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María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday morning, beating U.S. President Donald Trump to the prestigious award.
Machado, an opposition leader in Venezuela, has campaigned tirelessly for democracy and is a central figure in the struggle against Nicolás Maduro’s government.
This is a developing story – more to follow.
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Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain and head of the U.N. World Food Program, suffered a mild stroke this week and is said to be recovering “well,” according to a press release Thursday from the humanitarian organization. The statement said McCain, 71, is expected to make a “full recovery” and will be traveling from Rome, where the WFP is based, to Arizona to focus on her recuperation. She will return to her post after her doctors have cleared her in four to six weeks. “I want to thank the medical staff in Italy for the excellent treatment I received,” said McCain. “My recovery is progressing well thanks to their outstanding care.”McCain was appointed in March 2023 to lead the world’s largest humanitarian organization after serving as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture under former President Joe Biden. McCain broke with Republicans when she endorsed Biden for president in 2020, making her a key surrogate for the Democrat after now-President Donald Trump spent years criticizing her husband and his military service. She has since become the face of the World Food Program, one of the few U.N. agencies that has received bipartisan support for its efforts to help nearly 150 million people confronting conflicts, disasters, and impacts of climate change this year. McCain and the WFP have been in the spotlight as the agency has sought to respond to the humanitarian crises caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and Israel’s offensive inside the Gaza Strip. In late August, after visiting Gaza, McCain told The Associated Press it was “very evident” that there isn’t enough food in the Palestinian territory. She said she had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid.Her comments came a week after the world’s leading authority on food crises said the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.”I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” she said. “It is real and it is happening now,”An advocate for children, McCain has served on the board of directors for Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing facial deformities for children around the world, visiting India, Morocco, and Vietnam, the joint announcement said.McCain succeeded David Beasley, a former South Carolina governor who had led WFP through challenging times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beasley was at the helm when the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, in part for being “a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of WFP, is expected to oversee the organization’s day-to-day operations until McCain’s return. In the statement Thursday, McCain said she has “full confidence” in her leadership team’s ability” to stay laser-focused on delivering urgently needed food assistance to the more than 100 million people WFP is working to serve across 87 countries.”She added, “The fight against hunger has never been more critical, and I am incredibly proud of the work our teams do every day. I look forward to being back in the field soon — alongside WFP teams — pushing back against famine and supporting communities in need.”
Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain and head of the U.N. World Food Program, suffered a mild stroke this week and is said to be recovering “well,” according to a press release Thursday from the humanitarian organization.
The statement said McCain, 71, is expected to make a “full recovery” and will be traveling from Rome, where the WFP is based, to Arizona to focus on her recuperation. She will return to her post after her doctors have cleared her in four to six weeks.
“I want to thank the medical staff in Italy for the excellent treatment I received,” said McCain. “My recovery is progressing well thanks to their outstanding care.”
McCain was appointed in March 2023 to lead the world’s largest humanitarian organization after serving as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture under former President Joe Biden. McCain broke with Republicans when she endorsed Biden for president in 2020, making her a key surrogate for the Democrat after now-President Donald Trump spent years criticizing her husband and his military service.
She has since become the face of the World Food Program, one of the few U.N. agencies that has received bipartisan support for its efforts to help nearly 150 million people confronting conflicts, disasters, and impacts of climate change this year. McCain and the WFP have been in the spotlight as the agency has sought to respond to the humanitarian crises caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and Israel’s offensive inside the Gaza Strip.
In late August, after visiting Gaza, McCain told The Associated Press it was “very evident” that there isn’t enough food in the Palestinian territory. She said she had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid.
Her comments came a week after the world’s leading authority on food crises said the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.
“I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” she said. “It is real and it is happening now,”
An advocate for children, McCain has served on the board of directors for Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing facial deformities for children around the world, visiting India, Morocco, and Vietnam, the joint announcement said.
McCain succeeded David Beasley, a former South Carolina governor who had led WFP through challenging times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beasley was at the helm when the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, in part for being “a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of WFP, is expected to oversee the organization’s day-to-day operations until McCain’s return.
In the statement Thursday, McCain said she has “full confidence” in her leadership team’s ability” to stay laser-focused on delivering urgently needed food assistance to the more than 100 million people WFP is working to serve across 87 countries.”
She added, “The fight against hunger has never been more critical, and I am incredibly proud of the work our teams do every day. I look forward to being back in the field soon — alongside WFP teams — pushing back against famine and supporting communities in need.”
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The President’s martial rhetoric against fellow-Americans is a striking contrast with his push for an end to hostilities in Gaza.
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Susan B. Glasser
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President Donald Trump has said he wants to win a Nobel Peace Prize. But experts warn that his remarks could “backfire.”
Photo from the Norwegian Nobel Committee
In recent months, President Donald Trump has repeatedly promoted himself as deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious awards.
“Everyone says I should get the Nobel Peace Prize,” he said in his address to the U.N. General Assembly in September.
Justifying this view, he’s stated that he resolved seven foreign wars, including between Israel and Iran and between India and Pakistan.
“Nobody’s ever done that,” he told a group of military leaders in late September. “Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing.”
And, in July, the Republican president called Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s finance minister, to discuss tariffs and his effort to secure the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Politico.
A number of U.S. and foreign officials have also formally nominated Trump for the high honor , McClatchy News previously reported.
Has this kind of public lobbying campaign been done before? And will it help or hurt Trump’s chances of winning? McClatchy News spoke with experts ahead of Oct. 10, the date the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced.
“It is not common diplomatic practice for individuals to present themselves as candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Annika Bergman Rosamond, a professor of international relations at the University of Edinburgh, told McClatchy News. “Thus, past winners have not tended to actively put themselves forward as potential winners.”
“Typically those who might be candidates don’t advertise their brazen self-interest,” Michael Barnett, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University, told McClatchy News. “You want people to seem like they are genuinely committed to making the world a better place and not for their own glory.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prize, consists of five individuals appointed by the Norwegian parliament. It accepts nominations from a number of qualified people, including government officials, academics and past winners. Nominations for the 2025 prize must have been submitted by Jan. 31.
Some experts pointed out that, while public pressure campaigns are unusual, there have been occasional instances of discreet self-advocacy among Nobel Peace Prize hopefuls.
“There have been a few times where there is a campaign,” Barnett said. “Usually a whisper campaign though. Elie Wiesel if the rumors are to be believed.”
Wiesel, an author and Holocaust survivor, won the prize in 1986.
Kjetil Tronvoll, a professor of peace and conflict studies at Oslo New University College, told McClatchy News that “an Asian politician” had lobbied for their own nomination about 20 years ago.
Kim Dae-jung, the former president of South Korea, won the peace prize in 2000. It was revealed three years later that he had established a secret campaign to secure the award, thereby tarnishing his reputation.
Trump’s track record on promoting peace aside, experts cautioned that his intense efforts to obtain the peace prize are likely counterproductive.
“The Norwegian cultural attitude of non self-promotion (the Jante rule) runs deep — and to campaign for the prize will be looked down upon and backfire, having a negative effect on the prize committee’s inclination to entertain the idea of offering the prize to such a candidate,” Tronvoll said.
The Law of Jante is a Scandinavian cultural tradition that states that personal success must not be enjoyed publicly.
“The Nobel Committee is not particularly happy about blatant campaigns, and my hunch is that they will view self-promotion with particular skepticism,” Nils Petter Gleditsch, a research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, told McClatchy News.
Asle Toje, the deputy leader of the present Norwegian Nobel Committee, echoed the view that promotional campaigns are ineffective.
“These types of influence campaigns have a rather more negative effect than a positive one,” Toje told Reuters. “Because we talk about it on the committee. Some candidates push for it really hard and we do not like it.”
“We are used to work(ing) in a locked room without being attempted to be influenced,” Toje added. “It is hard enough as it is to reach an agreement among ourselves, without having more people trying to influence us.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2025 at 6:36 PM.
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Brendan Rascius
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize has drawn added attention to the annual guessing game over who its next laureate will be.Longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s prospects remain remote despite a flurry of high-profile nominations and some notable foreign policy interventions for which he has taken personal credit.Experts say the Norwegian Nobel Committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals. Trump’s own record might even work against him, they said, citing his apparent disdain for multilateral institutions and his disregard for global climate change concerns.Still, the U.S. leader has repeatedly sought the Nobel spotlight since his first term, most recently telling United Nations delegates late last month “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”A person cannot nominate themself.Public lobbying campaigns but a private committee decisionTrump’s boasts and previous high-profile nominations make him the blockbuster name on the list of bookmakers’ favorites. But it’s unclear whether his name comes up in conversation when the five-member Nobel committee, appointed by Norway’s parliament, meets behind closed doors.Trump has been nominated several times by people within the U.S. as well as politicians abroad since 2018. His name also was put forward in December by U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), her office said in a statement, for his brokering of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.Nominations made this year from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Pakistan’s government occurred after the Feb. 1 deadline for the 2025 award.Trump has said repeatedly that he “deserves” the prize and claims to have “ended seven wars.” Last week, he teased the possibility of ending an eighth war if Israel and Hamas agree to his peace plan aimed at concluding the nearly two-year war in Gaza.“Nobody’s ever done that,” he told a gathering of military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. “Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing.”Israel and Hamas have since agreed to the first phase of the peace plan for Gaza, paving the way for a pause in the fighting and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. In the early hours of Thursday, families of hostages and their supporters started chanting “Nobel prize to Trump” as they gathered in Tel Aviv’s hostages square.Sustained peace efforts prioritized over quick winsNobel veterans say the committee prioritizes sustained, multilateral efforts over quick diplomatic wins. Theo Zenou, a historian and research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said Trump’s efforts have not yet been proven to be long-lasting.“There’s a huge difference between getting fighting to stop in the short term and resolving the root causes of the conflict,” Zenou said.Zenou also highlighted Trump’s dismissive stance on climate change as out-of-step with what many, including the Nobel committee, see as the planet’s greatest long-term peace challenge.“I don’t think they would award the most prestigious prize in the world to someone who does not believe in climate change,” Zenou said. “When you look at previous winners who have been bridge-builders, embodied international cooperation and reconciliation: These are not words we associate with Donald Trump.”Avoiding political pressureThe Nobel committee was met with fierce criticism in 2009 for giving then-U.S. President Barack Obama the prize barely nine months into his first term. Many argued Obama had not been in office long enough to have an impact worthy of the Nobel.And Trump’s own outspokenness about possibly winning the award might work against him: The committee won’t want to be seen as caving in to political pressure, said Nina Græger, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo.Trump’s prospects for the prize this year are “a long shot,” she said. “His rhetoric does not point in a peaceful perspective.”The Nobel announcements began with the prize in medicine on Monday, and continued with physics on Tuesday and chemistry on Wednesday. The literature prize is being awarded on Thursday. The winner of the prize in economics will be announced on Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize has drawn added attention to the annual guessing game over who its next laureate will be.
Longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s prospects remain remote despite a flurry of high-profile nominations and some notable foreign policy interventions for which he has taken personal credit.
Experts say the Norwegian Nobel Committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals. Trump’s own record might even work against him, they said, citing his apparent disdain for multilateral institutions and his disregard for global climate change concerns.
Still, the U.S. leader has repeatedly sought the Nobel spotlight since his first term, most recently telling United Nations delegates late last month “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”
A person cannot nominate themself.
Trump’s boasts and previous high-profile nominations make him the blockbuster name on the list of bookmakers’ favorites. But it’s unclear whether his name comes up in conversation when the five-member Nobel committee, appointed by Norway’s parliament, meets behind closed doors.
Trump has been nominated several times by people within the U.S. as well as politicians abroad since 2018. His name also was put forward in December by U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), her office said in a statement, for his brokering of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.
Nominations made this year from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Pakistan’s government occurred after the Feb. 1 deadline for the 2025 award.
Trump has said repeatedly that he “deserves” the prize and claims to have “ended seven wars.” Last week, he teased the possibility of ending an eighth war if Israel and Hamas agree to his peace plan aimed at concluding the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
“Nobody’s ever done that,” he told a gathering of military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. “Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing.”
Israel and Hamas have since agreed to the first phase of the peace plan for Gaza, paving the way for a pause in the fighting and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. In the early hours of Thursday, families of hostages and their supporters started chanting “Nobel prize to Trump” as they gathered in Tel Aviv’s hostages square.
Nobel veterans say the committee prioritizes sustained, multilateral efforts over quick diplomatic wins. Theo Zenou, a historian and research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said Trump’s efforts have not yet been proven to be long-lasting.
“There’s a huge difference between getting fighting to stop in the short term and resolving the root causes of the conflict,” Zenou said.
Zenou also highlighted Trump’s dismissive stance on climate change as out-of-step with what many, including the Nobel committee, see as the planet’s greatest long-term peace challenge.
“I don’t think they would award the most prestigious prize in the world to someone who does not believe in climate change,” Zenou said. “When you look at previous winners who have been bridge-builders, embodied international cooperation and reconciliation: These are not words we associate with Donald Trump.”
The Nobel committee was met with fierce criticism in 2009 for giving then-U.S. President Barack Obama the prize barely nine months into his first term. Many argued Obama had not been in office long enough to have an impact worthy of the Nobel.
And Trump’s own outspokenness about possibly winning the award might work against him: The committee won’t want to be seen as caving in to political pressure, said Nina Græger, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
Trump’s prospects for the prize this year are “a long shot,” she said. “His rhetoric does not point in a peaceful perspective.”
The Nobel announcements began with the prize in medicine on Monday, and continued with physics on Tuesday and chemistry on Wednesday. The literature prize is being awarded on Thursday. The winner of the prize in economics will be announced on Monday.
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Barack Obama. Jimmy Carter. Woodrow Wilson. Teddy Roosevelt. Al Gore. And Donald Trump?
President Trump hopes to join the exclusive list of presidents and vice presidents who have received one of the world’s most prestigious honors: the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced Friday.
The international award honors people or organizations whose work makes the world a more peaceful place. Nominees aren’t made public by the Nobel Committee, but some individuals publicly share who they nominate. World leaders, humanitarians and international organizations have received the peace prize since it was first given out in the early 20th century.
Here’s what to know about the Nobel Peace Prize and if Mr. Trump could receive it:
The 2025 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, Oct. 10 at 5 a.m. ET. It will be awarded on Dec. 10 at a formal ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
The Nobel Prize was established by a Swedish businessman named Alfred Nobel. In his will, he said that his fortune was to be used to establish a fund that could distribute prizes “to those who … shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind,” according to the Nobel Peace Prize’s website.
Nobel’s will specified that it be given “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses,” but many different kinds of work have been honored, including efforts to combat climate change and promote democracy.
Sergei Gapon/Anadolu via Getty Images
The award has been given to politicians who sought international peace, people who have worked for arms control and nuclear disarmament, and international human rights agencies. Other Nobel prizes are awarded for achievements in medicine, literature and other fields.
Winners receive a medal, diploma and monetary prize, according to the award’s website. The 6.6-centimeter gold medal shows a portrait of Nobel, with his name, birth year and year of death engraved on the edge. The back of the medal shows three men embracing, to symbolize international fraternity, and is engraved with the phrase “For peace and fraternity among peoples” in Latin.
According to the prize’s website, the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who has done the most to advance peace in the world. It is awarded by a committee selected by Norway’s parliament. The other Nobel prizes are awarded in Sweden.
Any person or organization can be nominated by any eligible nominators, according to the prize’s website. Eligible nominators include members of national assemblies, members of governments, members of bodies like the International Court of Justice, college professors or directors and former prizewinners or members of the Nobel Committee. The nomination deadline is Jan. 31. Over 330 candidates were submitted for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
The nominations aren’t vetted before the nomination deadline, according to the prize’s website, so nominations are not endorsements from the committee. The committee does not publicly comment on nominees. The names of nominees and nominating committee can’t be announced for 50 years.
Steffen Trumpf/picture alliance via Getty Images 
Once the deadline passes, the Nobel Committee looks at the nominees and creates a shortlist of “the most interesting and worthy candidates.” Those shortlisted nominees then undergo “assessments and examinations” from committee members, according to the prize’s website.
The committee then decides on the winner or winners of the Nobel Peace Prize at its last meeting before the prize winners are announced in early October. The decision is made by majority vote, according to the prize website, but the committee attempts to make a unanimous decision on the winner.
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 105 times since 1901, according to the prize’s website. One hundred and thirty-nine laureates have been awarded, including 92 men, 19 women and 28 organizations.
The prize’s first recipients were French scientist and politician Frédéric Passy and Jean Henry Durant, a Swiss businessman and co-founder of the Red Cross. Passy was honored for his “lifelong work for international peace conferences, diplomacy and arbitration,” while Durant received the award for his “humanitarian efforts to help wounded soldiers and create international understanding,” according to the prize’s website.
Other notable prizewinners have included Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai in 2014 and former President Barack Obama in 2009. Obama’s win, for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” was considered a surprise, as he had been in office for less than a year.
Former President Jimmy Carter received the honor in 2002. Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, and Bishop Desmond Tutu, who worked to end apartheid in South Africa, received it in 1984.
Christopher Furlong, Getty Images 
Organizations that have received the Nobel Peace Prize include the United Nations’ World Food Program and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Mr. Trump has touted himself as the “president of peace” and has said he ended six or seven wars during his second term, including conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan and Thailand and Cambodia. Not all of the conflicts have been fully settled, and it’s not clear if the United States’ actions or influence were decisive in all of them, foreign policy experts previously told CBS News. Mr. Trump has also proposed a peace plan for Israel and Gaza, and spoken with world leaders about ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr. Trump told reporters in June that the Nobel Committee “should give” him the Nobel Peace Prize, and that he “should have gotten it four or five times.” In September, Mr. Trump told United Nations delegates that “everyone says” he should get the award. He made similar comments when military generals gathered in Virginia last week. Still, he told CBS News in September 2025 that he is not seeking the prize.
Win McNamee / Getty Images 
“I have nothing to say about it,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “All I can do is put out wars.” He added, “I don’t seek attention. I just want to save lives.”
Mr. Trump was nominated for the prize by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July and by the government of Pakistan in June. This week, the Israeli Hostages Families Forum called on the Nobel Prize committee to give the peace prize to Mr. Trump for his “unwavering commitment and extraordinary leadership” in seeking a deal to bring home the remaining hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. But these efforts have come past the deadline for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Trump was also nominated for the prize during his first term.
Experts told The Associated Press the Nobel Committee is unlikely to award Mr. Trump the prize for his second-term achievements so far. However, former President Obama was awarded the prize without having secured any peace agreements in his first year in the White House.
The committee tends to focus on “the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals,” the AP reported. The committee also likely does not want to be seen as caving to political pressure, one expert told the AP.
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President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migrationTrump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leadersTrump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speechTrump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.Trump has Oslo dreamsDespite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.___AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.
His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”
The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”
World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.
After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.
Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”
Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.
He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.
The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.
Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.
The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.
Trump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.
He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.
“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”
Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”
The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.
Trump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.
“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.
Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.
The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.
Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.
France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.
Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.
“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”
Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.
Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.
“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.
He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”
Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.
___
AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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Watched by the world, President Donald Trump returns to the United Nations on Tuesday to deliver a wide-ranging address on his second-term foreign policy achievements and lament that “globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order,” according to the White House.Watch live video from the United Nations in the video player aboveWorld leaders will be listening closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.“There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well run, to be honest,” Trump said of the U.N. last week.The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.“This is by far the most stressed the U.N. system has ever been in its 80 years,” said Anjali K. Dayal, a professor of international politics at Fordham University in New York.Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leadersWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would tout “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars.“The president will also touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order, and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” Leavitt said.Following his speech, Trump will hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speechTrump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.Leavitt said Trump sees the push as “just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”Trump, for his part, in the lead-up to Tuesday’s address has tried to keep focus on getting agreement on a ceasefire that leads Hamas to releasing its remaining 48 hostages, including 20 still believed be alive.“I’d like to see a diplomatic solution,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “There’s a lot of anger and a lot of hatred, you know that, and there has been for a lot of years … but hopefully we’ll get something done.”Leaders in the room will also be eager to hear what Trump has to say about Russia’s war in Ukraine.It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.Trump has Oslo dreamsDespite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.He points to his administration’s efforts to end conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.Still, Trump’s Nobel ambitions could have impact on the tenor of his address, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.“His speech is going to be driven by how much he really believes he has a chance of getting a Nobel Peace Prize,” Montgomery said. “If he thinks that’s still something he can do, then I think he knows you don’t go into the U.N. and drop a grenade down the tank hatch and shut it, right?”___AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
Watched by the world, President Donald Trump returns to the United Nations on Tuesday to deliver a wide-ranging address on his second-term foreign policy achievements and lament that “globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order,” according to the White House.
Watch live video from the United Nations in the video player above
World leaders will be listening closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.
After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.
“There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well run, to be honest,” Trump said of the U.N. last week.
The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.
Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.
The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.
“This is by far the most stressed the U.N. system has ever been in its 80 years,” said Anjali K. Dayal, a professor of international politics at Fordham University in New York.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would tout “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars.
“The president will also touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order, and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” Leavitt said.
Following his speech, Trump will hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.
Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.
France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.
Leavitt said Trump sees the push as “just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”
Trump, for his part, in the lead-up to Tuesday’s address has tried to keep focus on getting agreement on a ceasefire that leads Hamas to releasing its remaining 48 hostages, including 20 still believed be alive.
“I’d like to see a diplomatic solution,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “There’s a lot of anger and a lot of hatred, you know that, and there has been for a lot of years … but hopefully we’ll get something done.”
Leaders in the room will also be eager to hear what Trump has to say about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.
He points to his administration’s efforts to end conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.
Still, Trump’s Nobel ambitions could have impact on the tenor of his address, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.
“His speech is going to be driven by how much he really believes he has a chance of getting a Nobel Peace Prize,” Montgomery said. “If he thinks that’s still something he can do, then I think he knows you don’t go into the U.N. and drop a grenade down the tank hatch and shut it, right?”
___
AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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A labor court in Bangladesh’s capital Monday sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to six months in jail for violating the country’s labor laws.
Yunus, who pioneered the use of microcredit to help impoverished people, was present in court and was granted bail. The court gave Yunus 30 days to appeal the verdict and sentence.
Grameen Telecom, which Yunus founded as a non-profit organization, is at the center of the case.
Sheikh Merina Sultana, head of the Third Labor Court of Dhaka, said in her verdict that Yunus’ company violated Bangladeshi labor laws. She said at least 67 Grameen Telecom workers were supposed to be made permanent employees but were not, and a “welfare fund” to support the staff in cases of emergency or special needs was never formed. She also said that, following company policy, 5% of Grameen’s dividends were supposed to be distributed to staff but was not.
Sultana found Yunus, as chairman of the company, and three other company directors guilty, sentencing each to six months in jail. Yunus was also fined 30,000 takas, or $260.
Yunus said he would appeal.
“We are being punished for a crime we did not commit. It was my fate, the nation’s fate. We have accepted this verdict, but will appeal this verdict and continue fighting against this sentence,” the 83-year-old economist told reporters after the verdict was announced.
A defense lawyer criticized the ruling, saying it was unfair and against the law. “We have been deprived of justice,” said attorney Abdullah Al Mamun.
Kazi Salahuddin Razu/NurPhoto via Getty Images
But the prosecution was happy with what they said was an expected verdict.
“We think business owners will now be more cautious about violating labor laws. No one is above the law,” prosecutor Khurshid Alam Khan told The Associated Press.
Grameen Telecom owns 34.2% of the country’s largest mobile phone company, Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecom giant Telenor.
As Yunus is known to have close connections with political elites in the West, especially in the United States, many think the verdict could negatively impact Bangladesh’s relationship with the U.S.
But Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on Monday said relations between Bangladesh and the U.S. would likely not be affected by an issue involving a single individual.
“It is normal not to have an impact on the state-to-state relations for an individual,” the United News of Bangladesh agency quoted Momen as saying.
The Nobel laureate faces an array of other charges involving alleged corruption and embezzlement.
Yunus’ supporters believe he’s being harassed because of frosty relations with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Bangladesh’s government has denied the allegation.
Monday’s verdict came as Bangladesh prepares for its general election on Jan. 7, amid a boycott by the country’s main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Hasina’s arch-enemy. The party said it didn’t have any confidence the premier’s administration would hold a free and fair election.
In August, more than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates in an open letter urged Hasina to suspend all legal proceedings against Yunus.
The leaders, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and more than 100 Nobel laureates, said in the letter that they were deeply concerned by recent threats to democracy and human rights in Bangladesh.
Hasina responded sharply and said she would welcome international experts and lawyers to come to Bangladesh to assess the legal proceedings and examine documents involving the charges against Yunus.
In 1983, Yunus founded Grameen Bank, which gives small loans to entrepreneurs who would not normally qualify for bank loans. The bank’s success in lifting people out of poverty led to similar microfinancing efforts in other countries.
Hasina’s administration began a series of investigations of Yunus after coming to power in 2008. She became enraged when Yunus announced he would form a political party in 2007 when a military-backed government ran the country and she was in prison, although he did not follow through on the plan.
Yunus had earlier criticized politicians in the country, saying they are only interested in money. Hasina called him a “bloodsucker” and accused him of using force and other means to recover loans from poor rural women as head of Grameen Bank.
In 2011, Hasina’s administration began a review of the bank’s activities. Yunus was fired as managing director for allegedly violating government retirement regulations. He was put on trial in 2013 on charges of receiving money without government permission, including his Nobel Prize award and royalties from a book.
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The children of imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf on Sunday, reading out a speech she’d written behind bars in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Her prize was placed on an empty chair Sunday between her 17-year-old twins, Ali and Kiana Rahmani, at the award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
Mohammadi, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in October for her decades of human rights activism, went on a hunger strike as her prize was announced.
“I am an Iranian woman, a proud and honorable contributor to civilization, who is currently under the oppression of a despotic religious government,” her children said on her behalf. “I am a woman prisoner who, in enduring deep and soul-crushing suffering resulting from the lack of freedom, equality, and democracy, has recognized the necessity of her existence and has found faith.”
Mohammadi, who campaigned against the compulsory wearing of the hijab and the death penalty in Iran, also paid tribute to Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mohammadi’s activism has continued in prison. She’s currently on a hunger strike “in solidarity” with the Baha’i religious minority, her brother and husband told a press conference in the Norwegian capital on the eve of the Nobel award ceremony.
Sergei Gapon/Anadolu via Getty Images
She also recently went on a hunger strike to be granted the right to get medical treatment without having to wear a hijab, Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said.
“Recently she was offered much-needed medical help at a hospital on the condition that she wore a hijab when leaving the prison,” Reiss-Andersen said at the ceremony. “She refused and initiated a hunger strike. Finally, she was taken to hospital for a brief examination under tight security – but not wearing a hijab. Her resolve is unshakable.”
While behind bars in September 2022, Mohammadi also took leadership of the “Woman – Life – Freedom” movement following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini. Amini was killed while in the custody of Iran’s morality police after she was accused of a dress code violation.
“The abolition of the mandatory hijab is equivalent to the abolition of all roots of religious tyranny and the breaking of the chains of authoritarian oppression,” Mohammadi’s children said on her behalf.
A large portrait of Mohammadi — hair uncovered — was on display during Sunday’s ceremony.
“She has asked us to use this particular photograph, which expresses how she wants to lead her life – looking happy in colorful garments, exposing her hair, and with a steady gaze towards us,” Reiss-Andersen said.
Mohammadi has been arrested 13 times, Reiss-Andersen said. In 2015, she began serving a sentence of 10 years and 153 lashes. Her children, who live in exile in France with Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, have not seen her in eight years.
Human rights activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
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The Nobel Foundation on Saturday withdrew its invitation for representatives of Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies after the decision announced a day earlier “provoked strong reactions.”
Several Swedish lawmakers said Friday they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its position from a year earlier and invited representatives of the three countries to attend, saying it “promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone.”
Some of the lawmakers cited Russia’s war on Ukraine and the crackdown on human rights in Iran as reasons for their boycott. Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Friday called on the Swedish Nobel Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel Committee not to invite representatives of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s “illegitimate regime to any events.”
On Saturday, she welcomed the Nobel Foundation’s decision. She told The Associated Press that it was “a clear sign of solidarity with the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples.”
“This is how you show your commitment to the principles and values of Nobel,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko called the decision a “victory for humanism.”
“Thank you to everyone who demanded that justice be restored,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that “a similar decision” should be made regarding the attendance of Russian and Belarusian ambassadors at celebrations taking place in Norway following the ceremony in Sweden.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who said Friday he wouldn’t have allowed the three countries to participate in the award ceremonies, was also happy with the decision. He posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the many and strong reactions show that the whole of Sweden unambiguously stand on Ukraine’s side against Russia’s appalling war of aggression.”
The foundation said Saturday it recognized “the strong reactions in Sweden, which completely overshadowed this message” and therefore it had decided not to invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the award ceremony in Stockholm.
However, it said that it would follow its usual practice and invite all ambassadors to the ceremony in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.
Saturday’s announcement was widely praised in Sweden by politicians. Even the Swedish Royal House reacted with spokeswoman Margareta Thorgren saying, as quoted by newspaper Aftonbladet, that “we see the change in the decision as positive”. She added that King Carl XVI Gustaf was planning to hand out this year’s Nobel awards at ceremonies in Stockholm “as before.”
This year’s Nobel prize winners will be announced in early October. The laureates are then invited to receive their awards at glittering prize ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
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The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.
The laureates, who are one individual and two groups, represent “civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens,” the committee said.
The peace prize, which is awarded by a committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament, honors people and organizations “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose from 343 candidates, out of which 251 were individuals and 92 were organizations.
Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was given to journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia to honor their fight for freedom of expression.
In 2012, Ressa co-founded Rappler, a news website that has focused “critical attention on the (President Rodrigo) Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign.” Muratov was one of the founders of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta in 1993.
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 134 laureates: 91 men, 18 women and 25 organizations since 1901.
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