Malala Yousafzai receives Philadelphia Liberty Medal

In accepting the honor, Malala Yousafzai implored world leaders to spend money on supporting learning, not wars, and to solve their differences with words.'Education is the best weapon against poverty, ignorance and terrorism,' she said.Yousafzai, 17, recently became the world's youngest Nobel laureate. Organizers of the Liberty Medal ceremony didn't know that would be the case when they decided months ago to honor her. But the coincidence might have been expected: She has become the seventh medal recipient to subsequently receive the Nobel Peace Prize.The medal is given annually at the National Constitution Center to someone who strives to secure freedom for people around the world.Tuesday's ceremony included speeches from women with powerful stories about education, including Minnijean Brown Trickey, who helped integrate an Arkansas high school in 1957, and University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann, a first-generation college student who rose to lead an Ivy League school.Gutmann, also a board member of the Constitution Center, praised Yousafzai for her 'compelling vision and immense courage.''An educated mind is the most powerful force for good on our planet,' Gutmann said.Yousafzai began her activism six years ago by using an alias to write for the BBC about living under Taliban rule. In 2012, a Taliban gunman shot her in the head while she was returning from school because of her vocal support for gender equality and education for girls.She ended up being treated for her injury in Britain, where she recovered and now lives with her family. She attends a high school for girls but continues activism on those issues through speaking engagements, a best-selling book and a nonprofit organization called the Malala Fund.Yousafzai said Tuesday that when the Taliban went to Pakistan's Swat Valley, where she lived with her family, she had two options: not speak and wait to be killed or speak and then be killed.'Why should I not speak?' she said. 'It is our duty.'(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.Az