An ancient pagoda in San Ko Taung village, Buthidaung Township, was reportedly damaged during fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) from 2018-2020, with local villagers and religious leaders saying the military is currently stationed at the pagoda, making repairs difficult. 

Marking the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on October 15, Myanmar’s military regime announced that it was dropping charges against 114 people arrested on suspicion of having illegal ties to ethnic armed groups, including both NCA signatories and non-signatories. 

Quarry mining in Taungup Township, Arakan State, has caused cracks at a nearby monastery and pagoda, according to U Wunna Thiri, abbot of the Thayet Taung Monastery.

Action will be taken against those who are mining sand at Point Beach in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, according to U Kyaw Lwin, the Sittwe Township administrator.

As forest coverage decreases in Arakan State, the socioeconomic impacts on local residents rise, according to the affected populations.

A final appeal in the case of more than 20 Lekka villagers in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township, who were arrested on suspicion of having links with the Arakan Army (AA) and have been facing trial for more than two years, will be heard at the next court hearing, according to a lawyer involved. 

Arakan State’s Forest Department says it will conduct random patrols at a Ramsar site that includes the watershed conservation areas of Nanthar Island and the mouth of the Mayyu River between Sittwe and Rathedaung townships, in an effort to prevent illegal hunting and other environmentally destructive encroachment. 

Family members have called for an immediate trial in the case of three Ramree Township men arrested on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army (AA) and facing charges under the Counter-Terrorism Law. 

A scheduled meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy to Myanmar, Erywan Yusof, with several Myanmar political parties in Naypyidaw has been cancelled, according to political parties that planned to attend. 

Students who will sit matriculation exams but were educated outside the formal, government-run education system, so-called “external students,” are worried that they may not be included on the list of those to be vaccinated against Covid-19. 

More than 50 species of birds, including both migratory and endemic varieties, are facing extinction in Myanmar, according to a conservation group. 

The Sittwe Shwe Min Gan and Maungdaw border trader centres in Arakan State, which have been temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s ongoing third wave, will be reopened in a few days, according to border commerce stakeholders. 

A meeting between ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar and some of the country’s political parties has been postponed, according to political parties that plan to attend the talks. 

Former Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu should not have been given the maximum sentence by the Sittwe Township Court under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, his family members said. 

Development work for nature-based tourism on Manaung Island in Arakan State is 90% complete, according to U Tun Hlaing, managing director of Manaung Public Company. 

 Local farmers along the Lay Myo River in Arakan State say they can no longer buy fertiliser due to rising commodity prices and the volatile US dollar exchange rate. 

Appeals have been lodged with the Thandwe District Court in the cases of U Min Aung and Ko Thant Zin Phyo, who have been sentenced to imprisonment after being found guilty of participating in a February anti-dictatorship protest in Taungup town, Arakan State, according to their lawyers. 

Locals in Arakan State say the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) still has troops stationed at historical pagodas in the state, according to U Khaing Thukha, spokesperson for the Arakan Army and United League of Arakan (AA/ULA), who added that their presence at the pagodas violates the Geneva Conventions.

Residents along the upper reaches of the Lay Myo River in Arakan State, who rely on that waterway for their livelihoods, are facing difficulties due to rising fuel prices that are largely blamed on economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.