Last updated: 9 october, 2009 - 12:43 GMT

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama

The award took some observers by surprise because it comes within the first year of Mr Obama's presidency

Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, announces in Oslo Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, that US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

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This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the American President, Barack Obama.

The Norwegian-based Nobel committee said he had made extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation.

The committee chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland, said they had attached special importance to Mr Obama's vision of a world without nuclear weapons.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Authority, Mohamed ElBaradei, told World Update's Dan Damon why he supports the decision.

Mohamed ElBaradei

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There are, however, plenty of critics of the Nobel Peace Prize committee.

One of them is Jan Oberg, executive director of Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research in Sweden.

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First broadcast 9 October 2009

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