We are appalled to learn that Dhaka University authorities handed three students of Sufia Kamal Hall over to their guardians in the early hours of April 20.

We welcome the recent lift of a six-year-long ban on recruitment of Bangladeshis to the UAE. An MoU between officials of the two countries has sealed the deal which will allow jobseekers to apply for employment in the Emirates. It is especially reassuring that under this MoU workers will get contracts stating job description, salary and other benefits such as food, accommodation and transport. This will hopefully provide better protection to the migrant workers.

A new global study on air pollution has placed Bangladesh among three countries experiencing the steepest air pollution levels in the world since 2010. Bangladesh has suffered a steady decrease in air quality over the past years, largely because of dust and industrial pollution resulting from the operation of brick kilns as well as development works, among other sources. Particularly, the capital's air quality is of a questionable standard.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's call to the international community to put more pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees is very timely, because, it seems, only international pressure can make Myanmar act according to the deal.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader recently said that road management is not responsible for road accidents as a result of vehicles overtaking one another; rather drivers, passengers and transport management are to blame. We would like to point out two things. First, the minister's comments leave out the role of traffic management which is crucial for road safety. And second, road accidents are a result of overall management which includes road, transport and traffic management.

It has come to light that a section of arms dealers are apparently selling legally imported and licensed guns to underworld criminals. According to a report printed in this paper on April 18, some dealers are filing off the serial numbers that each firearm carries before selling them on the black market. Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism (CT) unit made the revelations after catching a manager at a legal arms-selling shop red-handed.

The front page report in this newspaper on April 17 depicts the pitiable state of the development works taken up by the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) in 44 wards. It shows exactly how crony capitalism is working to waste public money and increase public sufferings. This grim picture, we are afraid, represents fairly well the state and quality of works in most of the wards under most city corporations.

We are concerned by the way three university students, who are leaders of the recent quota reform movement, were unceremoniously picked up by detectives while they were travelling in a rickshaw and then shoved into a microbus and taken to the office of the Detective Branch (DB), allegedly blindfolded.

We are deeply saddened to hear that Rajib Hossain, the student who lost his arm to a race between two buses in the Karwan Bazar area in the capital, passed away in the early hours of Tuesday at Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was on life support.

The Sundarbans suffered another disaster on Saturday when a vessel carrying 775 tonnes of coal sank in the Passur River.

Such a blatant hoax does not fool anyone, least of all the people of Bangladesh.

We welcome the High Court's recent decision to prohibit the use of the much-criticised "two-finger test" on rape survivors—a landmark judgement that was long overdue. Activists, experts, and lawyers have constantly highlighted over the years why the physically invasive test, a remnant of archaic colonial law, is legally unsound and scientifically inaccurate.

The traffic crashes, particularly in the capital city, are assuming epidemic proportions. And much of that has to do with the wanton attitude of the drivers at the wheels. Regrettably, in a matter of three days only in this month, reckless driving has seriously injured three young people who are either fighting to survive or facing a life of disability.

Myanmar must do more than offer verbal assurances of starting the return of the Rohingyas to their homeland “very soon”. We had said

Every Pahela Baishakh comes with a new rhythm and new promises, but a common thread is the time spent with loved ones, the sights

The prime minister's announcement to do away with the quota system for public service exams is a very welcome decision and we are all relieved to know that students have called off their demonstrations until the government publishes a gazette notification formalising the abolishment of the quota system. We hope that the necessary implementation process will be initiated soon.

The statement of the visiting minister of Myanmar, Win Myat Aye, that his country would like to take back its Rohingya nationals sheltered in Bangladesh as soon as possible should be backed up by substantiated actions. So far, Myanmar has been procrastinating and delaying the process by putting newer conditions.

This newspaper ran two reports yesterday that revealed a positive picture of the economy's future. The first one describes the government's plan to provide a handful of incentives including tax exemptions to the pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturers, with a view to capitalising on the patent waiver for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products extended to the least developed countries.

A picture on the back page of this newspaper on April 11 shows a number of young men scaling an iron railing on the Dhaka-Aricha highway to cross the road in Savar Bus Stand area. Such sights are very common both on highways and on city roads. What it points to is our disregard for traffic rules, which are there for public safety, but apparently our citizens think it quite within their rights to break the law whenever they feel like it.

We have been covering the issue of reckless disposal of hospital waste and the health hazards they pose to the public for some years now. Unfortunately, our words have fallen on deaf ears of the management of hospitals and diagnostic centres.