Court rejects Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appeal

 

The Myanmar Supreme Court rejected on 29 August the appeal of former State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi to retry six of her convictions to prove her innocence.

 

Those charges contain two suits for violation of the Natural Disaster Management Law, two charges for violations of Telecommunication Law for having walkie-talkies and Section 505(a) of the Penal Code for incitement.

 

The 78 year-old former state counselor is facing 27 years imprisonment for 14 criminal cases filed by the junta.

 

Junta, resistance forces suffer heavy losses in Thantlang clashes

 

The clashes between the Chin allied forces and junta troops that took place on 28 and 29 August resulted in heavy losses to both sides.

 

"Within those two days, 30 junta soldiers and 15 members of the resistance forces were killed in Thantlang, the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) stated.

 

The CDF forces attacked five junta outposts near Tat Kone in Thantlang and Tower hill post.

 

Military arrested oil dealers for increasing edible oil prices

 

The military detained the chairman of the Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers' Association (MEODA) and other five edible oil dealers on 29 August.

 

Some people claimed that they were being detained since the junta provided 50 percent of foreign currency used in importing edible oils but the prices are still increasing or they failed to sell the oils according to the prices fixed by the junta.

 

The military outlet newspaper described over USD 600 millions of edible oils are being imported due to the insufficiency of supply for domestic needs.

 

The military leader said they are going to boost national reserve to accelerate domestic production, with the aim of exporting edible oils by 2025.

 

Exporting rice will be suspended for 45 days

 

The junta is suspending the export of rice for 45 days starting at the end of August. Myanmar is the fifth largest exporter of rice in the world and the prices of rice have increased since the military take over.

 

The junta exported 2.2 million tons of rice to fulfill the need to boost its foreign currency reserve in the 2022-2023 finance year. It earned USD 850 million from the rice export.

 

The domestic prices of rice have been increasing since the junta and the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) agreed to increase the quantity of its rice export.

 

Bangladesh naval army visited Myanmar

 

A high-ranking naval delegation from Bangladesh visited Myanmar to discuss cooperation between the two naval armies and other mutual interest.

 

The meeting will last for three days and the non-government group Justice for Myanmar criticized Bangladesh for sending the naval delegation to Myanmar, which is a tacit recognition of the Myanmar junta government.

 

On the other hand, the Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Minister said the repatriation of Rohingyas will be implemented at the end of 2023 and over 1000 Rohingyas  would be the first batch to be sent back to Myanmar.

 

Pita expressed his support for ethnic nationalities in Myanmar

 

The leader of Thailand’s Move Forward Party (MFP), Pita Limjaroenrat attended the Karen traditional wrist-tying ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand earlier this week.

 

The ceremony was hosted by Overseas Karen Refugees' Social Organization and attended by thousands of people.

 

Pita delivered his speech in that ceremony saying he will always support the ethnic nationalities in Myanmar.

 

His party won the Thailand election with the largest votes and missed to be a prime minister with the accusation of possessing shares in a Thailand media company.

 

That wrist-tying ceremony celebrates to expel the bad spirit and welcome a good one and that takes place in every Wagaung (according to Burmese tradition month) month.

 

Junta cut off diplomatic relations with East Timor

 

The junta pressured the diplomats at the East Timor embassy of Myanmar to leave the country no later than 01 September.

 

East Timor, often involved in meetings with the parallel government NUG and junta, expelled the diplomats through a diplomatic notice on 26 August.

 

East Timor strongly condemned that action and they will stand with Myanmar people and support the efforts for the return of democracy.

 

The NUG stated the junta has no right to expel the diplomats because they are not the official government and showed gratitude to East Timor for their support of democracy, rule of law and human dignity.

 

East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said they will not be involved as a member state until the political conflict in Myanmar is solved.

 

 A pregnant woman was raped and killed

 

On 26 August, a day after the junta's operations in Wetlet township, Sagaing region, dead bodies of a 20-year-old pregnant woman and three men were recovered. Those people lived in Kyeekan village in Wetlet alleged the woman was raped before she was killed.

 

Myanmar migrant workers can extend work permit in Thailand-Myanmar borderland

 

"Myanmar workers who are working in Thailand through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) can extend their permit in Myawaddy and Kawthaung," according to the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok.

 

Those who are willing to extend their work permits have more than two years visa validity and the procedure will be carried out quickly and they can work with the U-Turn system in a short time, the embassy statement said on 26 August.

 

In Thailand, there are around 700,000 foreign workers coming from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

 

Moreover, to facilitate the money transfer process, the K PLUS mobile banking system was introduced by Thailand Kbank and Myanmar KBZ bank on 22August.

 

To use K PLUS mobile banking one needs to have a passbook and that poses a challenge for the unofficial Myanmar emigrants.

 

 Burma Associated Press