Bangladesh's opposition ends year-long parliamentary boycott

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies ended a parliamentary boycott lasting almost a year on Sunday to press demands for an impartial caretaker administration to oversee elections set for 2014.
Speaker Abdul Hamid welcomed the head of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister who leads a group of 37 members of an opposition alliance in the 350-seat parliament.
"We have returned to parliament to protest the government's misdeeds and press our demand for restoration of a non-party caretaker administration for credible oversight of the 2014 general elections," opposition member Shahid Uddin Chowdhury told parliament. The boycotting members were in danger of losing their seats as a result of their long absence.