Nobel peace prize 2011 – live coverage

Contenders for the Nobel prize include Arab spring activists, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange 9.16am: Good morning. Welcome to live coverage of the Nobel Peace Prize 2011. The winner is due to be announced at 10am BST. Recent winners have proved controversial for very different reasons. Last year the committee angered China by awarding the prize to dissident Liu Xiaobo . The year before Barack Obama won, despite taking office as US president less than two weeks before the February nomination deadline. That decision prompted ridicule from some quarters ( Given criticism over Obama’s support for extra-judicial killings this year , a repeat performance is unlikely to be on the cards). Less controversial winners have included Nelson Mandela (jointly with Frederik Willem de Klerk), Médecins Sans Frontières and Mother Teresa ( see the full list here ). As ever, the fact that nominations are not made public has not stopped speculation about potential winners. The Guardian’s guide to possible recipients includes Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, alleged US military leaker Bradley Manning, activists from the Arab Spring and Aung San Suu Kyi (who would be the first individual to take home the prize twice). Also named was former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who has apparently been nominated every years since 1990, when he presided over the reunification of Germany. The Guardian readers’ choice was Bradley Manning , followed by Julian Assange. If either of these two men win expect a similar reaction from the US to China’s reaction over last year’s decision. However, the chairman of the prize committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, said in an interview on Wednesday that the winner is “obvious” and he’s surprised that “commentators and experts” haven’t picked up on it. Does that mean Bono? Nobel peace prize Aung San Suu Kyi Julian Assange Bradley Manning WikiLeaks Live video Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 7, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.