WORLD / Europe
Nobel laureate: Poverty fight essential
(AP)
Updated: 2006-12-11 09:05
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Economist Muhammad Yunus accepted the Nobel Peace
Prize on Sunday for his breakthrough program to lift the poor through
tiny loans, saying he hoped the award would inspire "bold initiatives" to
eradicate a problem at the root of terrorism.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, right, receives his medal and
diploma from Nobel Committee Chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes at City Hall in
Oslo, Norway Sunday Dec. 10, 2006. Yunus said he hoped the award would
inspire 'bold initiatives' to fight poverty and eradicate the root causes
of terrorism. [AP]
Yunus, a 66-year-old Bangladeshi, shared the award with his Grameen Bank,
which for more than two decades has helped impoverished people start
businesses by providing small, usually unsecured loans known as
microcredit.
"We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time,"
Yunus told hundreds of guests at City Hall in Oslo, Norway. "I believe
putting resources into improving the lives of poor people is a better
strategy than spending it on guns."
In his speech, Yunus also warned about the potential costs of
globalization without help for the world's poor.
"To me, globalization is like a hundred-lane highway crisscrossing the
world," Yunus said. "If it is a free-for-all highway, its lanes will be
taken over by the giant trucks from powerful economies. Bangladeshi
rickshaws will be thrown off the highway."
"Rule of 'strongest takes it all' must be replaced by rules that ensure
that the poorest have a place and piece of the action, without being
elbowed out by the strong," he said.
The Nobel laureates for literature, physics, economics and chemistry
accepted their awards Sunday at a ceremony in Stockholm.
The Nobel Prizes, announced in October, are always presented in the two
Scandinavian capitals on Dec. 10 to mark the anniversary of the 1896
death of their creator, Alfred Nobel. The Swedish industrialist, who
invented dynamite, stipulated the dual ceremonies in his will. The
awards, first handed out in 1901, carry $1.4 million in prize money.
The literature prize went to Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish writer accused of
insulting his country, while six Americans swept the science and
economics prizes. Their findings cemented the "big bang" theory, broke
new ground in genetic research and explored the relationship between
inflation and unemployment.
Yunus is the first Nobel winner from Bangladesh, an impoverished South
Asian country on the Bay of Bengal. Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt
Mjoes said the award was partially intended as an outstretched hand to
the Islamic world in an era when Muslims are often demonized because of
terrorism.
1 2
Top World News
� Rumsfeld pays farewell trip to Iraq
� Saddam's nephew escapes Iraqi prison
� Discovery lifts off in rare night launch
� 3 dead, 3 missing as typhoon lashes Philippines
� Al-Zarqawi said Shiites most dangerous
Today's Top News
� China's WTO entry recasts economic landscape
� Foreign banks' applications get nod
� Chileans clash after Pinochet's death
� China's GDP to grow by 10.5%
� China's WTO entry 'changing the world'
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
Learn Chinese, Free Chinese Lesson, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet
No comments:
Post a Comment