A Buddhist monk was killed and four people, including two other monks and a novice, were injured by artillery strikes in Kayin (Karen) State’s Kawkareik Township on December 26, according to local residents.

The ABC Foundation is struggling financially to continue running its orphanage in the Arakan State capital Sittwe due to high commodity costs and a decline in donations.

Locals in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township are calling for repairs to a gravel road connecting several villages including Hnetgyikyun, Padetha, Tankhoe, Aungdula, Nyaungpinwaing, Ai Tin and Kywlhtoe.

A new bridge crossing Gwa Creek and connecting Gwa Township with the Magyingu area in Ayeyarwady Region is slated to open to traffic this month, according to businesspeople in Arakan State, who have high hopes for the benefits that the new road link could bring to the area.

A teenage girl went missing after a boat sank in the Laymyo River in Arakan State at around 9 a.m. on December 25, according to local residents.

Thousands of vehicles are still trapped by fighting along a section of the Asian Highway linking Myawaddy and Kawkareik townships in Kayin (Karen) State.

Local manufacturers in Arakan State are experiencing lengthy delays in registering trademarks and getting health certificates for their products.

Thousands of Arakan State residents from about 15 villages in Minbya Township’s Kudoseik Village-tract are facing difficulties because a bridge over a creek used frequently by locals is damaged.

Myanmar’s military regime is pushing internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State to return to their homes, but those uprooted say they dare not do so for the time being.

Seven ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) that are signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) will hold talks with Myanmr’s military junta on amending the military-drafted 2008 Constitution. 

Ko Zeyar Kyaw, a resident of Taungup, Arakan State, who had been detained by the military for more than a month, was released on December 23, according to sources close to his family. 

The Arakan Army (AA) is monitoring junta troop movements closely, AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha told DMG, saying the regime is taking advantage of the lull in fighting to reinforce its positions in Arakan State, AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha told DMG.

Family members said they had not been in contact with a social activist from Arakan State’s Taungup Township since his arrest by the military on November 8. Ko Zeyar Kyaw, 47, was arrested by four junta soldiers in a civilian vehicle near Taungup’s U Ottama Park and had not been seen or heard from since.

The well-known Arakanese composer Ko Doe Maung died on Thursday night, according to family members. He was 77.

Myanmar will start exporting 160,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh this month, according to the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF).

Faced with water shortages annually during the hot season, local residents in Arakan State’s Minbya have called on authorities to supply water from all three reservoirs in the town.

Heavy weapons and small arms fire were reported along the Myanmar-Bangladeshi border in the northern part of Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, at around 5 a.m. on Friday, according to locals.

Farmers suffering from the impacts of military conflict, displacement, climate change and high prices for inputs like fertiliser and fuel this year are struggling to repay their agricultural loans.

Myanmar’s military regime is selling foods and consumer goods to the public in some townships including Sittwe, Ann, Taungup and Gwa townships in Arakan State, but few locals are buying from the regime, according to residents.