A SURPRISED world greeted the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama with a mixture of praise and scepticism.

About 1,000 people cheered and marched with a team of 80 athletes and a Cabinet minister who are participating in the Tanzania leg of the Olympic torch run.

Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai today pulled out of this weekend’s Olympic torch relay in Tanzania in protest over human rights abuses.

THE MAN who “used to be the next American president” has become the latest environmentalist to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, writes Wesley Johnson.

Scientists and conservationists from around the world are today calling on governments to halt the deforestation which causes up to a quarter of climate change emissions.

SIX female Nobel peace laureates came together yesterday to fire the opening salvo in a global offensive on sexual discrimination.

Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank have won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, it was announced in Oslo, Norway, today.

A Finn who helped mediate peace in Indonesia is tipped to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, while bookmakers favour a Turkish novelist for the literature award.

BOB GELDOF and Bono are among the bookmakers’ tips to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, alongside more orthodox candidates like campaigners against nuclear arms or a peace broker for Indonesia.

Royalty, scientists, business leaders and diplomats gathered in the capitals of Sweden and Norway today to honour this year’s 12 Nobel laureates from Kenya, Austria, Israel and the United States.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai was today set to warn that the planet is under attack from a litany of threats, ranging from disease, deforestation and war, and urge a shift in human thinking to save the earth.

This year’s Nobel Prize laureates gathered in Stockholm today to reap the rewards of their often lifelong work and research.

They have made, as Alfred Nobel declared more than 100 years ago, some of the greatest discoveries and contributions to help mankind.

American superstars Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey will host December’s traditional Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, honouring the 2004 laureate, Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, it was announced today.

KENYAN environmental activist Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.