For the second year in a row, the Rammarwadi traditional boat race will be held from May 16-19 in Arakan State’s Ramree Township, with the aim of preserving the long-established cultural showcase, according to the competition’s organising committee. 

The Myanmar military has recently stationed troops at a jetty in Pan Myaung village, Minbya Township, and is inspecting passenger boats plying the Lay Myo River, to the consternation of local residents.

Passenger bus and cargo truck drivers have complained about an ongoing nighttime curfew in place on the Yangon-Sittwe road.

Casualties were reported after two passenger buses were shot at near Pulaw town on the Myeik-Dawei road in Tanintharyi Region on Thursday evening, according to local sources. 

The Arakan State police on April 28 issued an arrest warrant for a woman from Taungup Township for allegedly posting a comment saying that she would donate to the buying of ammunition for anti-regime militants. 

A senior assistant teacher in Arakan State’s Taungup Township, accused of financing the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF), was sentenced to 10 years in prison under the Counter-Terrorism Law on April 28, according to a lawyer involved in the case. 

The Arakan State Bridge Construction Department aims to this year complete four out of eight bridges measuring between 280 feet and 300 feet in length that are being built in Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Maungdaw, Pauktaw, Rathedaung and Ponnagyun townships, according to an official from the department. 

Long connected by commerce and cultures, Arakan and Chin states are also deepening military ties between neighbouring non-state armed groups, according to recent reports. 

Some villages in Myebon Township and townspeople in Rathedaung are facing water shortages as local lakes have dried up, according to residents. 

The Kayan Generation Youth (KGY) group is urging donors to contribute as schools are needed in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kayah State. 

Sittwe municipal and ward authorities have prevented people from squatting on land west of Sittwe Hotel in the Arakan State capital’s West Sanpya ward. 

Myanmar’s military regime says its Industry Ministry has produced 1 million doses of a “Myancopharm” Covid-19 vaccine in cooperation with China, and the vaccines will be delivered to the Health Ministry on Friday. 

Homes in Jaithar village, in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, will be forcibly demolished if they are not moved within the next two weeks, according to locals. 

Seventeen ethnic armed groups are likely to attend peace talks invited by the Myanmar junta chief, Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the State Administration Council (SAC), told a press conference on Wednesday. 

Fighting between the Myanmar military and coalition forces headed by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has been raging since April 26 along the Dawei-Hteekhee road near the Thai-Myanmar border, according to a local source. 

Former State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) government has been sentenced to an additional five years in prison by Myanmar’s military junta under the Anti-Corruption Law, according to sources close to the court. 

Only 7 percent of Arakan State farmers have paid back agricultural loans that they took out last year, according to the state branch of the Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank. 

Khami National Day was commemorated at a Buddhist monastery in Sittwe on Wednesday. Organisers said the event was held with the aim of fostering unity among ethnic Khami people residing across Arakan State.  

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are calling for greater protections and livelihood support for people with disabilities in Myanmar, whom advocates say have yet to fully benefit from legislation passed years ago and intended to promote the wellbeing of the disabled.