Yunus loses appeal

Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi winner of the 2006 Nobel peace prize, on Tuesday lost a high court appeal after being sacked from his own bank in a bitter clash with the country's authorities. Yunus, 70, who is celebrated world-wide for tackling poverty through his pioneering "microfinance" cash loans to small farmers and villagers, was fired last week on the orders of Bangladesh's central bank.
Backed by a high-profile international campaign amid allegations of a political vendetta, he defied the order by returning to work at Grameen Bank's headquarters and lodging an appeal which he will now take to the Supreme Court.