Western Hemisphere
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said on Friday that the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama was a "surprise." Maduro urged Obama to show his commitment to peace by ruling out the deployment of US military bases in Colombia.

Maduro said in New York that the announcement of the award was a surprise because the Obama administration "is just beginning" and some actions taken by the US government have caused "tensions" in several countries in the world, DPA reported.

"We believe that the Nobel Prize is a great commitment to seek peace rather than a reward to any specific achievement," Maduro said. "As President Hugo Chávez said at the United Nations, (the new US Administration) is a government that has raised expectations and hopes in many people in the world, amid great contradictions."