Nobel laureate urges Middle East focus for Obama

NOBEL peace prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari urged US president-elect Barack Obama yesterday to delve into solving the Middle East conflict in his first year in office, calling it a knot that could be untied.

The former Finnish president and veteran diplomat received the 2008 peace prize on Wednesday at Oslo’s city hall. The award for decades of peace-brokering around the globe was announced in October.

“Peace is a question of will,” Ahtisaari said, according to a copy of his acceptance speech. “All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal.”