OSLO (TIP): Malala Yousafzai, theshot Pakistani schoolgirl-turned-iconof Taliban resistance, and ex-Easternbloc activists are among those knownto be nominated for this year’s NobelPeace Prize, as the deadline expiredon Friday.This year’s award will beannounced in October, butspeculation was already on as thedeadline for nominations ran out onFebruary 1.”A prize to Malala would not onlybe timely and fitting with a line ofawards to champions of human rightsand democracy, but also … would setboth children and education on thepeace and conflict agenda,” said thehead of the Peace Research Instituteof Oslo, Kristian Berg Harpviken.Others known to have beennominated are human rights activists,including Belarussian human rightsactivist Ales Belyatski – and Russia‘sLyudmila Alexeyeva. “They have bothdefied authoritarian state structuresand the illegal and illegitimate abuseof power,” said Jan Tore Sanner, oneof the two Norwegian PMs whonominated them.