opposing protest clauses added late to the bill, a reference to 18 pages of amendments introduced by the government in November.

Unlike the rest of the bill, however, where the lords can merely send amendments back to the Commons to be reconsidered, because the latest amendments were introduced in the Lords they will fall if peers vote against them.

Labours decision to oppose sections of the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill means that with the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and some independents there will be enough votes to defeat the government.

It comes after intensive lobbying. Liberal Democrat and Green party peers have already said they would oppose the amendments and called on Labour to do the same, a call echoed by the civil rights groups Liberty and Big Brother Watch, and environmental groups, including Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion.

Yvette Cooper MP, the shadow home secretary, said: The policing bill should have been an opportunity to tackle violence against women, improve support for victims of crime and keep communities safe [but] the governments priority has been to use the bill to bring in rushed powers that are incredibly widely-drawn for example, allowing the police to stop and search anyone in the vicinity of a protest, including passersby, people on the way to work and peaceful protesters.

Weve put forward an alternative sensible approach that improves training and guidance for the police and lets councils take action against threatening anti vax protests outside schools, as well as clear plans to tackle violence against women and girls. Security is at the heart of Labours contract with the British people. Instead of seeking headlines and stoking division, the Conservatives should implement Labours plans to keep the public safe.

Jenny Jones, the Green party peer, said she welcomed Labours support at what she described as a crunch time for opposition to this increasingly authoritarian government.

These are Belarus-style laws, but the Lords can stop them if we can motivate enough peers to stay with us during Mondays late night sitting and vote for basic democratic values, she said. Its no way to run a country, but a lot will come down to stamina and Im bringing my sleeping bag.

The late amendments, which focus on new powers to control protests, were introduced to the Lords on the day nine Insulate Britain protesters were sent to jail for breaking injunctions banning roadblock actions.

Among them were new offences of locking on, for cases where protesters attach themselves to objects or each other to make it more difficult for police to remove them; being equipped to lock on; wilful obstruction of the highway; and obstruction of major transport works, all with potential 51-week jail sentences.

They would also beef up police powers of stop and search, with reasonable grounds extended to include items intended for use in connection with disruptive protests and new orders to allow for suspicionless stop and search around protests.

They would also introduce asbo-style serious disruption prevention orders that would allow authorities to ban named individuals from participating in demonstrations or using the internet to encourage others to do so.

Lord Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesperson in the Lords and a former senior police officer, said: The government wants to give the police power to stop and search protesters without suspicion and to give the courts the power to ban people from protesting, whether they have committed an offence or not.

This entire bill is outrageous, but now there is a real chance we can irreversibly sink some of the worst parts.

Labour said it was not intending to oppose all the measures. According to the announcement, the party will attempt to amend rather than vote down the roadblock clause to narrow its scope to the strategic roads network.

Critics fear this will leave space for the government to revert to these clauses in the Commons.

A Home Office spokesperson said: We will always champion the right to protest peacefully and this bill in no way changes that.

We have seen some of the most self-defeating and dangerous protests in recent years with people gluing themselves to motorways, causing serious disruption to the law-abiding majority across the country and tearing police away from communities that need them most.

Thats why our police, crime, sentencing and courts bill is so necessary it gives police the power to proactively prevent this kind of chaos before it ensues, and focuses on a selfish minority of relentless reoffenders.

Go here to read the rest:

Labour peers to oppose amendments to police and crime bill - The Guardian

There's an inherent contradiction at the heart of liberal thinking that perpetually raises its head. It's one which has become ever-more pronounced in our age of ultra-progressive politics: the tension between equality and liberty. Many progressives think you can have both. Alas not. You can only have either, or a greater emphasis upon one at the expense of the other.

This contradiction has once more been made evident today amidst reports of a lecturer who says he is the latest victim of 'cancel culture'. James Treadwell, a professor of criminology at Staffordshire University, says that he is 'being investigated for transphobia' after his employer received 'formal and official' complaints about his gender-critical views on Twitter.

Staffordshire University has confirmed that his case is indeed being reviewed. It has said:

'As a university we are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion to ensure we promote a positive culture where everyone is able to be themselves. We are equally committed to academic freedom and lawful freedom of speech.'

Here in two adjoining sentences are embodied this contradiction between equality and liberty, or to put it another way, between tolerance and freedom. Either we can have a world in which transgender people or any other minority section of society have a right for their identities to be equally tolerated, respected and protected by the state. Or we can have a society in which individuals have their right to speak their minds, in which their opinions are also tolerated, respected and protected. You can live in a society in which no-one is allowed to be offended, or one in which everyone has the right to be offensive. You can't have both.

As a pragmatic compromise, liberal societies forever choose a middle path, between individual-based liberty and state-enforced equality, oscillating in various degrees between one to the other. Our culture today places emphasis on the latter, of collective safety before individual liberty. This is at the root of 'cancel culture', in which individuals are censured or censored for saying the wrong thing because it might be hurtful to groups of people. Yet our sensitive so-called 'snowflake' world elevates the right not to be offended over the right to be offensive.

For many years it seemed that the libertarians were on the ascendency. In the arts especially there has been a growing consensus since the 1960s that the right to expression trumps societal taboos, sentiment or reactionary outrage. This is why Mary Whitehouse was such a figure of fun in her time: she seemed a dinosaur out of kilter in an age of untrammelled liberation. Theatre censorship ended in Britain in 1968 and even as late as 1995 it was legally impossible to obtain a home video of Reservoir Dogs. Even the idea of banning Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), which some councils did on account of its perceived blasphemy, would be unthinkable now.

Yet the trend has since swung the other way, mostly in conjunction with the rise of identity politics, which seeks to protect all swathes of society, first from discrimination and acts of violence, but increasingly now from hurt feelings or disagreeable opinions. This shift has been enshrined in equality legislation and in 'hate speech', which protects groups and abstract nouns against individuals.

This has thrown up many problems and objections, not only from those who believe free speech is sacrosanct. It has exposed the related tensions between the rights of groups themselves to be offensive against each other. The 'gay-cake' controversy in Northern Ireland was a case in point: should Christians be allowed the right to act in accordance with their identity and beliefs, even if it might be offensive to gay customers?

Another recent eruption in the culture wars has been between Trans campaigners and gender-critical feminists, with the latter objecting as women that biological men be allowed into female prisons, rape shelters or participate in female sports. Then there is the old matter of some opinions held by somereligious fundamentalistsin regards to women and homosexuals. Which group should be protected? The offended or the offensive?

We see this conflict between safety and freedom in wider society. Lockdowns and the matter of mandatory vaccinations have pitted two camps against each other, between those who believe the safety of society is utterly paramount, and those who believe foremost in bodily autonomy. It's a debate that was previously played out over banning smoking in pubs, and, before that, the compulsory wearing of seat-belts.

In the political sphere, at least, there is implicit recognition that there has to be a compromise between the two aspirations. In the cultural sphere, alas not. Ever since the French revolutionaries issued their contradictory and self-refuting call to arms, 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity', progressives have been living in the shadow of this fraudulent banality.

View original post here:

James Treadwell and the true meaning of 'cancel culture' - Spectator.co.uk

THE government was accused of putting energy firms profits before the welfare of struggling customers yesterday after it rejectedLabour plans to cut tax on gas and electricity bills.

Labours accusation follows a survey showing that 85 per cent of Conservative voters support a cut in VAT on energy bills to protect customers.

Tory ministers votedagainst the plans last week.

In Commons remarksLabour proposed a fully funded tax plan to cut household energy bills by 200 this yearand by 400 for pensioners and lowto middle-income consumers.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: Instead of backing Labours plan to scrap VAT on home energy bills paid for by a one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas Conservative MPs would rather leave hard-working people to face the cost-of-living crisis alone.

It tells you everything you need to know about this government that they believe we should prioritise oil and gas companies making huge windfall profits that they say are struggling, rather than the British people who face the true struggle to pay their energy bills.

The Scotland Greens have also hit out at the Westminster government for forcing Scottish consumers to share the costs of building new nuclear power plants in England through hiked energy bills.

This is despite Holyroodbanning new nuclear plants in Scotland.

The Scottish Greens accused the Tories of being obsessed with building hugely expensive new nuclear power stations and forcing consumers to subsidise them in advance through energy bills.

Earlier this weekthe Scottish government said energy bills would rise by 40 to help build new nuclear power stations such as Hinckley Point C in England.

Scottish Greens energy spokesman Mark Ruskell said: As well as leaving a toxic legacy for generations to come, nuclear power is a bad deal for consumers now, at a time when energy bills are pushing more and more households into fuel poverty.

Renewable energy is far cheaper, and since it doesnt result in toxic waste which will remain deadly for hundreds of thousands of years, better for the environment too.

The UK governments energy policy is more about helping its friends than following the science or tackling fuel poverty.

Read the original post:

Government 'putting oil and gas profits before customers' with refusal to slash VAT, Labour charges - Morning Star Online

Weather: Niwa confirms 2021 was NZs hottest year on record

What was New Zealands costliest year for flood damage was also our warmest sending a grim reminder, if we still needed one, that our planet is heating at an alarming rate.

Niwa today revealed that 2021 was the hottest year in more than a century of records, with a mean land surface temperature of 13.56C or just shy of 1C above the 1981-2010 average.

That placed it above our previous warmest, 2016, as well as 2018, which began with a record-hot summer, and 1998, the year a severe El Nino fuelled a nightmare drought.

A stark reminder: 2021 the worlds fifth-hottest year on record EU scientists

Last year was the worlds fifth hottest on record, while levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere hit new highs in 2021, EU scientists said.

The EUs Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a report on Monday the past seven years were the worlds warmest by a clear margin in records dating back to 1850 and the average global temperature in 2021 was 1.1-1.2C above 1850-1900 levels.

The hottest years on record were 2020 and 2016.

In 1980, the time between billion dollar climate destruction events was 3 months.

Its now 18 days.

There is a point where the next destructive weather event strikes before you can rebuild from the last one.

The rapid melting of the doomsday glacier in Antarctica is the final evidence that we cant stop whats coming and that radical adaptation will be the only option.

Expect to hear a lot more about the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation as its weakening will trigger irreversible environmental collapse.

There is no optimismon the climate front, just consequences now.

Meanwhile we continue to focus on the big issues like cancelling people for tweets sent a decade ago and shadow banning everyone who is friends with Ani OBrienand Rachel Stewart on Twitter.

You know, the BIG issues.

Watching Climate Strike For Students Auckland cancel itself last year because of white heteronormative cis male privilege(Im not joking) sums up the current climate crisis protest movement perfectly. A middle class asthetic for social justice virtue signals tied into woke dogma that believes all white people are racist, all men are rapists and anyone supporting free speech is a Nazi.

Woke Identity Politics is as alienating as a Spin-off dinner party where everyone is arguing over who hates white men the most.

Woke Identity Politics is perfect for free the nipple rallies with cycling militant Trans ally mommy bloggers, not so good on the economic neoliberal hegemony that is melting the planet.

As we squabble, midnight arrives, and ultimately, that was the true problem with Netflixs Dont Look Up.

The pitiful shallow political leadership, the Aspie Billionaire rocket club, the banal celebrity obsessed public, the inarticulate scientific community with zero capacity to convince the apathetic voters in the end you just started cheering for the fucking asteroid!

And thats the true problem with Dont Look Up, you are so sickened by our collective response that the only justice left is in deserving what comes next.

The petty low hanging fruit of neoliberal identity politics is the only value the progressive left can espouse because individuals no longer see themselves beyond the identity of their social media profile. We have lost collective solidarity via class for skin colour, gender and self selected identity.

And while those identities scream for social hierarchy in a never ending outrage Olympics and victim virtue signaling cacophony fed by Facebook hate algorithms, the corporations pretend they are blameless, Billionaires build bigger rockets and the Planet melts.

Its hard not to support the asteroid.

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, soif you value having an independent voice please donate here.

If you cant contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media

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2021 was NZ's hottest year on record the true problem with 'Don't Look Up' - thedailyblog.co.nz

A little over a fifth of Indias population will vote between February 10 and March 7 in assembly elections in five states, including the most populous and politically significant Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission of India announced on Saturday.

The elections will take place under the shadow of the third wave of the coronavirus disease just like the previous set of assembly elections last year happened under the shadow of the second and both the election watchdog and political parties have signalled that they have learnt from that experience.

The commission has planned sweeping measures to safeguard the polling process, including increasing booths, sanitising voting stations, fully vaccinating all officials (including with booster shots), extending voting hours, and banning all rallies and political processions till January 15 (when this will be reviewed). Given the rising trajectory of the disease, it is likely the ban could last longer.

There is no need to panic, but only be cautious. Ultimately it is the voter that has to be safe, said chief election commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra. Any Covid violations will be dealt with by state administrations and disaster management authorities, he added.

The results will be announced on March 10.

The election in Uttar Pradesh, definitely the most significant and complicated of the five, will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7, with identity politics (religion and caste) likely to be the deciding factor.

The Punjab election will be held in a single phase on February 14, with the farm protests, anti-incumbency and the internal dynamics of the ruling Congress being the key issues.

The Uttarakhand polls will be held in one phase, also on February 14, with anti-incumbency likely outweighing all other factors.

The Goa election will be held in one phase on February 14, and is perhaps the most open of the lot, with 40 of the 23 legislators elected in the last round shifting allegiances.

The Manipur polls will be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3, with anti-incumbency and the ruling BJPs internal dynamics being the issues to watch.

Coming as they do just past the halfway mark of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliances second term in office at the Centre, the results of these elections will pretty much decide how politics will play out over the next two years in the run-up to the 2024 national election.

BJP president JP Nadda said the party will return to power with an overwhelming majority. In the forthcoming assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party will again receive the blessings of people. BJP will return to power with an overwhelming majority and take works of service and development to new heights, Nadda said in a tweet.

For the BJP, the results will indicate whether the party needs to make any changes in its approach in future elections; for the Congress, the elections are a fight for relevance; for a regional party such as the Samajwadi Party, they are a test of its support base; and for opposition parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress, the contest will show whether there is anything to their national plans apart from aspirations.

The next general election is still a little over two years away, but the results of these five state elections can provide some clues on the shape and structure of the opposition the BJP will face in it.

In UP, analysts expect the primary contest to be between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, with neither the Congress nor the Bahujan Samaj Party expected to do very well. A win will strengthen and consolidate chief minister Yogi Adityanaths standing and stature within the BJP, and reassure the party that its appeal remains strong in a state which sends the most MPs to the Lok Sabha.

The SP chief, however, said the state will bid farewell to the BJP. People in Uttar Pradesh are set to bid farewell to the BJP government. These dates will mark a huge change in the state. Rules will be followed by Samajwadi Party, but the Election Commission should make sure the ruling party follows these guidelines, Akhilesh Yadav said soon after ECs announcement.

The disgruntlement of voters against their public representatives is much talked about in every election. But by the time voting day arrives, they vote for the leader of the party and not the candidate, said Rajesh Singh, vice-chancellor of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University.

The seven phases in UP will gradually move from the western part of the state, closer to the national capital, to the eastern edges of the state, bordering Bihar. The BJP won 312 of the states 403 seats in the 2017 polls.

In Punjab, the Congress will be hoping that the change in chief minister in September will help it tide over anti-incumbency even as the Shiromani Akali Dal will be hoping that the Congress internal issues its two leaders, chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu are rarely on the same page will help its cause. And the Aam Aadmi Party will be hoping it can spring a surprise.

Channi, who was appointed chief minister after a months-long turmoil within the Congress, welcomed the instructions of the EC. I welcome the instructions by the EC. Till now, we were only a working government, now we will start thinking about elections. With folded hands, I would like to thank the people of Punjab and Congress for considering me worthy to be a Chief Minister for 111 days, Channi told reporters.

In Uttarakhand, where the BJP and the Congress have traditionally swapped power every five years, the ruling party is wary of this trend. The BJP has changed its chief minister twice in the past year and been accused of bungling its response to the second wave of Covid-19. But the Congress is hindered by internal bickering, and will hope that former chief minister Harish Rawat can steer it to a rare assembly election win.

This is the first Goa assembly elections after the death of former chief minister and Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar. The BJP, which has been in power for a decade but many of whose legislators are defectors from other parties, is hopeful of a victory. The opposition is divided but has signalled a willingness to come together to defeat the BJP. This will also be a significant election for the Congress that emerged as the single-largest party in 2017 but failed to form the government.

In Manipur, another state where the Congress emerged as the single-largest party only to see its lawmakers defect to the BJP, the polls come in the backdrop of increased militancy and calls by powerful tribal groups to join forces against the BJP.. Lack of development and unemployment are two major issues in Manipur.

But the big variable in the elections is not politics but the pandemic. Driven by the highly infectious Omicron strain of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, daily Covid-19 cases across the country have risen from 26,663 on January 1 to 141,506 on Friday.

The election commission, which faced sharp criticism during the second wave of the pandemic for not reigning in rallies and electioneering, announced a raft of measures to safeguard the election process. The poll watchdog has banned all roadshows and processions on foot, bicycles, motorbikes or cars, and any election rallies until January 15.

No meetings will be allowed between 8pm and 8am, nor will street-corner events be permitted. Vehicle convoys will need to be broken after every five cars and only five people will be allowed in door-to-door campaigns. Victory processions will also be banned. Any violation will result in no permission for further campaigns.

All election officers will be fully vaccinated, and be given precautionary doses as well. The maximum number of electors per booth will be 1,250 and they will be sanitised thoroughly.

Commission has directed that all central/state government officials deployed for election duty shall be doubly vaccinated. On the recommendation of ECI, the Union Health Ministry has issued orders on 8th February 2021 that all election officials and employees will be treated as frontline workers and all eligible officials shall be given a precautionary booster dose accordingly, Chandra said.

Periodic reviews were done and senior officers of ECI held detailed meetings to review all aspects of poll preparation. A lot of Advance planning and meticulous preparation have been done, he said.

The rest is here:

Fate of 5 states to be sealed in 7 phases - Hindustan Times