The Karen National Union (KNU) on December 20 asked the United Nations to designate a “no-fly zone” in Kayin State, saying the Myanmar military had used excessive force including airstrikes in recent clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) during fighting centred around the town of Lay Kay Kaw. 

The prosecution witnesses and five former Arakan State ministers including ousted Chief Minister U Nyi Pu, who have been charged under Myanmar’s Anti-Corruption Law, have already been questioned, according to lawyers involved in the case. 

A nursing home in the Arakan State capital Sittwe is in need of healthcare helping hands, according to officials from the elderly care facility. 

Flower growers in Arakan State say they need technical assistance in order to prosper amid rising fertiliser prices and other difficulties in post-coup Myanmar. 

Five cows belonging to a farmer in Mucha village, Mrauk-U Township, were attacked on December 20 and the owner of the cattle has reportedly lodged a complaint with the Arakan Army (AA) and the township administrator. 

The Bago Township Development Affairs Committee was reportedly behind the demolition of several houses near the Suite Star garment factory in Bago town, Bago Region, on December 20. 

Karen National Union (KNU) brigades have been instructed to open fire when junta troops cross clear lines of territorial control amid a Myanmar military offensive centred on the town of Lay Kay Kaw in Kayin State, according to sources close to the ethnic armed group. 

A Border Guard Force (BGF) member was injured when a landmine exploded while he was patrolling near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border fence in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, over the weekend. 

A state-owned vessel will begin plying a water route between Kyauktaw in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa once a week, according to the Arakan State Administration Council, a subsidiary of Myanmar’s junta. 

Local products from various Arakan (Rakhine) State townships are being made known locally and abroad and the market is being expanded through free online advertising and direct contact between sellers and buyers, according to We Love Rakhine, a Facebook page. 

Two of three men allegedly behind a counterfeit ID card racket in Arakan State have been arrested so far, according to police.

The chairman of the Taungup Township Youth Network, who was arrested this week and accused of having ties to the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF), will appear in court for the first time on December 28, according to his family.  

A charity doctor at a private hospital in Mawlamyine, Mon State, who was arrested by junta forces earlier this month, has been charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, according to local sources. 

Clashes between the Myanmar military and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) continued in the country’s east on Saturday afternoon, with hostilities reported in areas controlled by Brigade Nos. 1 and 6 of the Karen National Union (KNU), the KNLA’s political wing. 

Civil society organisations are urging authorities to pay attention to rising Covid-19 infections in Arakan State. 

Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in Lay Kay Kaw town, Kayin State, has forced some 2,500 locals to flee their homes near the Thai border, with the Thai government providing humanitarian assistance, according to the Aid Alliance Committee (AAC). 

With Myanmar’s political turmoil leading to a bearish construction sector across much of the country, migrant workers with building experience are finding employment at construction sites in the relative stability of Arakan State. 

Training in mushroom cultivation is being provided at IDP camps in the Arakan State capital Sittwe and other townships in the state in hopes that these displaced populations can eventually run their own mushroom-growing businesses. 

The young author Min Di Par from Pan Maw village in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, who has been charged under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law, appeared again in court on December 16.