Martti Ahtisaari

On his visit to South Korea, President Lee Myung-bak awarded President Obama a black belt in tae kwon do. What would Chuck Norris do? Read Full Story

Moscow and Washington want to reach a deal on a key nuclear disarmament treaty before US President Barack Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, a Kremlin source was quoted as saying Friday. The source, quoted in the Kommersant daily, said the Obama administration wanted to sign an agreement on replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) before the Nobel ceremony and that Moscow was willing to oblige. "On December 10 the ceremony for awarding Nobel laureates will take place... Our partners want the document to be signed before the Nobel Peace Prize is given to Barack Obama," the Kremlin source was ... Read Full Story

President Barack Obama has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Awards Committee announced Friday morning in Oslo. "He has created a new international climate," a statement said. According to the White House, President Obama is humbled by the award. The selection is considered a surprise since his name was not under speculation before the announcement. The committee said, "We are awarding Obama for what he has done. Many other people and leaders and nations have to respond in a positive way about President Obama's diplomacy." Thorbjorn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian ... Read Full Story

Hopes are growing in Japan that Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the only two cities ever devastated by atomic bombs. A speech Obama gave in April calling for a world free of nuclear weapons raised expectations, and winning the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month heightened them further. "Many of the past Nobel Peace Laureates have visited ground zero," the Hiroshima-based Chugoku newspaper said in an editorial. "We urge him to go and see the place himself and renew his commitment to a nuclear-free world." A visit could be politically fraught for any American president, ... Read Full Story

Activists from Colombia, Jordan and Afghanistan working to resolve armed conflicts and a Chinese dissident are at the center of speculation as contenders for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. As always, the secretive five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee has remained tightlipped about its decision, which it made earlier this week, but will unveil its choice Friday. A record 205 nominations were received this year. "We've had all the meetings we're going to have, and done what we needed to do," the committee's nonvoting secretary Geir Lundestad told The Associated Press Thursday. British bookmaker Ladbrokes and its Irish counterpart, PaddyPower, give the best odds to imprisoned ... Read Full Story