• "Oh my God ... I have no words ... I certainly do not deserve it," Machado told the Nobel committee secretary. She wrote on X in English: "I dedicate the prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!"
• Trump later called her and congratulated.
• But, White House communications director Steven Cheung said: "The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace."
• Trump, who has been self-promoting for the award on the ground that he has ended seven wars in his current term, has lost. Self-promotion and campaigns are considered a disqualification for the award. It is not even known if someone had nominated him before the deadline—Jan 31.

OSLO (Norway), Oct 10: The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday announced the award of Nobel Prize for Peace for 2025 will go to Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela, "a brave and committed champion of peace, a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness."

US President Donald Trump, who has been self-promoting for the coveted award on the ground that he has ended seven wars in his current term, has lost. He has been going round telling everyone—even at the UN—he should get the prize. Self-promotion and campaigns are considered a disqualification for the award. He was nominated for the prize during his first term but it is not certain he was nominated by someone for 2025 before the deadline, January 31, for contributions made previously.

"She (the winner) (58) is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," the committee said.

"As the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times," it said.

The democratic crusader's leadership during Venezuela’s disputed 2024 election was pivotal in mobilizing grassroots efforts to monitor polling stations and expose electoral fraud. She backed Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, uniting the anti-Nicolas Maduro Moros forces. However, Maduro allegedly rigged the polls and stayed in power.

Nominations are confidential

The Nobel committee awarding the peace prize is selected by Norway's parliament. The other Nobel prizes are awarded in awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. Alfred Nobel, who set up the prizes, had specified that the Peace Prize should be awarded by a five-member committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament (awarded in Stockholm). At the time, Sweden and Norway were united under a single monarchy.

Winners of the peace prize receive a medal, diploma and monetary prize. The 6.6-cm gold medal shows a portrait of Nobel, with his name, birth year and year of death engraved on the edge. The back of the medal shows three men embracing, to symbolize international fraternity, and is engraved with the phrase "For peace and fraternity among peoples" in Latin.

Persons or organisations are nominated by eligible nominators, who include members of national assemblies, members of governments, members of bodies like the International Court of Justice, college professors or directors and former prize winners or members of the Nobel Committee. The nomination deadline is January 31. Over 330 nominations were submitted for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. These are kept confidential.

Previous winners include Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai (2014), former US President Barack Obama (2009) and another former US President Jimmy Carter (2002). Winning organisations include United Nations' World Food Program and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor, armaments manufacturer and philanthropist Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. Established in 1895, it was first awarded on December 10, 1901.

Who is María Corina Machado:

A student of Yale University and an industrial engineer by profession, María Corina Machado Parisca is now a prominent Opposition leader of Venezuela. She was a member of the National Assembly from 2011 to 2014. Machado began her political career in 2002 as a founder of the vote-monitoring organization Sumate. She founded the Opposition party, Vente Venezuelai.

The story behind the prize:

Alfred Nobel is best known for creating dynamite—a powerful explosive that revolutionized construction and mining, but also became widely used in warfare. In 1888, a French newspaper mistakenly published an obituary for Alfred (instead of his deceased brother Ludvig), titled “Le marchand de la mort est mort”—“The merchant of death is dead.” It condemned Nobel for profiting from inventions that killed people. This shocking headline deeply affected Nobel. It’s believed to have sparked a moral reckoning that led him to rewrite his will in 1895. He decided to dedicate the bulk of his fortune—31 million Swedish kronor—to fund prizes for those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”

The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.

Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.

• The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
• The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
• The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)

A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924) (Today's headlines )

Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”

Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.

PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.

Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people. (Today's headlines )

"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...

Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.

Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.

As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.

The committee headed by justice Kurian Joseph will study Centre-State relations and make proposals to ensure foolproof separation of powers.

"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!

What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America! (Today's headlines )

PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).

In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.

THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.

The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.

Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See: New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)

ANALYSIS: "The standard operating procedure for deportations by aircraft used by ICE that is effective from 2012 provides for the use of restraints," says the Government. That means, it is taken for granted the US will set the standard for deportations. For another, the Government is more interested in comparing with what happened in 2012 under a different Government to justify its own compliance! No surprise, others are trampling upon us. (How we conduct ourselves inside decides, inherently, how we are treated outside) Thirdly, the Government blamed the gangs doing the business of human trafficking for the illegal migration. For all the crimes taking place in the country, let us blame the criminals! Funny! We will never move an inch forward! The mindset defines what we are.

Meanwhile, a UN-returned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor sounded like a layman when he said, "If they are citizens of India we have an obligation to take them back." Who said 'No'?. He should know that is not the issue now. Who will identify an undocumented person, and how?

The function was held indoors from 12 pm (10:30 pm IST) at the rotunda of the US Capitol building because of unusually intense cold and snow. Delivering his inaugural address, Trump remarked, “The golden age of America begins right now," and just hours later signed a slew of executive orders to redeem the election pledges.