Political observers have said the Myanmar junta leader’s recent proposal for face-to-face peace talks with the country’s established ethnic armed groups rings hollow.

Cashew trees planted in Arakan State’s Manaung Township have seen declining yields this year, according to cashew nut farmers.

Some 400 ethnic Mro people who have relocated near the village of Kyauk Pandu in northern Maungdaw Township are struggling to access drinking water.

Building materials worth more than K6 million were reportedly stolen from the Yan Pyay Man Pyay Pagoda under construction at the BXT port in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.

The Arakan State military council said it has tasked the concerned district administrators with repairing houses damaged by destructive windstorms that hit the state earlier this week.

The department aims for 100 percent coverage of both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in Arakan State, said the assistant director of Arakan State Public Health Department, Dr. Soe Win Paing, who acknowledged that they likely would not reach that goal.

Junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Friday invited Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups to engage in dialogue as the military regime endeavours to restart the country’s moribund peace process in the wake of its February 2021 coup.

Military tensions are running high between Myanmar’s military and the Karen National Union (KNU) after KNU Brigade 1 based in Mon State’s Thaton District told the regime to withdraw its troop deployments from Bilin Township in Mon State.

Fifteen Muslims and three Chin people were arrested in a forest near Ahtet Ma Htein village in Ann Township, Arakan State, and have been accused of involvement in human trafficking, according to the Ann Myoma police station.

Myanmar’s former national immunisation director, Dr. Htar Htar Lin, was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour on April 20 on corruption charges.

The Mrauk-U branch of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum has ordered the removal of shops near Nandawyar Gon, also known as the mound of ancient palace remains, in the Mrauk-U archaeological zone.

A video of the five villagers being beaten during interrogation by Myanmar military soldiers on board a naval vessel was shared widely on social media in May of 2020.

Many of the affected houses were built about three years ago with bamboo and thatch, and thus could not withstand the strong winds, said IDPs.

Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) has been intermittent and ongoing in Kayah (Karenni) State since the putsch on February 1, 2021.

The Maungdaw District Court on Thursday sentenced two men accused of having illegal ties to the Arakan Army (AA) to 10 years in prison with hard labour under Section 50 of the Counter-Terrorism Law, according to family members.

Artefacts decorated at the thrones of Buddha statues in two ancient pagodas at the UNESCO World Heritage site Bagan in central Myanmar were recently stolen, according to the Myanmar Archaeology Association.

Local drivers and commuters lined up for fuel for hours on Wednesday amid fears that prices may further increase. Panic buying has reportedly begun, even as the military government has sought to allay concerns about fuel supplies.

Some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs), as well as homes and schools in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U, Minbya and Kyauktaw townships, were damaged by strong winds on Wednesday afternoon, according to locals.

Many of the houses that were burnt down during two years of fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) have yet to be rebuilt, according to the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC).