Local merchants have blamed a decline in Myanmar’s border trade with Bangladesh through the Maungdaw border trade camp, which earns US dollar income for the country, on recent changes in the junta’s trade policy.

A new species of begonia has been discovered in Myanmar’s Kayin (Karen) State, according to Native Species Conservation and Identification of Myanmar, a citizenship science initiative dedicated to documenting and conserving the country’s biodiversity.
 

More than 140 houses have been washed away due to riverbank and coastal erosion during the current rainy season across Arakan State’s Kyauktaw, Minbya, Pauktaw, Taungup, Thandwe and Ramree townships, according to residents.

A United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) spokesman said a man who died recently while in the organisation’s custody was beaten while attempting to flee and likely lost his life as a result of the injuries he sustained.

The Arakan Army (AA) said some of its members were killed and injured in junta artillery strikes on its bases in Kachin State’s Laiza.

About 100,000 acres of paddy fields have been destroyed by floods triggered by incessant rains across eight townships in Bago Region, according to the Myanmar Rice Federation in Bago District.

The Arakan Army (AA) has identified the culprit in the murder of an assistant teacher from Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township, AA spokesperson U Khaing Thukha said on October 13. 

Local residents in Arakan State’s sub-townships have called on authorities to improve urban infrastructure in their respective areas.

The United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA), which runs a parallel administration in Arakan State that includes a judiciary and other governmental institutions, is recruiting young local people for its court system.

Rare, dead turtles have increasingly been washing ashore at the marine national park in Arakan State’s Rathedaung lately, according to those engaged in conservation of the park.

A local man from Kywetel Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, has died during interrogation by the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA), according to family members.

Four Buddhist monks in Mrauk-U have been detained by the Arakan Army (AA) for more than one year and remain incommunicado, according to local Buddhist monks.

A local man from Mansi Village, who did not want to be named, said he smelled a foul odour near the garbage dump and found a dead body with the deceased’s hands and legs bound with rope.

Since October 6, heavy rains and the rising water level of the Belu Creek caused IDP shelters outside Pwegon and Sikar wards in Moebye town to be flooded.

Flower vendors are reportedly selling flowers from mainland Myanmar at a higher price due to low yields from the flower farms in Arakan State.

These less trafficked sites have been overrun by bushes, cracks have appeared in their stonework, and some buildings are crumbling, according to residents.

The regime announced on Tuesday that the pair were each sentenced to a “life imprisonment equivalent” of 20 years behind bars.

The Irrigation and Water Utilization Department, which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, is planning to build a reservoir near Kyauktan Village on Maday Island in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, locals said.

“Students are facing difficulty learning their lessons. It’s not convenient for students to study. We [educators] also have difficulties,” said Daw Win May Than, the school’s headmistress.