Burma imposes overnight curfew in Rakhine state

 

The authorities in Burma have imposed a night-time curfew in at least two towns in western Rakhine state as inter-communal violence continues to spread.

Fighting between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists has been reported in two more districts.
At least four people have been killed and more than 1,000 houses burned down since the clashes began on Sunday.
Police have deployed reinforcements in the townships of Min Bya and Mrauk Oo, where curfews are now in effect.
The BBC Burmese Service says at least one person was killed in fighting in Mrauk Oo on Wednesday.
Rakhine state spokesman Myo Thant said the fighting had now spread to the townships of Kyauk Phyu and Myebon, south of the state capital Sittwe.
"Houses are burning and clashes between the two communities are ongoing," he said.
"The most important thing is to put out the fires. We are trying to control the situation."

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Background: Burma unrest

What sparked the violence in June?
The rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in Rakhine in May set off a chain of deadly religious clashes.
Why was a state of emergency declared?
A state of emergency allows the introduction of martial law, which means the military can take over administrative control of the region.
Who are the Rohingyas?
The United Nations describes Rohingya as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority from western Burma. The Burmese government, on the other hand, says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. Neighbouring Bangladesh already hosts several hundred thousand refugees from Burma and says it cannot take any more.

• Q&A: Rakhine unrest
• Rohingyas recount terror of Burma clashes
• Burma profile

Retaliation

Tensions have remained high in Rakhine state since May when a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered by three Muslims.

A mob later killed 10 Muslims in retaliation, although they were unconnected with the earlier incident and the violence escalated after that.
In June, 90 people were killed as religious clashes spread across the state.
The houses of both Buddhists and Muslims were burnt down and thousands of people fled.
It is unclear what prompted the latest clashes. Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists blame each other for the violence.
The two communities are now almost completely segregated in towns such as Sittwe, where the Rakhine are able to roam freely while the Rohingya are mostly confined to a series of camps.
Muslims throughout Burma have abandoned plans to celebrate the festival of Eid al-Adha because of the violence.

Rohingya children in a displaced camp outside the state capital, Sittwe

There is long-standing tension between the ethnic Rakhine people, who make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims, many of whom are Rohingya. The Burmese authorities regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants.
In August Burma set up a commission to investigate the violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the west of the country. Authorities earlier rejected a UN-led inquiry.
BY:BBC

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Olympics expected to have boosted UK GDP

Figures for the UK economy due on Thursday morning are expected to show growth after nine months of recession.

Gross domestic product (GDP) figures, measuring the value of everything produced in the economy in the three months from July to September, will have been boosted by the Olympic Games.
Ticket sales for the Olympics and Paralympics will be included.
The Office for National Statistics' (ONS) first estimate is expected to show growth of about 0.7%.
It will also be flattered by comparison with the previous three months, because the second quarter had an extra public holiday as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in in June.
The ONS said that the extra day off had knocked 0.5% off economic growth in the second quarter.
It also said ticket sales would add about 0.2% to GDP.
So excluding the Olympic and Jubilee effects, growth seems to have been broadly flat, as it has for some time, showing either small amounts of growth or small contractions.
"Putting aside the quarterly swings over the past two years, the economy has been and remains 'flat on its back' with stagnant growth," said Rob Donaldson from the accountants Baker Tilly.
In a speech on Tuesday, Bank of England governor Mervyn King warned he expected that to carry on.
"The zig-zag pattern of quarterly growth rates of GDP that we have seen this year is likely to continue," he said.
He also pointed out that despite the expected end of the double-dip recession, GDP was still "barely higher than two years ago", which means it is still well below pre-recession levels.
Volatile figures Of the three months covered by the third-quarter GDP figures, we already have almost all of the figures the ONS uses for July and some of the figures for August.
The service sector, which accounts for more than 70% of the UK economy, grew by 1.1% in July compared with June.
The index of production, which covers most of the rest of the economy, including manufacturing, mining and energy, grew 2.9% in July compared with June.
Much of that increase was put down to the effect of the extra public holiday, and the official figures showed a contraction of 0.5% in August.
The volatile figures for the construction industry showed 2.1% growth in July compared with June and a 0.9% contraction in August.
Official figures on the service sector in August are not yet available, but the influential purchasing managers' index of the sector from Markit/CIPS rose to 53.7 in the month, up from 51 in July. Any number above 50 indicates growth.
So the figures so far support the case for modest growth in the third quarter, but the fourth quarter may struggle to overcome the comparison with the Olympic-boosted third quarter.
That means that while the UK is likely to be out of recession, commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, there is a real danger of further contraction in the fourth quarter of the year.
by:BBC

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