Nobel Peace prize has 231 nominees

THE Nobel Peace Prize jury has received 231 nominations for this year’s award, a spokesman said yesterday, with publicly disclosed candidates including former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the US soldier accused of leaking classified material to WikiLeaks.

Bradley Manning, the US Army private charged with the biggest leak of classified information in American history, and Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina are also in the running.

Others believed to have been nominated include former American president Bill Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

A wide range of submissions come in every year from politicians, university professors and others with nomination rights, but the final decision on who wins the prize rests solely with a five-member panel appointed by Norway’s parliament.

Last year’s prize was shared by Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian women’s rights campaigner Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.