May 10, 2013 Edition

As of May 8, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported a total of 66 election-related violent incidents involving 107 victims. At least 44 were killed while the rest were either wounded or unharmed. Local elections are violent in many parts of the country, especially as election day draws near. The PNP has received reports on 66 violent incidents, which include 58 shooting incidents, one explosion and one ambush. In the 2010 presidential race, the police recorded 176 violent incidents that killed 51 candidates and civilians.

Read the full story on Rappler

Are there incidents of violence or attempts by partisan groups to intimidate voters or poll workers in your area? Are politicians or their campaign leaders offering cash or valuable giveaways to influence voters?
If yes, let us know by reporting them here and our reporting tool will automatically map your reports.

Click on the link here

Visit #PHvote, Rappler’s coverage of the 2013 Philippine elections. 
Get to know the candidates through our comprehensive profile pages and help spread the word about these candidates by answering our poll. 
Check out our fun timeline to find interesting trivia on the candidates.

Four Filipinos were caught in Macau recently with over 50 kilograms of high-purity cocaine worth around P1 billion, the biggest drug trafficking incident to date in the Chinese territory. The Filipinos – two men and two women – were arrested following a drug crackdown made by the Macau’s Judiciary Police. Macau Daily Times reported the 4 Filipinos have entered Macau and some parts of Southeast Asia a number of times allegedly in an attempt to test the various ports’ drug enforcement capabilities and plan their drug shipment.The suspects departed from São Paulo, Brazil where they obtained the drugs and flew to Beijing, China on transit to Macau.

Read the full story on Rappler

Syria’s foreign ministry welcomed a US-Russian proposal to resolve the country’s war, saying it was confident key ally Moscow would not change its stance on the conflict. A new US-Russian initiative was announced on May 7 to bring the two sides in Syria’s conflict to the table on the basis of an international accord signed last year in Geneva that made no mention of President Bashar al-Assad’s future. The pro-regime daily Syrian Al-Watan quoted an official as welcoming the US-Russian effort. The opposition welcomed efforts to resolve the crisis, but said Assad’s departure was non-negotiable.

Read the full story on Rappler

Ginebra San Miguel Inc, the beverage arm of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp, experienced a 30% drop in volume sales after the government implemented a higher excise tax on alcohol products. “Our beer and hard liquor business, we were greatly affected by the recent tax increase,” said COO Ramon Ang. The tax reform law took effect last January. In 2012, Ginebra, which is a subsidiary of San Miguel Brewery Inc, saw a drop in domestic volume of 5% from a year ago. The company sold 19% more volume for its flagship brand Ginebra San Miguel.

Read the full story on Rappler

French health authorities said they feared the country’s first case of a new SARS-like virus that has killed 18 people, mostly in Saudi Arabia, may have infected two other people. The 65-year-old man who came back to France from a holiday in Dubai was diagnosed with the deadly novel coronavirus, and is in intensive care in a hospital in the northern city of Douai. The virus, known as nCoV-EMC, is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia.

Read the full story on Rappler

The International Space Station suffered a small leak of ammonia used to cool its power system on Thursday, May 9, but there was no danger to the crew, NASA said. The US space agency said crew had spotted small white flakes floating away from an area outside the craft before reporting the incident to Mission Control in Houston. NASA noted in a website bulletin that while the rate of ammonia leaking from the station’s truss structure had increased, the “station continues to operate normally otherwise and the crew is in no danger.”

Read the full story on Rappler

Theater fans can expect a legendary 67th Annual Tony Awards as Neil Patrick Harris has been confirmed as its host. The world-famous awards show, which recognizes achievements in live Broadway theater, will be held on June 9 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This marks Harris’s 4th time to host the awards night, presented yearly by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. He previously hosted the 63rd, 65th, and 66th Tony Awards.

Read the full story on Rappler

The Supreme Court (SC) stopped the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from implementing its controversial money ban on May 10, after bankers made this request before the High Court. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, upon the recommendation of the justice to whom the case was assigned, issued a status quo ante order preventing the poll body from enforcing Comelec Resolution No. 9688, which limits cash withdrawals to P100,000 from May 8 to May 13, the election day. SC spokesman Ted Te said the status quo ante order means the Comelec should follow rules that prevailed before the money ban was implemented. The Court also required Comelec to file a comment on the petition within 10 days.

Read the full story on Rappler