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)

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb have new contracts that could keep the star quarterback-receiver combo together with the Dallas Cowboys for at least five more years.

Next up after Prescott agreed to the NFL's richest guaranteed contract is pass rusher Micah Parsons, who will want to be the highest-paid defensive player in league history.

Prescott is the first with a $60 million-per-year average in the $240 million, four-year deal that was reached hours before the Cowboys opened the season with a 33-17 throttling of Cleveland on the road.

The contract includes a record $231 million guaranteed, not a penny of which makes owner Jerry Jones wonder if the Cowboys can keep producing playoff-caliber rosters as they begin the quest for a fourth consecutive postseason trip.

“My assessment of where we’re going to be going in the future, we’re going to be able to handle this,” Jones said. “We’re going to be able to get players around (Prescott) that give us a chance to compete for a Super Bowl. He was our best chance at getting one.”

The Cowboys haven't been past the divisional round of the NFC playoffs since the last of the franchise's five Super Bowl titles to cap the 1995 season.

Prescott's postseason swings and misses are beginning to pile up, with the most stinging defeat coming last January. The 48-32 home wild-card loss to Green Bay left the 2016 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year with a 2-5 playoff record.

The Cowboys and Prescott's representatives worked on a deal for months. It only fueled speculation that Dallas was taking time to decide whether Prescott was another Tony Romo, who put up great numbers but had a decade of failures trying to get the Cowboys deep in the playoffs before Prescott took over.

Never a thought, Jones said.

“There’s a lot of me that thinks I’d hope Dak is our quarterback for the rest of my time. And that’s not just limited to the terms of this contract either,” said Jones, who turns 82 next month. “He’s a player that the team follows. That’s big.

“Roger Staubach told me when I asked him, ‘Drop back or move around quarterback?’” Jones said, recalling a conversation years ago with the Pro Football Hall of Fame QB who won two Super Bowls with the Cowboys. “He said, ‘I don’t know about any of that. Have someone that the team will follow.’ Dak’s the epitome of that.”

Parsons and his fellow defenders wrecked the game plan for Cleveland and Deshaun Watson in the first half. The Browns had 54 yards and one first down at the break. Parsons had one of six sacks and a team-high five of the Cowboys' 17 QB hits.

It was another illustration of the value of the 2021 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year not long before Parsons enters the final year of his rookie contract in 2025, just as Lamb did this year when he held out all of training camp before signing a $136 million, four-year extension.

Prescott, Lamb and their teammates on offense did their part in building a 20-3 halftime lead, twice going on touchdown drives of at least 70 yards. But that unit bogged down after the break. The only points for the offense were two field goals on possessions that started in Cleveland territory.

K Brandon Aubrey was 4 of 4 on field goals, starting with a 57-yarder in the first half. The second-year player is now 40 of 42 in a career that started with an NFL record 35 consecutive makes last season. Aubrey has yet to miss in 12 attempts from at least 50 yards. He had two such kicks against the Browns.

There has been plenty of talk about diminutive second-year running back Deuce Vaughn getting more opportunities. There were plenty in the preseason again, but the regular season looks similar to 2023 as well — so far. The 5-foot-5 Vaughn had just one carry for 4 yards, and the Cowboys are a week closer to the possibility of activating Dalvin Cook. The veteran back signed near the end of training camp.

TE Jake Ferguson sprained his left knee in the third quarter against the Browns and didn't return, but the Cowboys are hopeful he won't miss a game.

60 — KaVontae Turpin's first career return for a touchdown was a 60-yarder on a punt against Cleveland. The 5-7 speedster went two seasons without a TD return after essentially making the team when he took back a kickoff and a punt for scores in a 2022 preseason game.

The first half of the season is heavy on road games for the defending NFC East champs, but a two-game homestand is next. New Orleans visits Sunday after blowing out Carolina at home 47-10. Lamar Jackson and Baltimore are on deck in Week 3.

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Dallas Cowboys wide receiver KaVontae Turpin celebrates on the bench after returning a Cleveland Browns punt for a touchdown in the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Dallas Cowboys' Micah Parsons celebrates as he walks off the field after the team's NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Dallas Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb celebrates as he walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy walks off the field after his team's NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Cleveland Browns' Amari Cooper, left, and Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott, right, greet each other after their team's NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws a pass under pressure from Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (95) in the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)