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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Jailed Chinese dissident awarded Nobel Peace Prize ( Reuters )...</span>
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in an Oslo ceremony derided by Beijing as a political farce, and dedicated it from his prison cell to the "lost souls" of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. U.S. President Barack Obama, a Peace Prize laureate last year, called on Beijing for the prompt release of 54-year-old Liu, who was jailed last year for 11 years for subversion.In Beijing, police stepped up patrols at key points on Friday, including Tiananmen Square, where witnesses say hundreds or thousands were killed when troops crushed reform protests, and Liu's apartment where his wife is believed to be under house arrest. Authorities tightened a clampdown on dissidents.Western news websites, including the BBC and CNN, appeared to have been blocked. But there were no signs of trouble in the Chinese capital where memories of Tiananmen have faded for many as China has risen as a global economic and political power while guarding the Communist Party's tight hold on society."We can to a certain degree say that China with its 1.3 billion people is carrying mankind's fate on its shoulders," Norwegian Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said at the ceremony in Oslo's grey-walled City Hall.The thousand guests rose to a standing ovation when he called for Liu's release."If the country proves capable of developing a social market economy with full civil rights, this will have a huge favorable impact on the world. If not, there is a danger of social and economic crises arising in the country, with negative consequences for us all."The absence of the laureate was symbolised at the ceremony by an empty chair and a large portrait of Liu, bespectacled and smiling. After his speech, Jagland placed the Nobel award on the chair, amid applause.It was the first time that a laureate under detention had not been formally represented since Nazi Germany barred pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from attending in 1935.Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read out an address made by Liu, who was closely involved in Tiananmen and more recently helped found the reform group Charter 08, to a court during his trial for subversion in December 2009. The certificate awarded to this year's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is seen in this picture taken December 10, 2010. The words on the certificate read: ''The Norwegian Nobel Committee has in accordance with the testament of Alfred Nobel, drawn on November 27, 1895, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to Liu Xiaobo. Oslo December 10, 2010 signed by Committee members Thorbjoern Jagland, Kaci K. Five, Ellen-Marie Ytterhorn, Sissel Roenbeck and Aagot Valle''. Photo Credit: (REUTERS/Berit Roald/Scanpix Norway)http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...61612637215299
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Jailed Chinese dissident awarded Nobel Peace Prize ( Reuters )...</span>
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in an Oslo ceremony derided by Beijing as a political farce, and dedicated it from his prison cell to the "lost souls" of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. U.S. President Barack Obama, a Peace Prize laureate last year, called on Beijing for the prompt release of 54-year-old Liu, who was jailed last year for 11 years for subversion.In Beijing, police stepped up patrols at key points on Friday, including Tiananmen Square, where witnesses say hundreds or thousands were killed when troops crushed reform protests, and Liu's apartment where his wife is believed to be under house arrest. Authorities tightened a clampdown on dissidents.Western news websites, including the BBC and CNN, appeared to have been blocked. But there were no signs of trouble in the Chinese capital where memories of Tiananmen have faded for many as China has risen as a global economic and political power while guarding the Communist Party's tight hold on society."We can to a certain degree say that China with its 1.3 billion people is carrying mankind's fate on its shoulders," Norwegian Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said at the ceremony in Oslo's grey-walled City Hall.The thousand guests rose to a standing ovation when he called for Liu's release."If the country proves capable of developing a social market economy with full civil rights, this will have a huge favorable impact on the world. If not, there is a danger of social and economic crises arising in the country, with negative consequences for us all."The absence of the laureate was symbolised at the ceremony by an empty chair and a large portrait of Liu, bespectacled and smiling. After his speech, Jagland placed the Nobel award on the chair, amid applause.It was the first time that a laureate under detention had not been formally represented since Nazi Germany barred pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from attending in 1935.Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read out an address made by Liu, who was closely involved in Tiananmen and more recently helped found the reform group Charter 08, to a court during his trial for subversion in December 2009. The certificate awarded to this year's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is seen in this picture taken December 10, 2010. The words on the certificate read: ''The Norwegian Nobel Committee has in accordance with the testament of Alfred Nobel, drawn on November 27, 1895, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to Liu Xiaobo. Oslo December 10, 2010 signed by Committee members Thorbjoern Jagland, Kaci K. Five, Ellen-Marie Ytterhorn, Sissel Roenbeck and Aagot Valle''. Photo Credit: (REUTERS/Berit Roald/Scanpix Norway)http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...61612637215299