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Malala Makes Plea For 'Books Not Bullets' On 18th Birthday


Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai gives a speech on her 18th birthday, as she opens a new school in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on July 12.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai gives a speech on her 18th birthday, as she opens a new school in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on July 12.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai marked her 18th birthday at a camp for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and called for world leaders to "invest in books instead of bullets."

Malala was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban in her native Pakistan in 2012 for insisting girls have a right to be educated.

She said she will continue to campaign for the right of all children to have an education.

"Today, on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand of leaders -- we must invest in books instead of bullets," Malala said on July 12.

She said she decided to go to Lebanon because "the voices of Syrian refugees need to be heard and they have been ignored for so long."

Malala now lives in Britain, where she was treated after her shooting.

She was jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
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