Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the military junta that seized power last year on the grounds that Myanmar’s November 2020 general election was rigged, has said that another election will be held in August 2023.

The Myanmar military conducted airstrikes in clashes this week with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), in Kawkareik Township, Kayin State, according to local sources.

About K17 billion ($9.6 million) will be spent in a budget appropriation this year to repair roads and bridges in Arakan State, according to the state’s Road and Bridge Department, which is part of the Ministry of Construction.

Locals say the water level at Latsay Lake, which supplies water to Mrauk-U, Arakan State, has changed due to silt and trash, and the water is no longer suitable for drinking.

Dozens of motorists have been fined for failing to heed road rules accompanying the recent implementation of a one-way traffic scheme in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, police said.

The World Food Programme (WFP) mainly provides food for the IDP camps and they have not received food since the second week of December 2021.

Explosions were reported at a local high school, injuring a female student and security at the entrance of the school, as well as a member of junta forces.

According to Thant Myanmar, the consumption of plastic has doubled during the Covid-19 pandemic in Myanmar. 

A hillside dam is being built in Gwaychaung village-tract in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, according to the Irrigation and Water Utilization Management Department. 

More than 150 villages in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township do not have access to 24-hour electricity, despite the township playing host to large-scale oil and gas extraction projects. 

With fierce clashes since January 6 between the Myanmar military and Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) in Loikaw and Demoso townships, Kayah State, residents at internally displaced person (IDP) camps have had to relocate, said people assisting Karenni IDPs. 

The arrest of several youths in Arakan State, including the chairman of the Taungup Youth Network, constitutes unjust suppression, the All Arakan Youth Organizations Network (AAYON) said in a statement on January 7. 

Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) announced on January 6 that a commercial tax of K20,000 will be levied on the purchase of mobile phone SIM cards. 

Some lanes on the streets of Sittwe will be designated for sidecar and three-wheeled motorbikes, according to the Arakan State Administration Council. 

Winter crop farmers in Arakan State are facing losses this year as agricultural expenditures have significantly increased. 

There are more than 4,500 registered inshore and offshore fishing vessels operating along the coast of Arakan State, according to the state’s Department of Fisheries. 

Thai authorities need to officially authorise Myanmar aid workers to cross the border into Thailand to provide assistance to refugees fleeing fighting inside eastern Myanmar, according to humanitarian stakeholders. 

A court is set to decide on January 12 whether to prosecute five men from the Kyaukseik village area in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township who were arrested on suspicion of links to the Arakan Army (AA) in April 2020, and were subsequently arraigned under the Counter-Terrorism Law. 

The Department of Higher Education reopened universities and colleges across Myanmar on January 6, but only about a quarter of students have reportedly returned to class at Sittwe University.