Bangladesh’s opposition to end parliament boycott

October 4th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladeshs telecom major Grameenphone Sunday launched the countrys largest initial public offering (IPO), hoping to raise Taka 4.8 billion ($80 million approximately) from the domestic market. The largest of its kind in Bangladesh's capital market history, it offers 69,439,400 ordinary shares of Tk 10 each, in addition to a Tk 60 premium per share, Star Online said.

September 20th, 2009 DHAKA - The opposition alliance in Bangladesh claims to have enough evidence to publish a "White Paper" challenging the fairness of the elections it lost in December. In doing so, the opposition alliance is taking the same path taken by the ruling coalition after it lost the 2001 ballot.

August 3rd, 2009 Iran's Ahmadinejad to be endorsed for 2nd termTEHRAN, Iran — Iran's Supreme Leader is to formally endorse Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, a step leading up to his inauguration in parliament. But the country's opposition and moderates — including former president Hashemi Rafsanjani — say they'll boycott Monday's ceremony in defiance of an election they decry as fraudulent.

May 2nd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's mainstream opposition leader Khaleda Zia Saturday asked her arch political rival Sheikh Hasina's four-month-old government to quit over failure in 'curbing terrorism and easing the power and water crisis'. 'Relinquish power as there is still time, don't compel the people to drive you away.

April 30th, 2009 UMARGAON - An entire village in Umargaon area of Valsad district in south Gujarat decided to boycott the polls Thursday, after they came to vote but discovered many mistakes in the voters' list, a poll official here said. The voters from Sajjan Bander village were irked by what they called 'innumerable mistakes' in the voters' list which created confusion when they reached the polling stations to cast their votes as polling began in Gujarat at 7 a.m.

April 16th, 2009 SRINAGAR - In a significant development, the moderate Hurriyat group led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq Thursday decided not to call for a boycott of parliamentary elections in Jammu and Kashmir. After three days of discussions here, the group announced that the elections were no alternative to 'the right to self-determination' but did not specifically ask Kashmiris to keep away from the polls.

April 13th, 2009 BHOPAL - Over 30,000 villagers in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district - where many villages have submerged due to a dam project - have decided to boycott the polls in protest against the power plant on the Pench river. 'People of 32 villages who have been effected due to the Pench project will Tuesday take a pledge at Ravindra Bhawan in Bhopal to boycott the polls,' Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activist Aradhana Bhargava told IANS.

April 1st, 2009 CHENNAI - Actor-turned-politician and DMDK leader Vijaykanth has renewed his offer to boycott the ensuing parliamentary elections to show his solidarity with the Tamils in Sri Lanka, if the bigger Dravidian parties do the same. 'The DMDK would gladly follow suit if the (ruling) DMK and (the main opposition) AIADMK agree to boycott the elections on the Sri Lanka Tamils' issue.

March 24th, 2009 LONDON - The Vatican is reportedly planning to authorise a boycott of Ron Howard's upcoming movie 'Angels & Demons', a prequel to his 2006 controversial hit 'The Da Vinci Code'. Directed by Howard, the picture stars Tom Hanks and is due for release this summer.

March 21st, 2009 GHAZIABAD - Gandhigiri has landed a 65-year-old man, who claimed to have contested the presidential elections in 2007, in police custody. Attired as Mahatma Gandhi, Mahesh Chaturvedi had been distributing pamphlets and pasting posters here asking people to boycott elections, till he was arrested Friday.

March 18th, 2009 PATNA - Maoists in Bihar have given a call for boycott of the general elections scheduled in April and May and have decided to intensify their struggle, said a statement issued by the banned outfit Wednesday. 'We have urged people to boycott the general elections in 2009 to strengthen our struggle for them,' Maoist spokesman Gopal said here in a press release issued Wednesday.

January 28th, 2009 DHAKA - The newly elected members of parliament will elect Bangladesh's new president Feb 16, the election commission of the country announced Thursday. Md. Humayun Kabir, Secretary of the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC), issued a notification Thursday, announcing the schedule of the presidential election, BEC spokesman S.M.

January 15th, 2009 DHAKA - Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia will be heading what is the 'smallest-ever opposition', but has pledged to play a strong role to make parliament effective, a media report said Friday. Zia said lawmakers of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islamist ally Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) will attend the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) on the very first day later this month.

January 14th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's opposition leader Khaleda Zia Thursday promised to play a constructive role in parliament, which is scheduled to convene later this month. 'We want to help the government.

January 2nd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's Awami League Saturday elected its chief Sheikh Hasina as Leader of the House, paving the way for her to form a new government to run the South Asian nation for the next five years. President Iajuddin Ahmed is expected to appoint Hasina as next prime minister Tuesday.