Rohingya camps “more like prisons” says UN

Minister of Finance Linn Aung told the parliament’s lower house on Monday that unclaimed prize money from the national lottery over the past three years amounted to almost 7 billion kyat, which the government will retain as state funds. The government’s Lottery Department has been reminding unknown lottery winners via newspaper advertisements to collect their prize money within 11 months of striking it rich, or it will be retained by the state.

The Myanmar Computer Industry Association aims to set up “e-village” centres in more than 6,000 villages across Burma to provide free Internet access to rural villages, a spokesperson said. Zaw Min Oo, general-secretary of the MCIA, said they hope the plan will improve business and social life; each centre will be equipped with at least six computers and will allow users to access useful information about agriculture and development.

Authorities in Mandalay relaxed the curfew imposed upon seven townships after last month’s riots by an hour. It previously lasted for six hours -- from 9pm to 3am -- but Mandalay district’s general administration department announced on Monday that the curfew will be reduced, and would start at 10pm instead. The restrictions were levied after communal violence broke out in Chan Aye Tharzan Township, leaving two people dead and more than 20 injured.

China received 1.87 billion cubic metres of gas during the first active year of the Shwe pipeline, according to a statement by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The state-run enterprise owns two parallel pipes -- one gas, one oil -- running from Burma’s Arakan coast to Yunnan, China. The gas pipe came online in July 2013, while the crude line is expected to begin this year. CNPC said that 60 million cubic metres of gas were distributed to Burma. At full capacity, the gas corridor can carry up to 12 billion cubic metres per year.

Burma’s state-run English daily will relaunch on 1 September under a new name, Global New Light of Myanmar, the paper announced on Sunday. The newspaper, operated by the Ministry of Information and long known as a conduit for government propaganda, entered a joint venture with a little-known private company, Global Direct Link, last year. The company, which has a 49 percent share in the joint venture, has consigned Japanese news agency Kyodo to “improve the skills” of the paper’s employees. 

Burma’s President Thein Sein has told parliament that the government is not responsible for the sentences of 10 years with hard labour handed down to journalists from Unity Weekly last month, saying it was a judicial decision. In a letter, the president said the reporters were accused of breaking national security laws and the matter was dealt with by the courts, not the government. He also stated that he wished to see an independent and ethical media in Burma.

Burmese mountaineering team Thabawa Khawthan, literally “nature’s call”, has announced plans to scale Hkakabo Razi, at 19,000 feet the highest mountain in Southeast Asia and the tri-border point for Burma, India and China. The team says it is hopes to reach the Himalayan peak in Kachin State by the end of August, weather permitting. The first successful expedition to ascend the mountain was led by Japanese climber Takashi Ozaki and Nyima Gyaltsen, a Burmese national Tibetan who hoisted the old Burmese flag on the peak in 1996.

Rumours that the retirement age for Burmese civil servants are to be raised from 60 to 63 are unfounded, Union Civil Service Board Chairman Kyaw Thu told parliament on Thursday in response to an MP’s question. There are currently more than 80 000 retired civil servants in Burma.