SPAIN: Former president Mary Robinson has been named the winner of this year's Prince of Asturias prize for social sciences. She is the first woman to receive the award in its 26-year history.
Mrs Robinson will receive her €50,000 prize and a bronze Joan Miró sculpture from Prince Felipe, the Prince of Asturias, at a formal ceremony in the Asturian capital, Oviedo, next October.
The jury said the award was for "her valuable and committed struggle against any kind of discrimination". They praised her "moral fibre, noble values and ethical behaviour".
The awards are Spain's version of Nobel prizes. Mrs Robinson was chosen from an original list of 28 candidates, which was then cut to four - British sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf, American economist Paul Anthony Samuel, former president of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, and Mrs Robinson.
Other awards went to Bill and Melinda Gates for international co-operation, Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar for the arts, and the National Geographic Society for communications.