Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

US President Barack Obama has been surprisingly given the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 for his extraordinary efforts in strengthening international diplomacy and for taking landmark initiatives to create a nuclear-free world.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

'Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play,' the committee said on its website.

'Only very rarely has a person, to the same extent as Obama, captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population,' the committee said.

Announcing the award here, an official of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that Obama was yet to be informed about the award, and would receive the award on December 10 this year.
He also said that Obama had beaten 205 other nominees for the prestigious award, which includes a gold medal, a Nobel diploma and 1.4 million dollars.

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 90 times to 120 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2009 - 97 times to individuals and 23 times to organizations.

Since International Committee of the Red Cross was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917, 1944 and 1963, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981, that means 97 individuals and 20 organizations have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Alfred Nobel's will stated that a committee of five people elected by the Norwegian Parliament should award the prize. Norway and Sweden were at that time still in union, and with Sweden responsible for all foreign policy. Nobel felt that the prize might be less subject to political corruption if awarded by Norway. The Peace Prize is presented annually in Oslo, in the presence of the king, on December 10 (the anniversary of Nobel's death), and is the only Nobel Prize not presented in Stockholm. "

Barack Obama tops History Makers of 2008 list

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has topped the list of “History Makers of 2008”.

Obama, who has also been named Person of the Year by TIME magazine, will be remembered as the story of 2008, reports Live Science.

The first African-American president of the United States is followed by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, who became one of the most influential people on the planet when he captained the recent 700 billion dollars government bailout of America's banks.

Third on the list is none other than Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who made big waves with her looks in 2008 as the Republican-vice presidential candidate and promises to keep shaking things up all the way through to a possible presidential run in 2012.

Olympic golden boy Michael Phelps landed the fourth spot while T. Boone Pickens rounded off the top five.

The top 5 History Makers of 2008 are:
1. Barack Obama
2. Henry T. Paulson
3. Sarah Palin
4. Michael Phelps
5. T. Boone Pickens

Barack Obama creates history, wins US presidential election

Democratic Party nominee Barack Hussain Obama has won a historic victory in the race for the White House with Republican rival John McCain conceding defeat.

Barack Obama has won the 2008 US Presidential Election, to become the 44th President of the United States of America, the first African American to hold the post, and at 47 years old, one of the youngest.

The historic presidential contest, which shares similarities with the 1860 election of Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, US voters were also at the polls to determine the make-up of Congress, the bi-cameral legislative body much like India's Parliament.

Barack Obama, the man who would be the United States' first African American president, said to a wildly cheering crowd of tens of thousands here, “Americans have sent a message to the world”.

In an emotional speech, Obama began by saying: “If there is anyone out there that still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

He said it was the answer told 'by lines that stretched around schools and churches...' as they waited for hours to vote.

It was the answer, he said, spoken by the young and old, rich and poor, Hispanics and Asians, Democrats and Republicans.

'It's been a long time coming but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, change has come to America.'

A little bit earlier in the evening, Obama said, he got an 'extraordinarily gracious call' from his Republican rival Senator John McCain. Paying a tribute to McCain who conceded defeat, Obama said he had 'fought long and hard for this campaign, for this country'.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, one time rival of Barack Obama, congratulated her fellow Democrat on his election as the 44th President of the United States.