It goes without saying that we are in agreement with Adama Dieng, UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, who did not mince his words when he said that the international community, including the UN, has failed to protect the Rohingya people.

The tragic US-Bangla plane crash at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Monday has left us shocked, saddened and at a loss for words. This is the deadliest civil aviation disaster in Bangladesh's history.

The fire that engulfed Mirpur slum on March 12 is said to have gutted 1,000 shanties leaving thousands with nothing but the clothes on their backs. These are people from the lowest income groups who lost all their meaningful possessions and literally have no place to go.

The news report by our Thakurgaon correspondent is both tragic and infuriating.

Following a deadly landslide that claimed the lives of 127 people in Chittagong in 2007, port city authorities took Tk 10,000 each from 33 families of a landslide-prone slum five years ago, promising to relocate them to an apartment building.

As we observed Disaster Preparedness Day, it would be well to remind ourselves that disaster is a part of our lives and preparing for it must be a constant and dynamic feature of our lives too.

On March 10, another stone quarry worker was killed while illegally extracting stones in the Jaflong area of Gowainghat upazila in Sylhet, bringing this year's death toll at illegal stone quarries in the district to 21.

We thank the government for not caving in to the shareholders' demand to pump more money into Farmers Bank and instead convincing the bank to transfer 60 percent of its shares to four state-owned banks and the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh.

We agree with the recent comments by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that the ongoing atrocities on the Rohingya community in Myanmar should be referred to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.

The news of Bangladesh's failure to reduce its child marriage rate is deeply disturbing.

During the scuffle the Chhatra Dal activist was manhandled by the police and his clothes torn off. Other members of BNP were hurt in the tussle. What could possibly warrant such violent behaviour from those whom we have entrusted to be protectors of law and order?

According to a report by Prothom Alo, 97 percent of these cases filed in five tribunals in Dhaka district, over the last 15 years, ended up with no conviction. Some cases described in the report are disturbing and constitute absolute examples of why justice delayed is justice denied.

ACC, the anti-graft body, filed a police case against a former land acquisition officer at the deputy commissioner's office on January 17 for the embezzlement of Tk 5 crore. The ACC recovered Tk 92 lakh by raiding one of the accused's accomplices but this is only a fraction of the full amount.

We commend the statement issued by the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights in recognising that Rohingyas continue to be victims of ethnic cleansing and forced starvation and that the Myanmar government says one thing to the international community and does something diametrically opposite to the Rohingya community.

Quite some time has passed since these milestones in the long struggle for women's rights were achieved. Where do we stand today?

Things have changed for the better for the jute industry in the last several years as the government has once again adopted measures to boost jute production in line with growing foreign demand for this versatile, bio-degradable fibre. And strict enforcement of the policy of mandatory use of jute for packaging in 17 products has enhanced its internal market greatly.

The lax progress in the Taqi murder case is deeply disturbing. Five years have passed since the seventeen-year-old boy was brutally killed in Narayanganj and Rab, the investigating agency in this case, has not yet been able to submit the charge sheet. It is frustrating to hear the same thing over and over again from the Rab officials that they would submit the probe report soon. How soon is soon enough?

It defies logic that every year we have to editorialise on the onslaught of mosquitoes before the rainy season begins.

Every time an incident of militancy or extremist violence occurs in the country, the matter enters the realm of politics with the predictable mutual blame game between the AL and BNP.

We condemn the heinous attack on Professor Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal. We are horrified at the audacity of the assailant who stabbed the respected teacher and writer on Saturday. Thankfully, Dr Iqbal is out of danger at the moment, and the assailant is in custody. We hope for a proper investigation of this cowardly attack and that due punishment is meted out to the assailant, and his accomplices, if any.