Here are the front-runners to win the Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Prize for Peace will be announced Friday in Oslo. It’s awarded by a committee of five appointed by the Norwegian parliament. There’s no shoo-in candidate this year, but a think tank in Norway has issued a shortlist of front-runners. Here are the top five candidates, according to Kristian Berg Harpviken, the director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo.

The White Helmets

In besieged rebel-held areas of Syria, an all-volunteer team known as the Syrian Civil Defense is on the front lines rescuing and treating civilians trapped within the country’s many battlefields. By some counts, the group, better known by their nickname “White Helmets,” saved as many as 60,000 people, often at tremendous risk to themselves. Their heroism has earned plaudits overseas and is even the subject of new documentary available on Netflix. Detractors say that the group is too cozy with foreign powers and some Islamist factions. For many Syrians, though, they are the only difference between life and death.

http://www.startribune.com/here-are-the-front-runners-to-win-the-nobel-peace-prize/396216111/