Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus: Interim Leader Amid Bangladesh's Tumult

Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus returns to Bangladesh to lead an interim government after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigns amid student protests. Yunus, an 84-year-old economist and critic of Hasina, is set to hold elections for a new leader. Protests were fueled by economic hardship and political repression.

Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus returned to a strife-torn Bangladesh on Thursday to head a new interim government after weeks of student protests led to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and subsequent flight to India. Yunus, the country's only Nobel laureate and a staunch critic of Hasina, arrived in Dhaka from Paris, where he was undergoing medical treatment.

At the airport, Yunus expressed relief and determination, greeted by military officers and student leaders. He emphasized that the protesters had saved the country and that their freedom must be upheld. 'Whatever path our students show us, we will follow,' he asserted.

Yunus is to be sworn in as the chief advisor at 1430 GMT at President Mohammed Shahabuddin's residence. Hasina's Awami League party does not feature in the interim government following her resignation after violent protests that resulted in nearly 300 deaths and thousands of injuries.