Nation this week
Border Guards Bangladesh protested the killings of two Bangladeshi nationals in firing by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) along the Lalmonirhat and Naogaon border, according to Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud. The two Bangladeshi nationals encountered the BSF within hours of each other on March 25, after breaching the barbed wire fence and crossing the border. Both were said to work as cow herders, and involved in smuggling in cattle from India. Citing the BSF, Hasan Mahmud said in one incident, they challenged the trespassers but got surrounded since the latter were higher in number.
At this point, the BSF men opened fire and two of the trespassers sustained injuries. Al Amin was the one fatally shot. The other, Liton, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on the other side. Asked if the foreign ministry will protest the border killings, the minister said, "We want such incidents to not recur. On behalf of the government, it has been protested through the BGB. There was a border meeting."
A teenage Bangladeshi immigrant was shot to death by the police in New York City's Queens on Wednesday (Mar. 27). The deceased was Win Rozario, 19. The confrontation occurred in his family's apartment in Ozone Park, leaving the community shaken, reports The Now York Times. According to police officials, officers responded to a 911 call reporting a person in mental distress. Upon arrival, they encountered Win, who allegedly brandished a pair of scissors. Despite attempts to subdue him with tasers, the situation escalated when his mother intervened inadvertently, leading to the fatal shooting, it said.
However, the deceased's brother, Ushto Rozario, who witnessed the incident, disputed the police account, stating that their mother was holding Win when the officers opened fire. Francis Rozario, Ushto and Win's father, said that the family had immigrated to New York from Bangladesh 10 years ago and that Win's dream was to join the US military.
Intern doctors called off their nationwide strike following an assurance from Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen. The decision to suspend the strike was taken after a meeting with the health minister at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on Thursday (Mar. 28) afternoon. The meeting was also attended by the state minister for health, the secretary of the Health Ministry, the vice-chancellors of medical universities, principals of medical colleges, and leaders of professional medical organisations.
The interns had been demanding an increase in their allowance from Tk 15,000 to Tk 30,000 per month, an annual increment of Tk 1,000 in the allowance, strengthening security in hospitals, risk allowance for doctors, and payment of their arrears. The health minister said that he had personally spoken to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the intern doctors' demands and she agreed to take a quick decision on the matter.
Bangladesh recorded an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 79.9 µg/m3, ranking number one among countries and territories in 2023 for the most polluted air in the world, according to a report released this week by IQAir. Dhaka, the capital and most populous city, recorded an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 80.2 µg/m3, ranking second worst among capital cities worldwide after New Delhi. This represents pollution levels more than 16 times the concentration recommended by the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline.
"Because of the climate conditions and the geography (in South Asia), you get this streak of PM2.5 concentrations that just skyrocket because the pollution has nowhere to go," said Christi Chester Schroeder, air quality science manager at IQAir, a Swiss air-monitoring organisation. In 2022, Bangladesh was ranked as having the fifth-worst air quality, and India was eighth. The IQAir report was based on data from more than 30,000 monitoring stations in 134 countries and regions.
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