MADRID, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Nobel prize winning author Doris Lessing said in an interview published Sunday that the September 11 attacks had not been 'so bad' when compared to Irish Republican Army action.

'September 11 was terrible, but if one re-examines the history of the IRA, what happened in the United States wasn't so bad,' Lessing, who captured this year's Nobel literature prize told Spain's leading El Pais daily.

The IRA waged a lengthy armed struggle against British rule in Northern Ireland. It declared an end to its armed campaign in 2005.

TOKYO, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The head of a UN climate panel that shared the Nobel Peace Prize warned Friday that Asia was particularly vulnerable to global warming, with the continent set for more disasters unless action is taken.

'Asia being the rapidly growing continent with the largest share of the human population located over here, clearly vulnerabilities in Asia are going to be of importance,' said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

TOKYO, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The head of the UN climate panel that shared the Nobel Peace Prize last week said Thursday there was still time for the world to turn around the global warming trend as he visited Japan for talks.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told a press conference the Nobel prize committee's decision showed it believed climate change was a threat to world peace.

TOKYO, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate panel which shared the Nobel Peace Prize last week, arrived in Japan Thursday for talks on global warming.

The Indian scientist, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will give a keynote address at a two-day conference, said an official with the Japanese environment ministry.

The conference is sponsored by Global Environmental Action, a group created by Japanese politicians, business leaders and scholars.

TOKYO, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate panel which shared the Nobel Peace Prize last week, was due in Japan on Thursday for talks on global warming.

The Indian scientist, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was due in Japan late Thursday ahead of a two-day conference, said an official with the Japanese environment ministry.

The conference is sponsored by Global Environmental Action, a group created by Japanese politicians, business leaders and scholars.

WASHINGTON, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Nobel economics co-laureate Roger Myerson said Monday he was 'confused' on learning the news of the award but also 'incredibly honored' by the prestigious prize.

Myerson, a University of Chicago economist who shares the Nobel with fellow Americans Leonid Hurwicz and Eric Maskin, said he hopes his theoretical work can be applied to social problems.

'I do economic theories because I think it's important,' he told a news conference. 'There are economic and social problems that require our best efforts to understand better.'

STOCKHOLM, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson, who shared the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday, are three US professors who have dedicated their careers to studying mechanism design theory.

Leonid Hurwicz was born on August 21, 1917, in Moscow and later became a US citizen. He is retired but continues to work at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis where he is professor emeritus of economics.

In 1938, he earned a masters of law degree at the University of Warsaw in Poland.

STOCKHOLM, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - US trio Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson won the 2007 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for 'having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory,' the Nobel jury said.

The jury said the theory -- initiated by Hurwicz, and further developed by Maskin and Myerson -- had helped economists 'identify efficient trading mechanisms, regulation schemes and voting procedures'.

STOCKHOLM, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - The 2007 Nobel prize season comes to a close on Monday with the announcement of the Economics Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The winner of the prize is scheduled to be announced in Stockholm at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT). Americans have enjoyed an unbroken run of wins in the economics category since 2000.

Last year, the honours went to Edmund S. Phelps for his analysis of long- and short-term trade-offs in macroeconomic policy.

PARIS, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - How can the Nobel Peace Prize -- intended for those who labour for 'fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding of peace congresses' -- be awarded for work on climate change?

Skeptics were swift to raise this question after the planet's most prestigious award went to former US president Al Gore for his campaigning on global warming and the scientists of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

WASHINGTON, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - US newspapers Saturday hailed Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against climate change, saying it showed up failings of President George W. Bush in the seven years since he beat Gore to the White House.

'For more than 20 years, Mr. Gore persisted in the face of intense skepticism and criticism with his warnings about the impact of global warming on the planet,' the Washington Post wrote, hailing the award as 'vindication'.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Democratic White House front-runner Hillary Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, on Friday congratulated former vice president Al Gore after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hillary Clinton emblazoned a message headlined 'Congratulations!' on her website, for Gore, who served for two terms as vice president to her husband.

'Congratulations to Al Gore for his well deserved Nobel Peace Prize. His dedication and tireless work have been instrumental in raising international awareness about global warming.'

PALO ALTO, California, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Former US vice-president Al Gore vowed Friday to use his Nobel Peace Prize to step up awareness of climate change, but ducked questions about a possible bid for the White House.

In comments to reporters at the offices of the Alliance for Climate Protection in northern California, Gore said he would seek to drive home the scale of the 'planetary emergency' caused by global warming.

OSLO, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Former US vice president Al Gore and the UN's top climate panel shared the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, in a major boost to the international campaign for action against global warming.

Gore, who has reinvented himself as a climate warrior since failing in his bid to become US president in 2000, said he was 'deeply honoured' by the award and warned of the 'planetary emergency' posed by climate change.

PALO ALTO, California, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Former US vice-president Al Gore vowed to use his Nobel Peace Prize to step up awareness of climate change on Friday but ducked questions about a possible bid for the White House.

In comments to reporters at the offices of the Alliance for Climate Protection in northern California, Gore said he would seek to drive home the scale of the 'planetary emergency' caused by global warming.

PARIS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - UN chiefs and campaigners welcomed the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for enshrining climate change as the inescapable issue of our time but the White House said it would not affect US policies.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the Nobel a reward for former US vice president Al Gore's 'exceptional commitment and conviction' and for the work of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in having 'established beyond doubt that climate change is happening.'

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - With a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar under his belt, Al Gore's fervent fans are hoping he will go for a unique grand slam and take another shot at the US presidency.

Speculation about Gore's political future blossomed anew Friday after the announcement that the former vice president and environmental guru had shared the Nobel award with a UN panel on climate change.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - US former vice president Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize has highlighted the urgency of tackling climate change, but experts and ordinary Americans were divided over whether it would spur the United States to mend its energy-unfriendly ways.

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in Washington showed 77 percent of Americans believe there is solid evidence the climate is changing, but less than half thought it was due to human activity.

PALO ALTO, California, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Former US vice president Al Gore on Friday described climate change as a 'planetary emergency' and vowed to use his Nobel Peace Prize to raise awareness of the issue.

'It truly is a planetary emergency and we have to respond quickly,' Gore said in brief comments to reporters at the Alliance for Climate Protection offices in Palo Alto, California.

JERUSALEM, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday congratulated former US vice president Al Gore on winning the Nobel Peace Prize for raising world awareness over the dangers of global warming.

'Congratulations for joining the Nobel peace laureates club,' Peres, himself a 1995 Nobel Peace laureate, told Gore in a phone call shortly after his winning was announced in Oslo.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Al Gore's crusade to spur the world into action over climate change may have won him the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, but it is unlikely to trigger any policy U-turn in the White House.

The administration of US President George W. Bush applauded the honor bestowed on the former vice president with spokesman Tony Fratto saying: 'Obviously it's an important recognition.'

But asked if the Nobel win would pressure the Bush administration to adopt a 'Gore-style' approach to tackling climate change, Fratto flatly replied: 'No.'

PARIS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the UN's top climate panel on Friday prompted a fresh chorus of criticism from global warming sceptics -- with one dubbing the award 'a political gimmick'.

The former vice-president already has an Oscar for his film on climate change, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' and the Nobel prize proved a laurel too far for some of his detractors.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus cast doubt on Gore's contribution to the cause of peace -- the ostensible purpose of the Norwegian prize.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Even if Al Gore spurns fresh calls for a 2008 White House run, his Nobel prize-winning environmental crusade has thrust global warming into a US election campaign like never before.

While green issues have thickened Europe's electoral stew for years, climate change has been on the fringe of US national politics, even though America is the world's single largest greenhouse gas polluter.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Al Gore, the nearly man of US politics who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, reinvented himself as an Oscar-winning seer on climate change after his White House dreams were blown away.

Bill Clinton's former vice president helped propel global warming to the top of the international agenda with his 2006 film 'An Inconvenient Truth,' which received the Academy Award for best documentary.

OSLO, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Former US vice president Al Gore and the UN's top climate panel shared the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, in a major boost to the international campaign for action against global warming.

Gore, who has reinvented himself as a climate warrior since failing in his bid to become US president in 2000, said he was 'deeply honoured' by the award and warned of the 'planetary emergency' posed by climate change.

BERLIN, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated former US vice president Al Gore and the UN's top climate panel on their shared Nobel Peace Price Friday, calling it a triumph for climate protection efforts.

'The dangers of climate change are among humanity's biggest challenges,' said Merkel, who has also made a name for herself on the world stage as a green campaigner.

OTTAWA, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Canadian environmentalist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, considered a Nobel Peace Prize contender, said Friday she was disappointed she did not get a share of the honor but that Earth was a winner in the end.

Watt-Cloutier said she had been jointly nominated for the award with former US vice president Al Gore, who won the Nobel alongside the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - The White House applauded former US vice president Al Gore Friday for winning the Nobel Peace Prize but said it would not change the administration's policy on climate change.

'Obviously it's an important recognition and we're sure the vice president is thrilled,' White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, adding President George W. Bush was 'happy for the vice president.'

OTTAWA, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Canadian enviornmentalist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, considered a Nobel peace prize contender, said Friday she was disappointed she did not get a share of the honor but that Earth was a winner in the end.

Watt-Cloutier said she had been jointly nominated for the award with former US vice president Al Gore, who won the Nobel alongside the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Democratic White House front-runner Hillary Clinton on Friday congratulated former vice president Al Gore, after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Clinton emblazoned a message headlined 'Congratulations!' on her website, for Gore, who served for two terms as vice president to her husband Bill Clinton.

'Congratulations to Al Gore for his well deserved Nobel Peace Prize. His dedication and tireless work have been instrumental in raising international awareness about global warming.'

OTTAWA, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - 'Planet Earth is a winner' of the Nobel peace prize too, alongside former US vice president Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said Inuit nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier Friday.

Canadian Watt-Cloutier, who was jointly nominated with Gore for the prestigious award and a favorite to win for her tireless defense of the Arctic and Inuit rights in the face of climate change, told public broadcaster CBC she was 'very pleased that they won.'

OSLO, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Here is a list of the US winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded on Friday to former US vice president Al Gore and the UN's top climate panel for their campaign for action against global warming:

2007: Al Gore, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

1997: Jody Williams, with International Campaign to Ban Landmines

1973: Henry A. Kissinger, with Le Duc Tho (Democratic Republic of Vietnam)

1970: Norman E. Borlaug

1964: Martin Luther King

1962: Linus Carl Pauling

PRAGUE, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who has led a personal crusade for months against 'the hysteria' surrounding global warming, said he was astonished Friday by the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to former US vice-President Al Gore.

Vaclav Klaus 'is a bit surprised that Al Gore has received a peace prize because the connection between his activities and world peace are vague and not very clear,' a statement released by the president's office said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - With a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar under his belt, Al Gore's fervent fans are hoping he will go for a unique grand slam and take another shot at the US presidency.

Speculation about Gore's political future blossomed anew Friday after the announcement that the former vice president and environmental guru had shared the Nobel award with a UN panel on climate change.

PARIS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize enshrined climate change as the inescapable issue of our time and should powerfully spur efforts to tackle the peril, UN chiefs and campaigners said on Friday.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed the Nobel as a reward for former US vice president Al Gore's 'exceptional commitment and conviction' and for the work of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in having 'established beyond doubt that climate change is happening.'

PARIS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - The award of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to Al Gore and the UN's panel of climate scientists gives a boost to talks on curbing greenhouse gases, the UN's top climate change official said.

'This will help in building public support on what is really important, which is to get negotiations going on the solution,' said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

GENEVA, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Environmental group WWF on Friday said the joint Nobel peace prize awarded to former US vice president Al Gore and the UN's panel of climate change scientists was recognition of 'the world's major challenge of the early 21st century.'

'The award of this Nobel Peace Price is clear recognition for the growing global movement to stop climate change,' Hans Verolme, Director of WWF International's Climate Change Programme, said in a statement.