Rohingya camps “more like prisons” says UN

Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann has called on the Burmese government to take a more considered approach when dealing with the press. He specifically referred to the case of the five Unity journalists, who were charged under Burma’s Official Secrets Act in January and sentenced to ten years with hard labour earlier this month. The sentence sparked domestic and international condemnation, with critics denouncing what they see as a backslide on media reforms.
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Malaysia's second largest bank CIMB Group is planning to obtain banking licences in Burma and Vietnam, Channel News Asia reported on Wednesday, citing chief executive Nazir Razak who told reporters that CIMB aims to open branches in all Southeast Asian countries by 2015 when a planned partial integration of the ASEAN economies will be completed.

Plans for a railway connecting western Burma’s Arakan coast with Yunnan, China, have been cancelled due to strong public opposition, DPA reported on Wednesday. The agency cited an unnamed official stating that no progress has been made since signing an MoU for the project in 2011, and “Most people view the project as having more disadvantages than advantages". The official added that the Chinese government has made no indication that they will bid for a new contract.

Clashes between the Burmese Military and armed rebels resumed in eastern Burma on Monday, the Shan State Army – North (SSA-N) told DVB. An SSA-N spokesperson, Col. Sai La, said that heavy fire from both sides of the conflict began at about 6am on Monday and continued until noon near the rebel headquarters in Wanhai, Kehsi Township, in the northern part of Shan State. The spokesman estimated that there are about 1,000 Burmese soldiers from ten battalions active in the area. The SSA-N signed a new ceasefire with the central government in January 2012.

Burma is preparing human resources for nuclear technology and will begin building nuclear reactors once it has adequate infrastructure, Ko Ko Oo, minister for science and technology, said on Monday during a parliamentary session. According to the New Light of Myanmar, he said nuclear reactors are necessary for research purposes, but Burma still needs to establish protection measures against nuclear radiation, draft laws for the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and develop human resources in that sector.

Burma’s President Thein Sein has given the green light to the Rangoon divisional government to build a cyber-city similar to that of Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region. No site has yet been announced for the proposed IT centre, which is expected to cover 500-600 acres and include facilities for software production, communications and electronics factories, and IT colleges.

Pegu’s Prome-based reporter Yae Khe was fined 20,000 kyat, about $20, under the charges of violating the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for organising a protest without obtaining permission from the authorities. Yae Khe, a freelance reporter for Mizzima News, was detained and charged in April because he had staged a protest for the release of then-jailed DVB video reporter Zaw Pe.

The Ministry of Mining’s Myanmar Gem Enterprise announced that jade mines in Kachin State will be re-opened in September after a two-year closure amid fighting between the Burmese army and the Kachin Independence Army. Jade mining companies can extend their operating licenses and registration at the Myanmar Gem Enterprise’s headquarters ahead of the 1 September opening, the department said.