Malala says she wants to become PM of Pakistan to "save" the country

Malala Yousafzai wants to be PM, says Nobel would be 'great honor'

New York: Teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai told an audience in New York on Thursday that she would like to become prime minister of Pakistan to "save" the country.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour at a sold-out public event, she also said winning Friday's Nobel Peace Prize would be a "great honor."

Asked about her conflicting dreams of becoming a doctor or a politician, and whether she would like to become premier, Malala said she wanted to help her homeland.

"I want to become a prime minister of Pakistan," she told Amanpour to cheers from the audience.

"I think it's really good because through politics I can save my whole country," she added.

"I can spend much of the budget on education and I can also concentrate on foreign affairs."

Malala was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban on October 9, 2012, for speaking out against them, demanding that girls have the right to go to school.

She was flown to Britain for specialist care and made a remarkable recovery, going on to become a global ambassador for children's rights.

The 16-year-old has written an autobiography, addressed the United Nations and set up the Malala Fund.

On Thursday, she won the prestigious Sakharov human rights prize from the European parliament and has been tipped as a firm favorite for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"If I got the Nobel Peace Prize I think it would be such a great honor and more than I deserve," she said.

"The Nobel Peace Prize would help me to begin this campaign for girls' education."

The real prize, she said, would be to see every child, black or white, Christian or Muslim, boy or girl, go to school and "for that I will struggle and work hard."

She paid tribute to previous Nobel laureates, including scientist Abdus Salam who in 1979 won the prize for physics -- Pakistan's only Nobel to date.

"Everyone who has got a Nobel prize, they deserve it but when I think of myself I think I have a lot to do," she told Amanpour.

The Pakistani Taliban have threatened to try to assassinate her again and security was tight for her public event in New York late Thursday.

"They can only shoot a body, they cannot shoot my dreams," Malala said.

Her appearance coincided with the International Day of the Girl Child.

According to UNICEF, around one in three females in the developing world is forced to marry as a young teenager or child, making them more likely to leave school early.

Providing mothers with even just a primary education could save 1.7 million children from stunted growth and malnutrition each year, the United Nations says. New York: Teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai told an audience in New York on Thursday that she would like to become prime minister of Pakistan to "save" the country.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour at a sold-out public event, she also said winning Friday's Nobel Peace Prize would be a "great honor."

Asked about her conflicting dreams of becoming a doctor or a politician, and whether she would like to become premier, Malala said she wanted to help her homeland.

"I want to become a prime minister of Pakistan," she told Amanpour to cheers from the audience.

"I think it's really good because through politics I can save my whole country," she added.

"I can spend much of the budget on education and I can also concentrate on foreign affairs."

Malala was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban on October 9, 2012, for speaking out against them, demanding that girls have the right to go to school.

She was flown to Britain for specialist care and made a remarkable recovery, going on to become a global ambassador for children's rights.

The 16-year-old has written an autobiography, addressed the United Nations and set up the Malala Fund.

On Thursday, she won the prestigious Sakharov human rights prize from the European parliament and has been tipped as a firm favorite for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"If I got the Nobel Peace Prize I think it would be such a great honor and more than I deserve," she said.

"The Nobel Peace Prize would help me to begin this campaign for girls' education."

The real prize, she said, would be to see every child, black or white, Christian or Muslim, boy or girl, go to school and "for that I will struggle and work hard."

She paid tribute to previous Nobel laureates, including scientist Abdus Salam who in 1979 won the prize for physics -- Pakistan's only Nobel to date.

"Everyone who has got a Nobel prize, they deserve it but when I think of myself I think I have a lot to do," she told Amanpour.

The Pakistani Taliban have threatened to try to assassinate her again and security was tight for her public event in New York late Thursday.

"They can only shoot a body, they cannot shoot my dreams," Malala said.

Her appearance coincided with the International Day of the Girl Child.

According to UNICEF, around one in three females in the developing world is forced to marry as a young teenager or child, making them more likely to leave school early.

Providing mothers with even just a primary education could save 1.7 million children from stunted growth and malnutrition each year, the United Nations says.

Don't think a woman should wear a veil in court: Malala Yousafzai

London: Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education says she does not think a woman should wear a veil in court or where it is necessary to show her identity.

The 16-year-old, nominated for this year's Nobel peace prize, said she is of the view that a woman should not cover her face in court or in other places "where it's necessary to show your identity".

"I don't cover my face because I want to show my identity," Malala, who considers herself a believing Muslim said.

Asked what she thinks of the burqa in the UK, Malala told the Guardian, "I believe it's a woman's right to decide what she wants to wear and if a woman can go to the beach and wear nothing, then why can't she also wear everything?"

Her memoir 'I Am Malala', that the teenager has written with journalist Christina Lamb, has a brief but vivid description of the Taliban assassination attempt on her that shot her to fame.

The book recounts Malala's life before and after October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded a school bus full of girls in Pakistan's Swat Valley and asked "Who is Malala?"

Then he shot her in the head.

"The air smelt of diesel, bread and kebab mixed with the stink from the stream where people still dumped their rubbish," Malala recalls.

One of her friends told her later that the gunman's hand shook as he fired.

One of the moving details in the memoir is that her mother was due to start learning to read and write on the day Malala was shot.

Malala mentions more than once in her book that no one believed the Taliban would target a schoolgirl, even if that schoolgirl had been speaking and writing against the Taliban's ban on female education since the age of 12.

In her book, Malala writes of how her speech at the United Nations received plaudits around the world, but in Pakistan people accused her of seeking fame and the luxury of a life abroad.