Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Bangladesh’s Nobel Prize winner Yunus to receive Olympic Laurel

Bangladesh’s Nobel Prize winner Yunus to receive Olympic Laurel

BANGLADESH’S Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus will receive the Olympic Laurel at the Tokyo Games, the second time the trophy has been awarded.

Yunus, whose pioneering micro-lender has been hailed across the globe for cutting poverty, will be honoured for "his extensive work in sport for development", the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement on Thursday (15).


The economist and globe-trotting celebrity speaker, who won the Nobel in 2006, will be given the Olympic Laurel at the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony on July 23.

The award was created five years ago to recognise endeavours in culture, education, peace and development through sports, according to the IOC.

It was given for the first time at the 2016 Rio Games to Kenya’s former Olympian Kip Keino, who opened a children's home, a school and an athletes' training centre in his home country.

Yunus, 81, founded the Grameen Bank in the 1980s and shared the Nobel Prize with the micro-lender.

His initiatives include the Yunus Sports Hub, a network of social enterprises that promote development through sports.

Yunus has faced legal troubles in recent years, after he was sacked in 2011 as the head of the bank.

His supporters say he has been targeted by Bangladesh's prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who accused him of "sucking blood" from the poor with high interest rates.

In March 2020, he was fined $88 (£63) after admitting that a social business firm he set up broke labour laws.

More For You

Early risers in the UK witness stunning Blood Moon eclipse

The lunar eclipse of Friday may not have been as dramatic as the total eclipses seen in other parts of the world

iStock

Early risers in the UK witness stunning Blood Moon eclipse

In the early hours of Friday morning, stargazers across the UK were treated to a partial lunar eclipse, with many enthusiasts rising before dawn to catch a glimpse. The celestial event, which saw the Earth's shadow partially covering the Moon, began at 05:09 GMT. Although only partial for most UK observers, it still presented a spectacular sight, with western parts of the country and regions further afield, such as the Americas and some Pacific islands, witnessing the eclipse.

For some, like Kathleen Maitland, the experience was magical. Stargazing from Pagham Harbour in West Sussex, she described the beauty of watching the Moon gradually darken and transform into a reddish hue, with the sunrise unfolding behind her. The eclipse gave rise to the so-called "blood Moon," a phenomenon that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow, turning a dusky red as sunlight is refracted through the Earth's atmosphere.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sangam Foundation celebrates Women's Day

From L - Reetu Kabra, Sudha Sanghani, Parul Gajjar,Maya Sondhi,Shobu Kapoor, Meera Syal,Piyusha Virani, Sadhana Karia and Shobhna Shah during Sangam Foundation's Women's Day celebrations.

Sangam Foundation celebrates Women's Day

HUNDREDS of women gathered for the International Women's Day celebrations of Sangam Foundation last week. Prominent actresses Meera Syal, Shobhu Kapoor and Maya Sondhi have attended the event, a statement said.

The British Asian celebrities shared their experiences of breaking into an industry rife with misogyny and prejudice. The industry veterans also talked about challenges they faced in a male-dominated field.

Keep ReadingShow less
Asian tycoon Sudhir Choudhrie  backs Liberal
Democrats with £23,000

Sudhir Choudhrie

Asian tycoon Sudhir Choudhrie  backs Liberal Democrats with £23,000

BUSINESSMAN Sudhir Choudhrie has emerged as one of the biggest British Asian donors to the Liberal Democrats in the last quarter of 2024, according to the latest data from the Electoral Commission.

Choudhrie, currently an advisor on India to the leader of the Liberal Democrats, contributed on six different occasions to the party between October and December 2024, totalling more than £23,000. He contributed in a similar fashion in the previous quarter as well.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sunak is ‘content in his MP role
and has no desire to move to US’

(From left) Rishi Sunak with wife Akshata Murty, and parents Usha and Yashvir Sunak

Sunak is ‘content in his MP role and has no desire to move to US’

RISHI SUNAK “loves being an MP” and has no intention of flying to California to begin a new life in America, as his enemies alleged during the general election campaign last year.

And, unlike Boris Johnson, he is not striving to be prime minister again, even though he is still only 44.

Keep ReadingShow less
LEAD Amit 1 INSET Rishi Sunak GettyImages 1258681655
Rishi Sunak
Getty Images

'I am English': Sunak asserts as ethnic minorities debate identity politics in Britain

FORMER prime minister Rishi Sunak has made cultural and sociological history by becoming the first prominent personality to say a brown person can be not only British, but also English.

He dismissed as “ridiculous” the suggestion from his former home secretary, Suella Braverman, that Englishness “must be rooted in ancestry, heritage, and, yes, ethnicity” – in other words, the person has to be white.

Keep ReadingShow less