Rice prices have shot up in the Arakan State capital Sittwe recently, according to local rice sellers.

The Myanmar military has filed an incitement lawsuit against eight residents in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code at the Mrauk-U District Court, according to family members of the accused.

A police lieutenant was shot dead by a police constable on Friday night, according to local residents close to the police station.

The Sittwe District Court sentenced two men from Sittwe and Rathedaung townships, who were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army, to three years in prison on July 29, according to the defendants’ lawyer.

The BXT Jetty, a popular recreation area in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, has been marred by rampant littering, residents and visitors have complained.

Many workers have been laid off at rice mills in Ayeyarwady Region, the heartland of the rice milling industry in Myanmar, and are struggling to make ends meet.

Police arrested a woman from Thandwe, Arakan State, on July 27 and reportedly charged her under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law on suspicion of supporting the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF) and the affiliated National Unity Government (NUG).

Seven out of eight residents of Kyaukphyu Township’s Sanae town and surrounding villages who were recently arrested by the Myanmar military have been released, but one man is currently being held at a military regiment in Kyaukphyu. 

The acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), Duwa Lashi La, on Thursday accused the military junta of terrorising and threatening pro-democracy activists, whom he praised as standing for the truth and the Myanmar people. 

The residents of some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are going hungry as they are not receiving food supplies from the Arakan State administration council, the Myanmar military regime’s governing body for Arakan, according to camp managers.

Volunteers helping migrant workers in the Myanmar town of Myawaddy on the Thai border have reported an increase in job scams this month.

Arakan State workers’ awareness about labour law and labour rights is still weaker than that of most of mainland Myanmar, according to labour advocacy organisations.

Palm oil prices have risen to more than twice the reference price set by the supervisory committee for import and distribution of edible oil under the junta’s Commerce Ministry, according to palm oil producers. 

Local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) were allowed on Thursday to once again supply relief aid to villages in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, but Myanmar’s military regime has imposed a limit on the amount of supplies permitted, according to the manager of one NGO who asked for anonymity. 

 Family members say they have not been in contact with three men in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw townships since their arrests by the Myanmar military more than a week ago. 

The Arakan State Health Department is strictly enforcing Covid-19 rules and regulations at border trade camps in the state, according to officials from the department.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance — the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — in a statement on July 27 strongly condemned the recent executions of four political dissidents.

Cottage hospitals in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U, Ramree and Rathedaung townships have been devoid of doctors for nearly two years, locals complain. 

More than 4,000 locals in Kyaikto Township, Mon State, have been fleeing since July 9 due to artillery shellings by junta troops, and the displaced people are in need of food, medicine, and shelter, according to aid workers.