Africa’s first democratically elected female president, a Liberian campaigner against rape and a woman who stood up to Yemen’s autocratic regime won the Nobel Peace Prize today in recognition of the importance of women’s rights in the spread of global peace. The $1.5 million award was split three ways between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, women’s rights activist Leymah Gbowee from the same African country and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen — the first Arab woman to win the prize. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told The Associated Press that Karman’s award should be seen as a signal that both women and Islam have important roles to play in the uprisings known as the Arab Spring, the wave of anti-authoritarian revolts that have challenged rulers across the Arab world/Karl Ritter and Bjoern H. Amland, AP. More here. (AP photo: Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman is one of three women to share the Nobel Peace Prize today.)

Question: Would we be better off if political power around the world was shared equally by men and women?

President Barack Obama speaks to the media Monday about the airliner bombing attempt on Christmas Day.

It’s not just me. Our president is looking worn out.

WASHINGTON — After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.

Who could blame him? The president was on his ninth foreign trip to his 21st country; he added a 10th trip the following week. The year had been bookended by the two most intense periods of his young presidency - the early decisions to bail out the nation’s banks and automobile industry, steps the president deemed unpopular but necessary, and his December orders to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops to fight the war in Afghanistan. More here.

Would you want his job?