News reaching here from Oslo, the capital of Norway, cited the Nobel Committee as saying that the economist and his bank helped "create economic and social development from below" in Bangladesh.

    "Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means," said the Nobel Committee.

    Yunus, 66, set up the Grameen Bank in 1976 to give credit to the very poorest in his country, particularly women, in order to let them set up tiny businesses without collateral.

    The microcredit system is the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

    "In Bangladesh, where nothing works and there's no electricity," Yunus said, "microcredit works like clockwork."

    "Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed microcredit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty," the committee said.

    Yunus and the Grameen Bank have shown that women could get rid of poverty by taking tiny loans to start or expand tiny businesses.

    "Economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male," the committee added.

    Yunus told Norway's NRK public television by telephone that he was "delighted, really delighted," adding that "you are endorsing a dream to achieve a poverty-free world."

    The peace prize was the sixth and last Nobel prize announced this year. Yunus and the bank will share the prize of 10 million kronor (1.4 million U.S. dollars). Enditem

Turkish novelist awarded Nobel prize

File photo shows Turkish author Orhan Pamuk in Paris, France. Orhan Pamuk won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature on Oct. 12, 2006.(Xinhua Photo)Photo Gallery >>>

    ANKARA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk on Thursday won the 2006 Nobel Prize for literature, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

U.S. professor wins 2006 Nobel for economics

U.S. economist Edmund S. Phelps  (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    STOCKHOLM, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. economist Edmund S. Phelps won the 2006 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for improving the understanding of the trade-offs between inflation and its effects on unemployment, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.

American Kornberg wins Nobel Prize in chemistry

    STOCKHOLM, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- American scientist Roger Kornberg won the 2006 Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for his work on a key process of life called genetic transcription.

A screen image of US scientist Roger D. Kornberg of Stanford University is seen as the Royal Academy of Science announces the Nobel prize winner in chemistry.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>

    Kornberg was awarded the prize "for his fundamental studies concerning how the information stored in the genes is copied, and then transferred to those parts of the cells that produce proteins," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in citation. 

Two Americans win Nobel Physics Prize

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    STOCKHOLM, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. scientists John C. Mather and George F. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for their work on the Big Bang theory on the origin of the universe.

American scientists John C. Mather and George F. Smoot are awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, Oct. 3, 2006. The two scientists shared the prestigious 10 million kronor (US$1.4 million) award for a pioneering mission which backed the "Big Bang" theory about the origins of the Universe. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>