US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee said he was awarded it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".
There were a record 205 nominations for this year's prize. The laureate - chosen by a five-member committee - wins a gold medal, a diploma and 10m Swedish kronor ($1.4m). Last year Nobel Peace award winner was former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.
Former US President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Sarkozy were among the frontrunners for Nobel Peace Prize 2009.
There are already howls of outrage because USA is embroiled in two major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he deserves to win. He ran for president on a very brave ticket that was highly critical of George W Bush's military engagement in Iraq and he has begun the process of extracting the US from that war.
Add to that the depolarisation of the global political environment that he has brought about by engaging with the world rather than threatening it and you can't argue that he hasn't made the largest contribution to peace over the last year.
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