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Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot last year by Taliban militants for her advocacy of girls' education, has been awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by European lawmakers.

The 16-year-old, considered a contender for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, joins previous winners of Europe's top human rights award, including Peace Prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela.

The Associated Press says former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked NSA secrets to the media and "a group of imprisoned Belarus dissidents were also in the running for the 50,000-euro ($65,000) award," named after the late Soviet nuclear physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov.

"The European Parliament acknowledges the incredible strength of this young woman," said Martin Schulz, the president of the EU legislature. "Malala bravely stands for the right of all children to be granted a fair education. This right for girls is far too commonly neglected."

The AP says "Europe's three major political groups had nominated the schoolgirl in a show of united support for her cause."

Earlier this week, Yousafzai told the BBC that the way forward in Pakistan was to open a dialogue with her attackers.

Yousafzai campaigned actively for girls' access to school in the Swat Valley area of northwestern Pakistan, which has become a battleground in recent years between Pakistani forces and Taliban militants who oppose education for girls. On Oct. 9, 2012, her school bus was flagged down and boarded by gunmen who identified her by name and shot her in the head.

There's been a deadly fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh — the latest in a series of such tragedies and just six months after the worst disaster in the history of the global garment industry.

At least 10 people were killed at the Aswad garment factory outside the capital, Dhaka, early Wednesday. The immediate cause was not known. This factory, like others where tragedy has struck, produced clothes for a number of Western companies.

Here's more from The Wall Street Journal:

"Aswad Composite Mills has recently produced clothes for Western retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Loblaw Cos., the Canadian owner of the Joe Fresh label, and Hudson's Bay Co., according to several online shipping databases. Hudson's Bay said it last received a delivery from the factory in April and subsequently decided it would no longer place orders with the factory. A spokeswoman didn't elaborate on whether the decision was based on safety reasons. A spokeswoman for Loblaw said it was looking into the issue. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said it is 'working to understand the facts and will take appropriate action based on our findings.' She declined to elaborate."

One thing is certain: None of the key players in the federal spending impasse is very happy right now.

President Obama is expected to meet with House Democrats on Wednesday and other caucuses in the coming days, The Associated Press reports, amid hope that a deal can be made soon.

Here's a rundown of Wednesday's Morning Edition coverage on the partial government shutdown, which is bumping up against the debate over raising the debt ceiling.

— Correspondent Ari Shapiro logs Tuesday's tit-for-tat between the president and House Speaker John Boehner:

"The day began with a phone call between House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama," Shapiro says. "Each side put out a statement describing the conversation. And for once the parties agreed — the call changed no one's mind. A few hours later, Obama took to the White House briefing room and urged Republicans to end these crises."

— Correspondent Scott Horsley says that while Washington bickers over the shutdown and a possible default, the rest of the world is just as nervous as we are — maybe more so.

Economic historian and author Daniel Yergin tells Horsley: "The whole global economy, the whole system of payments and trade and investment — it all rests upon confidence. And at the center of that confidence is the United States. The very big rock of Gibraltar. And if it can't play that role, everybody's worse off, including the United States."

— Host Renee Montagne speaks with Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, a member of the Tea Party caucus who outlines the conservative wing's thinking. Labrador says he personally "would be willing to give the president a one-year [continuing resolution] and a lot of conservatives are there with me — which would be good for the president — in exchange for a one-year delay in the implementation of Obamacare."

"We're not the ones who wanted to shut down the government; we need to remember that," he says. "When the shutdown occurred a week ago, it was the Democrats that said the Republicans wanted to shut down the government. There wasn't a single Republican in the House [who] wanted to shut down the government. We wanted to keep the government open."

— Finally, host David Green spoke with Phil Glover, a corrections officer at the Johnstown Federal Prison in southwestern Pennsylvania and regional vice president for the Council of Prison Locals union, who says he and his colleagues are considered essential, but that as of Oct. 1, they won't be getting a paycheck.

"The next paycheck they get will be next week, and they will get a six-day paycheck for working two full weeks," Glover says.

Update at 4:39 p.m. ET. Recalibrating Assistance:

The State Department says the U.S. is "recalibrating" the assistance it provides Egypt.

The decision follows a review sparked by a series of attacks by security forces on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi that ended in hundreds dead. A shipment of F-16 fighter jets was quickly suspended as were joint exercises planned with the Egyptian army.

In a statement, State spokesperson Jen Psaki said the U.S. will continue to have a relationship with the Egyptian government, but will continue to delay delivery of some large-scale military systems, as well as suspend some "cash assistance to the government pending credible progress toward an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government through free and fair elections."

The U.S., however, will continue to provide support to help "secure Egypt's borders, counter terrorism and proliferation, and ensure security in the Sinai."

Reuters adds some detail:

"The United States will withhold deliveries of Abrams tanks, F-16 aircraft, Apache helicopters and Harpoon missiles from Egypt as it cuts back on aid, a congressional source said.

"Washington also plans to halt a $260 million cash transfer and a planned $300 million loan guarantee to the Cairo government, the source said, after members of Congress were briefed by officials from the U.S. State Department about the administration's plans."