BUSINESS IN BURMA THIS WEEK: Hotels open in Naypyidaw for SEA Games; India eyes pan-Asian gas contract; rubber deal signed with Japan; IMF's Christine Lagarde is en route to Burma; and both Mercedes and Chevrolet plan auto showroom launches in Rangoon.

BUSINESS IN BURMA THIS WEEK: Sponsors for the SEA Games; international oil firms post finals bids for Burma's offshore reserves; Japan in position to take over Dawei project; Singaporean bank looks to cater for increased bilateral trade; and Pepsi enters the cola wars.

Japan's approach to foreign investment, characterised by poor transparency and an indifference to human rights, is becoming a threat to Burma's fragile reform process.

This week: foreign banks given open-door treatment; Burmese trade data;SMEs; electricity; nickel mining; dam construction; economic corridor from China to India; Burma's 'Oscars' up for tender; and a well-known beer company taps into the Burmese market.

President Thein Sein announced that Burma has abolished the notorious Arakan security force that has been implicated in serious human rights violations against the stateless Rohingya minority

A controversial blogger, whose identity is reportedly set to be “exposed” by Burma’s parliament in June for writing an article that criticised its legislative powers, has not actually been identified