Anti-nuclear group wins Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway — The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a group of mostly young activists pushing for a global treaty to ban the cataclysmic bombs.

The award of the $1.1-million prize comes amid heightened tensions over both North Korea’s aggressive development of nuclear weapons and U.S. President Donald Trump’s persistent criticism of the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

The prize committee wanted “to send a signal to North Korea and the U.S. that they need to go into negotiations,” Oeivind Stenersen, a historian of the peace prize, told The Associated Press. “The prize is also coded support to the Iran nuclear deal. I think this was wise because recognizing the Iran deal itself could have been seen as giving support to the Iranian state.”

The Geneva-based ICAN has campaigned actively for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by 122 countries at the United Nations in July. On Sept. 20, the first day the treaty was open for signature, 51 countries signed it and three submitted their ratifications. The treaty needs 50 ratifications to go into force, which advocates are confident will happen.

The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China all boycotted the negotiations; India, Pakistan and North Korea did not vote.