May 8, 2013 Edition

Malaysian police declare illegal a rally planned for Wednesday night by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to protest against election results that he says were “stolen” through massive fraud. The state news agency Bernama quotes national police chief Ismail Omar saying, “The organiser must comply with the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012. Marching without a permit, aimed at arousing anger, is wrong according to the law.” Ismail added that participants would be arrested, Bernama said. Anwar on Tuesday called for a sustained “fierce” campaign for electoral reform and said the opposition would soon produce evidence backing up its claims that Sunday’s elections were rife with fraud by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government. The election was touted as the first in the country’s history in which the opposition had a real chance of unseating the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition that has held a tight grip on power since independence in 1957. But Najib’s government, while ceding a few seats, maintained a firm majority in the 222-member parliament despite garnering just under half of the nationwide popular vote.

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The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has issued a resolution limiting bank withdrawals to P100,000 starting May 8, until election day, May 13. But the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is not happy with this ‘money ban’. The Bank said on Tuesday, May 7, the money ban violates the Philippines’ bank secrecy laws and is “essentially unsound.” It also said the withdrawal limit “may disrupt normal business and commercial transactions in the Philippines.” The new Comelec resolution also prohibits “the transportation and/or carrying of cash exceeding P500,000 or its equivalent in any foreign currency from May 8 to 13, 2013.” The resolution says carrying or transporting such amount “shall be presumed for the purpose of vote buying and electoral fraud in violation of the money ban.”

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The leaders of the United States and South Korea met on Tuesday, May 7, and vowed they would give no concessions to North Korea after months of high tension. They said the burden was on the communist state to end the crisis. In a choreographed show of unity, US President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye pledged to bolster defense cooperation and demanded that North Korea change course on its nuclear program before any new talks. “The days when North Korea could create a crisis and elicit concessions — those days are over,” Obama told a White House news conference with Park, who took office in February as Northeast Asia’s first woman leader. Park and Obama met hours after North Korea’s military launched its latest threat, saying it would turn border islands into a “sea of flames” if a shell fell on its side during joint US-South Korea drills.

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In the final stretch of the campaign period, voters should keep an eye out for particularly practices that tend to undermine elections. Negative campaigning, special operations and black propaganda are just some of the tactics resorted to by campaign teams to discredit opponents and cast a shadow of doubt on the elections. Vote buying is also rampant, particularly on the eve of elections, with the prices of votes ranging from a low of P50 to a high of P2000, depending on one’s influence and social background. Sadly, violence seems to be a fixture of Philippine elections. Since January 13 up to May 1, 2013, there have been at least 57 election-related incidents of violence. Horse-trading, betrayals, and fund-raising are also commonplace up to the last day. These practices are documented and analyzed in the book “How to win an Election: Lessons from the Experts” by journalists Miriam Grace A. Go and Booma Cruz.

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Visit #PHvote, Rappler’s coverage of the 2013 Philippine elections. Get to know the candidates through our comprehensive profile pages.

Three women, who were abducted in their teens, were rescued on Tuesday, May 7 from a house in Cleveland, Ohio after a decade of captivity. Authorities identified the women as: Amanda Berry, Gina Dejesus, and Michelle Knight, all o whom were either in their teens or early 20s when they disappeared, according to Slate magazine. Police rescued the three women after Berry got the attention of a neighbor, Charles Ramsey. Ramsey and other residents in the neighborhood broke down the door to the house were Berry was kept. Police also rescued a 6-year old child, believed to be Berry’s child. Three brothers, between the ages of 50 and 54, were arrested in connection with the case. Slate reports that Berry went missing in April 2003 after last being seen leaving her job at a Cleveland-area Burger King. She disappeared the day before her 17th birthday. One year later, Dejesus, then 14, went missing while walking home from her middle school in the same part of the city.

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A number of different sources have confirmed that Syria has lost Internet connectivity. The Renesys Corporation and Umbrella Security Labs both noted the loss of Internet connectivity or an otherwise sharp drop in traffic from Syria. Umbrella Security Labs also has an explanation for how the cutoff could have occurred. No official word has been given regarding the cutoff. Neither has an estimated time been given for the return of Internet connectivity.

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