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<h1><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nobel_peace/print"><font size="2">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nobel_peace/print</font></a></h1>
<h1>President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize</h1>
<div class="byline"><cite class="vcard">By KARL RITTER and MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writers <span class="fn org">Karl Ritter And Matt Moore, Associated Press Writers</span> </cite><abbr class="recenttimedate" title="2009-10-09T02:22:52-0700">2 mins ago</abbr> </div>
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<div>OSLO – <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_0">President Barack Obama</span> won the 2009 <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_1">Nobel Peace Prize</span> on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_2">Norwegian Nobel Committee</span> said, citing his outreach to the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_3">Muslim world</span> and attempts to curb <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_4">nuclear proliferation</span>.</div>
<p>The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama's name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.</p>
<p>"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," the committee said. "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."</p>
<p>The committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of, and work for, a world without <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_5">nuclear weapons</span>.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_6">Theodore Roosevelt</span> won the award in 1906 and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_7">Woodrow Wilson</span> won in 1919. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_8">Former President Jimmy Carter</span> won the award in 2002, while former <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_9">Vice President Al Gore</span> shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_10">climate change</span>.</p>
<p>The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize.</p>
<p>In his 1895 will, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_11">Alfred Nobel</span> stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."</p>
<p>Unlike the other <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255080186_12">Nobel Prizes</span>, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel's death.</p>
<p>The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel's guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change.</p>
<p>___</p>
<div>Associated Press Writer Ian MacDougall contributed to this report.</div>
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