More than 2,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter in Minbya town returned to their homes on Thursday after the regime gave them 500,000 kyats per household and told them to return home.

The passport office in the Arakan State capital Sittwe remained closed on Friday though the junta’s Information Ministry said passport offices across the country would reopen on February 24.

The IDPs use the lake in Myet Hle Village for drinking water during the rainy and winter seasons, but the water in the lake has dried up and the villagers are no longer allowed to use it.

A QR code system has been introduced to the border trade with Bangladesh through Arakan State, aiming to facilitate legal trade, systematically monitor trucks carrying goods under export licences, and facilitate inspection of goods, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Commerce.

More than 100 local people who fled fighting between the Myanmar military and local anti-regime forces near Winedin Village on the Thailand-Myanmar border in Kawthaung Township, Tanintharyi Region, have been granted refuge by Thai authorities.

Chinese special envoy to Myanmar Deng Xijun recently visited the headquarters of powerful ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) in northern Myanmar and met the leaders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).

Abdullah Aziz, 8, sustained gunshot wounds to his right leg and Umar Hafsa, 11, was struck in her abdomen. The pair are being treated at a local hospital in Cox’s Bazar District.

The burial site of Queen Saw Mae Kyi of the Mrauk-U era and the stupa are currently about 500 years old.

Some cattle were reported to have died of an unknown disease in some 10 Myebon Township villages earlier this month. 

There have been multiple drowning deaths due to strong currents and waves near Sittwe View Point Beach in recent years. Three Grade 4 students drowned on October 22.

The rise in crime began last month, according to Taungup Township residents, who said that with some cases of robberies and muggings being fatal, a panic set in among locals.

More than 100 Arakanese, Khami, Daingnet, Mro, Thet, Maramargyi, Hindu and Muslim people living in Arakan State participated in Tuesday’s language exchange event.

The coral reefs attract hundreds of visitors on weekends, many of whom step on them or chip off pieces of coral to take home with them, according to locals.

The camp manager is accused of raping up to 45 women between 2021 and August 2, 2022. Among the victims at the Phwe Yar Gone camp were housewives, widows, mentally ill women and girls.

Five men from Kyaukseik village, part of Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, and its vicinity, who were sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, were released on February 21.

The Arakan National Party (ANP) has sought input from executive committee members of its township branches on whether the party should register with the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC).

Some of the loans date back to 2016, and the amount accounts for 30 percent of the total loans disbursed to farmers, according to a bank official.

The headmaster and local villagers submitted a request to the township education officer in 2018 seeking to have the school repaired, but nothing has been done to date, according to the villagers.

Traffic across the bridge resumed after several rounds of discussions between officials from the two countries that began in January 2022.