Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado emerged from hiding in Venezuela to collect her award in Oslo. The Venezuelan opposition leader fled her home country by fishing boat to the Caribbean island of Curaçao, then flew by private plane to Norway via the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal. In a video she posted Thursday around 2 a.m., Machado greeted a cheering crowd from the balcony of Oslo’s Grand Hotel, the venue that annually hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Machado missed Wednesday’s event, where her daughter accepted the prize on her behalf. It was Machado’s first public appearance since January, after spending months in hiding in her home country. After arriving in Oslo, Machado met Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. In a joint press conference Thursday morning, Støre praised the Nobel prize winner: “I would like to salute you … for your struggle. It has cost you, your family and your people a lot.” “I am very hopeful Venezuela will be free. We will turn the country into a beacon of hope and opportunity of democracy,” said Machado, who was seeing her family for the first time in 16 months. In 2023, she was disqualified from running for Venezuelan president against authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro — prompting her to back candidate Edmundo González, who lost to Maduro in an election that observers described as flawed. González later fled the country for Spain. Machado recently praised Donald Trump for his stance against Venezuela’s authoritarian government, after the U.S. president said Maduro’s days in office were numbered. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

The problem of inequality has become so pressing that it needs coordinated global action to address it, a group of over 500 economists and scientists said on Friday. The group, which includes former Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen along with French economist Thomas Piketty and Nobel Prize winner Daren Acemoglu, called in an open letter for the creation of a body akin to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to coordinate action against what it saw as disastrous effects on modern society. “We are profoundly concerned, as they are, that extreme concentrations of wealth translate into undemocratic concentrations of power, unravelling trust in our societies and polarising our politics,” read the letter, referring to the findings of a G20 research committee led by noted American economist Joseph Stiglitz. Just last week, shareholders of electric vehicle company Tesla voted to award the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, a pay package potentially worth $1 trillion, the largest in history. Musk, also the owner of social media platform X, is already the richest man in the world. The IPCC has spearheaded the collection and dissemination of the scientific consensus on climate change over the past four decades and acted as a powerful force to push green policy forward. The economists said a new “International Panel on Inequality” would play a similar role, gathering evidence and pushing governments to act to tackle wealth gaps.  The proposal was first contained in a recent report on inequality authored by a G20 research committee led by Stiglitz, who focused on inequality in his time as chief economist at the World Bank in the 1990s. The report found that between 2000 and 2024, the richest 1 percent of humanity had accumulated 41 percent of all new wealth — versus the 1 percent that had gone to the bottom half of the global population. That’s equal to an average gain of $1.3 million for the top 1 percent, versus $585 for people in the poorest half. There have been marked political consequences of these large differences between the rich and the poor, with the report finding that countries with high levels of inequality were “seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal countries.”  Stiglitz said in an interview with POLITICO that the growing gap between rich and poor is evidence that the past four decades of middle-of-the-road governance on both sides of the Atlantic has failed. Populists across the West, including U.S. President Donald Trump, had seized the moment, playing on the grievances that failure had stoked, he said.  “I do think that centrist politicians on both sides of the Atlantic bought into the neoliberal fantasy that if you had trade liberalization, financial liberalization, privatization, you would have more growth, and trickle-down economics would make sure that everyone would benefit,” said Stiglitz.  He praised the recent victory of the Democratic Socialist mayor-elect of New York, Zohran Mamdani, who he said was addressing people’s everyday concerns, in contrast to politicians of both the center-left and center-right. Mamdani, who last week surged to victory after defeating both Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo and Republican contender Curtis Sliwa, ran a strikingly effective media campaign centered on the city’s spiraling cost of living. His platform included promises to provide free bus travel, state-owned supermarkets and rent-controlled apartments.   Stiglitz, who described himself as “very market friendly,” nonetheless said he thought the left-wing mayor had opened up space for debate. Zohran Mamdani, who last week surged to victory after defeating both Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo and Republican contender Curtis Sliwa, ran a strikingly effective media campaign centered on the city’s spiraling cost of living. | Sarah Yenesel/EPA “He’s saying things that are important to people: things like housing, food, transport, health care,” said Stiglitz. “He’s just ticking down the list of things that make for the necessities of a decent life, and he’s saying things aren’t working right.”  Stiglitz won his Nobel Prize in 2001 for work on information asymmetries in markets, and served as a chief economist at the World Bank and as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during former President Bill Clinton’s administration, where he had a famously rocky relationship with Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. With its embrace of globalization and the Internet revolution, Clinton’s team was hugely influential in drawing the parameters for the modern world economy. The influential economist said that tackling inequality wasn’t just a moral choice, but a political necessity. He added that the yawning gap between the rich and poor was undermining the U.S. in its economic and technological competition with China. “[The U.S.] won’t win if we are a divided society, a polarized society,” said Stiglitz, echoing rhetoric of the last Cold War. “The greatest weakness in the U.S. today is this division.”

World football governing body FIFA on Wednesday announced it will introduce an award “to reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world.” The prize, called the FIFA Peace Prize, will be awarded annually, with the inaugural edition presented by FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Dec. 3 during the final draw for FIFA World Cup 26 in Washington. “In an increasingly unsettled and divided world, it’s fundamental to recognise the outstanding contribution of those who work hard to end conflicts and bring people together in a spirit of peace,” said Gianni Infantino. Infantino has forged a close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has spent much of his second term in office trying to broker peace in various conflicts around the world — and to ensure that he receives the recognition he feels is appropriate for his role as a peacemaker. Despite his best efforts, Trump did not get the Nobel Peace Prize he had been overtly lobbying for. The White House blasted the Nobel Committee for not awarding the prize to Trump last month, saying that it had “placed politics over peace.” Trump has also threatened to annex Greenland and Canada, and last week said the U.S. would recommence nuclear testing. In July, FIFA opened an office in New York’s Trump Tower and appointed Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, to the board of an education charity project co-funded by World Cup ticket sales. FIFA did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for a comment.

President Donald Trump on Friday did not win the Nobel Peace Prize he has long sought, with the award going to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Trump this year has forcefully lobbied for the prize, claiming to have solved seven to eight wars over the course of this term — though the reality is more complicated. Seven world leaders endorsed him for the prize, according to the White House. He punctuated that work this week by finalizing the first phase of a peace deal in Gaza, although it is widely assumed that the winner was selected weeks ago. Machado “has spoken out for judicial independence, human rights, and popular representation” in a time of declining democracy, Nobel committee Chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes said. “She has spent years working for the freedom of the Venezuelan people.” “We live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence,” he added, saying Venezuela is “not unique,” with “rule of law abused by those in control.” Machado is a fierce critic of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s regime and has lived in hiding in Venezuela for the last year. The prize has loomed large in Trump’s mind; he has frequently brought it up since he returned to the Oval Office. “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” the president told reporters in February. “It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.” He rehashed those concerns Thursday, telling reporters: “I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I know nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months … They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that.” Former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, among others, have speculated that Trump wouldn’t be eligible for this year’s prize. Despite the recent movement toward a peace deal in Gaza, nominations for this year’s prize were due 11 days after Trump’s inauguration for a second term. “If the Middle East peace process will be a success, if the 20-point plan will actually be implemented, and we will see a sustainable long-term peace in the region, that’s an important step. And if, through increased pressure on Putin, he can create peace in Ukraine, I think he would be, and should be, a strong candidate,” he told POLITICO. The award, which comes with around a $1 million prize, is given annually to a person, group or organization “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” according to the Nobel organization. Four U.S. presidents and one vice president have won the award, including former Presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt; and former Vice President Al Gore. Roosevelt was the last Republican president to nab the award, in 1906. Heidi Vogt contributed to this report from Washington.

Kyiv will nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he sends Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine and helps broker a ceasefire with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday. “During our most recent meeting, I didn’t hear a ‘no.’ What I did hear was that work will continue at the technical level and that this possibility will be considered,” Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv about a meeting he held with the U.S. president on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York at the end of September. “The plan for ending the war won’t be easy, but it is certainly the way forward. And if Trump gives the world — above all, the Ukrainian people — the chance for such a ceasefire, then yes, he should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Zelenskyy said. “We will nominate him on behalf of Ukraine.” Trump has campaigned to receive the prestigious award, claiming he has ended seven wars and cold-calling Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg to ask about his bid. Zelenskyy also told reporters that Tomahawks, which can fly up to 1,500 kilometers and would allow Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia as far as Siberia, could strengthen Ukraine and “sober the Russians up a bit, bringing them to the negotiating table.” The Ukrainian president noted that Kyiv had asked for the long-range precision missiles during Biden’s term, but the request was rejected. Trump said on Monday that he had “sort of” made a decision on whether to send the missiles to Ukraine, but wanted to clarify how they would be used. “I sort of made a decision pretty much. I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them, where they’re sending them, I guess. I have to ask that question,” Trump said, adding that he does not want to see escalation. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in a briefing on Wednesday, warned against sending Tomahawks to Kyiv as that “would lead to a new serious stage of escalation in the Ukrainian crisis … but also cause irreparable damage to Russian-American relations.”

President Donald Trump campaigned on an “America First” policy that rejected the United States’ traditional role of global policeman. His first 200 days in office have said otherwise. Trump is relishing his role as peacemaker in chief, according to a White House official granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president, believing he can make deals that have eluded his predecessors, showing simultaneously his acumen and his power – whether he’s successful or not. “He loves being in the position to be a kingmaker for all of these smaller, weaker countries around the world,” the person said. Trump reminds audiences regularly of the wars he believes he has stopped, emphasizing how long the conflicts have raged. Last week, Trump brought the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House to secure a peace agreement between the long-hostile countries, the sixth such deal of his second term, although his exact role in at least one case is in dispute. “I’ve solved six wars in the last six months, a little more than six months now, and I’m very proud of it,” Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office. But on Friday, Trump will face perhaps his toughest test as he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to secure an end to his war in Ukraine. Trump, who has labeled himself the “president of peace,” has turned his attention to these conflicts in part because of a belief that he can use U.S. clout to end conflicts, according to a second White House official granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking. It’s a contrast to his 2024 campaign, during which he adopted an “America First” approach, emphasizing domestic affairs over foreign conflict. “There’s only so much that you know on the campaign trail and then when you get into the West Wing, you understand what the hell is actually happening in the world,” the second official said, referring to intelligence briefings Trump received as president. “And in many ways, had [Trump] known this, I think it probably would have been a larger foundation of his campaign.” Trump’s turn of attention to settling conflicts also stems in part from his desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize, which he has long sought. Trump, in his pursuit, went so far as to cold-call the Norwegian finance minister last month to ask about the prize. The prize has also become a go-to for foreign leaders looking to curry favor with the president. At least six world leaders involved in recent agreements have nominated Trump or endorsed his nomination, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. Manet nominated Trump after the president brought Cambodia and neighboring Thailand to the table by threatening to halt trade negotiations unless they ended a border dispute. In addition to Cambodia and Thailand, White House officials say Trump has played a role in ceasefire pacts or other agreements between: Iran and Israel, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the U.S. and the Houthis in Yemen. Trump has had less success ending the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. And White House officials have provided few details of Trump’s strategic involvement. People close to Trump say the quick succession of peace deals between warring countries is aligned with his campaign vision of putting America First, in part, because the president is tying peace agreements with trade agreements as he recently did with Armenia and Azerbaijan. “With every one of these peace agreements, there has been some economic benefit to America,” the first White House official noted. Critics question Trump’s sincerity in securing peace and the permanence of such agreements. John Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser during the president’s first term, pointed in particular to the Cambodia and Thailand agreement – where there has already been violence post ceasefire, according to media reports. “He got them to sign a ceasefire to make sure they could get their trade deals done,” Bolton said. “Maybe the ceasefire will last more than a few days. Who knows? The underlying causes of the tension, the border issues have not been resolved.” “This is a Donald Trump first policy,” Bolton said. “He wants the Nobel Peace Prize. I think everybody acknowledges now that’s what’s motivating him.” Trump’s interest in landing international agreements is not a complete policy departure from the president’s first term. At that time, Trump brokered the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements that stabilized diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab countries. Trump also played a role in the reestablishment of economic ties between Serbia and Kosovo. While campaigning for his second term, Trump emphasized reduced engagement in international organizations and pushed a more transactional and nationalistic approach – something he and his team called “America First” policy, rejecting the full label of isolationist. On Friday, Trump will bring that policy into a one-on-one meeting with Putin. In the days leading to the summit, the president and his senior aides have downplayed expectations, with the president even calling it a “feel-out meeting.” Of the conflicts raging around the world when Trump took office, he thought Russia and Ukraine would be “the easiest one” to resolve. On Thursday he acknowledged, “it’s actually the most difficult.”

BRUSSELS — The age-old fight between Poland and France over the legacy of Marie Curie (née Skłodowska) has a new front: the €20 banknote. Polish officials have pushed the European Central Bank to include the pioneering scientist’s maiden name in the event of her featuring in a new series of euro banknotes, according to two people familiar with the matter. Curie, who won two Nobel Prizes in the 20th century for her discoveries unlocking the secrets of radiation, is among the symbols of “European culture” whom the ECB may feature on its next series of banknotes. The ECB’s Governing Council is expected to decide on the final design by the end of 2026, but the notes won’t be issued for some years after that. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and still the only person to win Nobels in two separate scientific fields, Skłodowska-Curie was picked to adorn the €20 note. There was only one issue: The Poles insisted the central bankers had omitted a crucial part of her name from the shortlist. Curie took a French surname from her husband Pierre in 1895, but was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw. When she won her first Nobel Prize in 1903 for physics, jointly with her husband Pierre, she was credited simply as Marie Curie. When she claimed her second in 1911, for chemistry, five years after Pierre’s death, she opted for a double-barrel: Marie Skłodowska-Curie. The reclamation of her maiden name was seen as conveying a message that was at once feminist and nationalist. Its omission when the ECB published its shortlist of themes and motifs earlier this year touched a nerve in Poland, a country which has a few issues with being airbrushed out of the European story by its neighbors to the west, having been removed from the map three times in the last three centuries. The ECB’s Governing Council is expected to decide on the final design by the end of 2026, but the notes won’t be issued for some years after that. | Boris Roessler/EPA Polish diplomats in Brussels warned the ECB it was inaccurate, according to two people familiar with the matter. Polish Central Bank Governor Adam Glapiński also weighed in with a letter to ECB President Christine Lagarde. Polish MEPs — and even a few non-Poles sympathetic to Curie’s feminism — also wrote in to protest. The National Bank of Poland did not respond to a request for comment. Even though Poland has its own currency and doesn’t use the euro, Frankfurt has now made amends, updating the entry on its webpage to “Marie Curie (born Skłodowska).” Some were quick to claim victory. “I am very pleased that the ECB addressed Polish concerns and adjusted the design of [the] new €20 bank note to reflect Marie Skłodowska-Curie’s Polish heritage,” exulted conservative MEP Janusz Lewandowski, speaking to POLITICO. But the reality is somewhat more complex. For one thing, even the great woman herself had trouble making up her mind, signing herself as Skłodowska-Curie for much of her married life, but increasingly using the simplified “M. Curie” after Pierre’s death, especially in professional contexts. Moreover, European cultural figures may not even feature on the banknotes if a rival design, featuring far less divisive motifs of birds and rivers, edge them out. More to the point, the ECB hasn’t officially settled on using Curie’s double-barreled name, and is speaking to her descendants, and the Institut Curie in Paris, to work out what is for the best. “The ECB is consulting various sources to determine the most appropriate way to refer to her. If European culture is selected as the theme for the future design, a decision will be taken on how the names of all the selected personalities will be displayed on the banknotes,” an ECB spokesperson said. “For the time being, we will refer to her as Marie Curie (born Skłodowska) in order to acknowledge her dual identity.” But if history is any judge, Warsaw will get its way. A similar Polish rearguard action brought about the rebranding of the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions program in 2014, resulting — as the name implies — in a decisive Polish victory. CORRECTION: The initial version of this article misstated when the next series of notes will be issued.