A recent hearing organised by the Anti-Corruption Commission on the harassment people faced when visiting land offices for tax and mutation issues brought out a plethora of complaints that ranged from non-cooperation to the issue of graft. We have written on this issue many times.

The much-anticipated Khulna City Corporation mayoral election has been held and we congratulate the new mayor on his victory. However, considering some of the reports regarding rigging, booth capture, and voter intimidation on the polling day, we wish the EC would have handled the matter more efficiently.

Notwithstanding the laudatory comments by the UN Human Rights Council on the improvement of labour rights and several other sectors, its call upon the Bangladesh to thoroughly investigate all incidents of abductions, enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings, merits immediate attention of the government.

We condemn strongly Israel for its brutal killing of 58 unarmed Palestinians. More than two thousand others have been wounded, and the casualty is mounting. They were protesting in Gaza against shifting the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, effectively recognising the annexation of the holy city by Israel.

For the second time this month, prices of essential food items have shot up—the first hike came just before the Shab-e-Barat, and now again ahead of the month of Ramadan.

The public suffering caused by the 110km-long tailback on Chittagong-Dhaka highway, which continued on to its fifth consecutive day as of Sunday, beggars description.

We are astonished that the ministry of environment and forest has itself initiated a proposal to cut down more than 3,000 trees in two reserve forests of the country. The purpose is to build a stadium in Chandpur union of Gazipur and a Petroleum Corporation project in Maheshkhali of Cox's Bazar district.

On Mother's Day, which was observed yesterday, it is important to remember that we must reinforce our commitment to all women, especially those who are mothers, in our society. Mothers always have a defining role in our lives and what we become is largely because of their contribution in terms of the love and care they have bestowed on us and the values they have tried to inculcate.

It is not every day we come across a story where a student's education is put back on track by his teachers who convinced his parents that the boy had a bright future and he should continue his studies.

The news that the police has detained more than a hundred opposition activists in the run-up to the upcoming Khulna city elections is surprising.

Notwithstanding the technical glitch that has postponed the event by one day, the launch of the Bangabandhu 1 satellite, from Florida, is a momentous occasion jumpstarting our leap in advanced technology and into space-age technology.

The number of deaths caused by lightning strikes continues to increase at an alarming pace. According to a leading Bengali daily, lightning claimed 112 lives in the last 10 days, with 23 killed just on Wednesday. Lightning strikes have become one of the deadliest natural calamities in our country, with hundreds of lives lost each year.

Education as we know it today, especially at the primary and secondary levels, summons up images of all the wrong kinds: question paper leaks, cheating in exams, coaching business, emphasis on rote learning, etc. A new survey published on Wednesday provided a statistical explanation of the fault lines of our education by collating responses by students, teachers and parents on matters of ethics and values.

It defies rationale that the central bank would relax its own rules of business to allow for four state-owned banks and one government financial institution to inject Tk 715 cores into the troubled Farmers Bank. BB's investigations into the bank found that its top brass is complicit in the financial meltdown that involved the former chairman and ex-chairman of the executive committee. Yet, we find that instead of ordering structural changes in the way the bank is managed, the central bank is more interested in replenishing the bank's fortunes.

Clearing luggage at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) is notoriously slow and it can take hours for passengers to get their luggage.

We are worried to learn that 109 educational institutions in the country have had zero pass rates in this year's SSC exams.

In the absence of any move by the government on issuing a gazette notification on abolishing the quota system for civil servant recruitment, demonstrators have called for fresh protests by forming human chain in colleges and universities nationwide at 11 a.m. today.

It is extremely concerning that the guideline issued by the Supreme Court for addressing sexual harassment at educational institutions and workplaces remains unimplemented even after almost a decade. This means that universities and organisations have failed to fulfil their obligation to form committees responsible for investigating sexual harassment complaints and taking appropriate action.

It may be mentioned that the HC had also stayed the Dhaka North City Corporation mayoral by-polls for six months on January 17, 2018, scheduled for February 26. Thus it is twice now this year that the HC has stayed an election on short notice.

For the second consecutive year, the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) pass rate has suffered a decline.