Charged under Myanmar’s Anti-Corruption Law, five former Arakan State ministers including ousted Chief Minister U Nyi Pu were sentenced to several years in prison by an Arakan State court on Wednesday. 

Defence witnesses will be examined during the next court hearing in the case of Ko Aung Win Naing from Arakan State’s Taungup town, who has been charged on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA), according to his lawyer U Aung Kyi Naing. 

Telenor Group’s sale of its 51% share in Wave Money to a subsidiary of Singapore-based Yoma Strategic Holdings sees the Norwegian telecommunications operator one step closer to exiting junta-ruled Myanmar.

The chair of the Taungup Township Youth Network, who has been arrested on suspicion of having ties to the local People’s Defence Force (PDF), will see the case against him move forward this week, according to a defence lawyer.

Local farmers in Arakan State need government assistance as there is a shortage of water to grow summer paddy, according to the Arakan Farmers’ Union. 

Some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State have been facing drinking water shortages ahead of summer’s onset, according to IDPs. 

Locals from Pihtu village in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township are worried that clashes might break out there as both Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) troops remain stationed nearby.

Some employees of the Department of Immigration and Population in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, are unduly demanding money from those who apply for household certificates and National Registration Cards (NRCs), according to locals. 

People sheltering on the banks of the Thaungyin River at the Thai border, having fled clashes around Phalu Lay village in Kayin State, had to relocate to Mae Sot, Thailand, due to airstrikes and artillery fire by junta forces on January 14, according to local sources.

Many Muslims in Arakan State have faced movement restrictions since the state’s 2012 communal conflict. Moreover, if they are found trying to travel outside the state, authorities frequently arrest and send them back to Arakan State. 

Two children were injured when an explosive remnant of war (ERW) exploded outside Paung Toke Ywar Thit village, in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township, on Monday afternoon. 

Boats providing transportation services along the Sittwe-Buthidaung waterway have to load and unload both passengers and cargo in the middle of the Mayu River as there is no pier for them at Oakpho village in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township.

The reserve is the second largest mangrove forest in Southeast Asia, but environmentalists point out that it is shrinking rapidly due to logging for firewood and charcoal. 

Residents of Yay Kauk and Payit, two villages in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township that have been relocated because they were previously in the Thahtay Chaung hydropower project area, have not yet received full compensation. 

With a lack of physicians at cottage hospitals in some Arakan State townships, residents want authorities to promptly assign doctors where necessary as Myanmar’s public health sector faces unprecedented challenges amid the Covid-19 pandemic and post-coup difficulties with hospital staffing.

A healthcare worker who told local media that a white flag was raised on a hill where the Myanmar military is stationed in Paletwa Township, Chin State, has been held on remand for further investigation, according to family members of the accused.

Former Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu and a former municipal minister for the state, U Min Aung, who have been facing additional election-related charges, appeared before the Sittwe Township Court on January 14 via video conferencing. 

Clashes between the Myanmar military and the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) have forced residents of Kayah State’s Loikaw,  Demoso and Hpruso townships to seek refuge in nearby displacement camps.

Myanmar’s junta issued a letter on January 12 ordering the arrest of education workers who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in Kyaikto Township, Mon State.