The Nobel committee awarded the 2009 Peace Prize to President Barack Obama Friday in a prospective, premature accolade normally reserved for those who have accomplished considerable, tangible results in the pursuit of peace. To be sure, Obama has tried to advance the cause of peace. His speech in Cairo in June attempted to address the shortcomings of both the Muslim world and America, and was viewed as a first step towards reconciliation. Obama has committed his administration to advancing ...

Congratulations to President Barack Obama, recipient of the 89th Nobel Prize for Peace, as well as the fourth Nobel Prize for Not Being George W. Bush. The NPNBGWB was first established in 2002, when the Nobel Committee awarded its peace prize to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, ostensibly for monitoring elections in far-flung hellholes, but really for being the most prominent American critic of then-President Bush's buildup to a war in Iraq. The NPNBGWB returned after a short hiatus ...

United Nations inspectors will visit Iran's recently disclosed nuclear power plant on October 25, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency announced Sunday from Tehran. "It is important for us to send out inspectors to do comprehensive verification ... to assure ourselves that it is ... fit for peaceful purposes," Mohamed ElBaradei said. Iran sent shock waves through the international community recently when Tehran wrote a letter to the IAEA revealing the existence of a nuclear enrichment facility near ...

A recently revealed nuclear facility in Iran will be the centerpiece of talks in Switzerland among representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Germany and Iran's nuclear chief. "These will not be easy talks," warned one senior U.S. administration official. The first task in Geneva will be to test whether Iran is ready to engage on the nuclear issue. The question will be: "What steps are they willing to take to build confidence with the international ...

The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said Iran broke the law by not disclosing sooner its recently revealed uranium enrichment site. "Iran was supposed to inform us on the day it was decided to construct the facility. They have not done that," International Atomic Energy Agency's Mohamed El Baradei told CNN's sister station, CNN-IBN. "They are saying that this was meant to be a back-up facility in case we were attacked and so they could not tell ...

Iran will soon tell the International Atomic Energy Agency when it can inspect the Islamic republic's recently revealed nuclear facility, the country's state-run Press TV reported. The head of Iran's nuclear program made the announcement in an interview with Press TV on Monday, but he did not give a timetable for the potential inspection. Iran revealed the existence of the covert uranium enrichment site last week, drawing condemnation from the West. The country has also launched a series of missile ...

Iran tested a missile-launching system and two types of missiles Sunday, the state-run Press TV said without offering details. Earlier, the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had said it would stage missile exercises beginning Sunday to promote the armed forces' defense capabilities. The tests, which are expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days, are codenamed "Payghambar-e Azam 4" or "The Great Messenger 4," Press TV said. The station said the missiles fired Sunday were of the ...

A rare meeting of U.N. Security Council heads of state, led for the first time by a U.S. president, adopted a resolution Thursday focused on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. President Obama challenged the gathering, which included leaders of nuclear powers including Russia, China, Great Britain and France, to overcome cynicism against the goal of ridding the planet of nuclear arms. "We harbor no illusions about the difficulty of bringing about a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said, adding ...

President Obama said Wednesday that the nations of the world are failing to work together to confront the most pressing challenges of today. "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges," Obama said, in his first speech as president to the U.N. General Assembly. "If we are honest with ourselves, we need to admit that we are not living up to that responsibility." Obama cited issues such ...

Iran's president will deliver some "good news" this week about the country's first nuclear power plant, a semi-official news agency reported Monday. The Mehr News Agency said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will comment on progress at the Bushehr nuclear power plant on a visit to the city of Natanz on Thursday. The news agency quoted Parviz Fattah, the Iranian minister of power. Fattah said he hopes the nuclear power plant will produce electricity for use as early as this summer, the ...