Who is Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who'll head Bangladesh's interim government?

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been chosen to head Bangladesh’s interim government after the nation's longtime prime minister resigned and fled abroad in the face of a broad uprising against her rule.

Known as the “banker to the poorest of the poor” and a longtime critic of the ousted Sheikh Hasina, Yunus will act as a caretaker premier until new elections are held. The decision followed a meeting late Tuesday that included student protest leaders, military chiefs, civil society members and business leaders.

Hasina was forced to flee Monday after weeks of protests over a quota system for allocating government jobs turned into a broader challenge to her 15-year rule, which was marked by a rising economy but an increasingly authoritarian streak.

Hasina’s departure has plunged bangladesh into a political crisis. The army has temporarily taken control, but it is unclear what its role would be in an interim government after the president dissolved Parliament on Tuesday to pave the way for elections.

Student leaders who organized the protests have wanted Yunus, who is currently in Paris for the Olympics as an adviser to its organizers, to lead an interim government.

He could not immediately be reached for comment, but key student leader Nahid Islam asserted that Yunus agreed to step in during a discussion with them. The 83-year-old is a well-known critic and political opponent of Hasina.

Yunus called her resignation the country’s “second liberation day.” She once called him a “bloodsucker.”

An economist and banker by profession, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people, particularly women. The Nobel Peace Prize committee credited Yunus and his Grameen Bank “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.”

Yunus founded Grameen Bank in 1983 to provide small loans to entrepreneurs who would not normally qualify to receive them. The bank’s success in lifting people out of poverty led to similar microfinancing efforts in other countries.

He ran into trouble with Hasina in 2008, when her administration launched a series of investigations into him. He had announced he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government but did not follow through.

During the investigations, Hasina accused Yunus of using force and other means to recover loans from poor rural women as the head of Grameen Bank. Yunus denied the allegations.

Hasina’s government began reviewing the bank’s activities in 2011, and 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 and royalties from a book.

He later faced more charges involving other companies he created, including Grameen Telecom, which is part of the country’s largest mobile phone company, GrameenPhone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom giant Telenor. In 2023, some former Grameen Telecom workers filed a case against Yunus accusing him of siphoning off their job benefits. He denied the accusations.

Earlier this year, a special judge’s court in Bangladesh indicted Yunus and 13 others on charges over the $2 million embezzlement case. Yunus pleaded not guilty and is out on bail for now.

Yunus' supporters say he has been targeted because of his frosty relations with Hasina.

Yunus was born in 1940 in Chittagong, a seaport city in Bangladesh. He received his PhD from Vanderbilt University in the United States and taught there briefly before returning to Bangladesh.

In a 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Yunus said he had a “eureka movement” to establish Grameen Bank when he met a poor woman weaving bamboo stools who was struggling pay her debts.

“I couldn’t understand how she could be so poor when she was making such beautiful things,” he recalled in the interview.

Saaliq reported from New Delhi.

FILE- Muhammad Yunus, an economist from Bangladesh who founded the Grameen Bank and won a Nobel Peace Prize, is seen at the end of a press conference in Paris Monday Feb. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)

FILE- Professor Mohammed Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, a micro credit institution, explains to villagers the benefits of the system at Kalampur village in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 21, 2004. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman, File)

FILE- Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammad Yunus, right, and Grameen Bank representative Mosammat Taslima Begum display their medals and diplomas at City Hall in Oslo, Norway Sunday Dec. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/John McConnico, File)

FILE- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus gestures after he was granted bail by a labor court in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu, File)

FILE- Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of the Yunus Centre, speaks during a debate hosted by the Associated Press "Regions in Transformation: South Asia" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

FILE- Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus speaks to the media after he was granted bail by a court in an embezzlement case, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, March 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu, File)

FILE- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus smiles as he arrives to appear before a labor court in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu, File)

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Julio Rodríguez homered twice to drive in five runs, George Kirby went six innings for his 13th victory and the AL wild card-chasing Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-2 on Friday night.

Rodríguez put the Mariners (79-75) ahead to stay with his three-run homer in the fifth off Jack Leiter, who relieved Jacob deGrom after the two-time Cy Young Award winner made his first home start in nearly 17 months after elbow surgery.

Seattle remained two games behind Minnesota for the third and final wild card after the Twins beat Boston 4-2 in 12 innings. The Mariners stayed five back of Houston in the AL West with eight games remaining, three in Houston.

“We’re still in it. Everyone’s confident. Just got to to keep playing good baseball," Kirby said.

“It feels great. Obviously we have a shot to get into the playoffs,” Rodríguez said. “But I feel like everybody knows that and understands that at the same time we've got to take it one day at a time. ... We've got to focus on that right now.”

Rodríguez tied a career high for RBIs with his first multihomer game this season. His first homer put Seattle up 4-2, and he went deep off the rookie right-hander again in the seventh with a two-run shot the opposite way to right field for his 18th of the year.

Kirby (13-11) beat the reigning World Series champions again, five days after facing the minimum 21 batters over seven scoreless innings at home against them. The 26-year-old right-hander is 7-0 with a 1.15 ERA in nine career starts against Texas. He struck out four without a walk this time while allowing two runs on five hits.

“George jumped picked up right where he left off against Texas back at home,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said.

Nathaniel Lowe had a two-run single for the Rangers (73-81), who have already been eliminated from the AL West race and are on the verge of being officially knocked out of wild-card contention and guaranteed a losing record.

Lowe's hit ended Kirby's streak of 34 consecutive scoreless innings against Texas in a span of seven starts since Sept. 28, 2022.

DeGrom struck out five over three innings, and the only run he allowed was when No. 9 batter Josh Rojas led off the third with a homer. Rojas later added a sacrifice fly.

Leiter (0-3) allowed seven runs (six earned) over five innings. He struck out five and walked two while throwing 57 of 92 pitches for strikes.

A week after throwing 3 2/3 scoreless innings in his season debut on the road, also against the Mariners, deGrom threw 37 of 58 pitches for strikes and had one walk. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had said the 36-year-old right-hander would throw about 60 pitches.

“Definitely felt better than my first one. I think maybe a little bit less nerves, worked on some things in between,” said deGrom, who will get one more start this season. "It’s little things that I've got to continue to work on, but my arm felt good and that was the most important thing.”

It was the first start at home for deGrom since he left in the middle of the fourth inning against the New York Yankees on April 28, 2023. That was the sixth and last start in the first season of his $185 million, five-year contract.

UP NEXT

Three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer (2-4, 3.95 ERA) makes his second start since coming off the IL after missing 40 games with right shoulder fatigue and an arm nerve issue. Rookie right-hander Emerson Hancock (3-4, 4.83) starts for Seattle.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe (30) hits a two-run single in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez celebrates in the dugout after a two-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Seattle Mariners Josh Rojas (4) celebrates in the dugout after a solo home run against the Texas Rangers in the third inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) and catcher Jonah Heim (28) walk back to the dugout in the first inning in a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez (44) hits a two-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez reacts toward the dugout as he runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)