Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi Win Nobel Peace Prize

Malala

Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for risking their lives to fight for children's rights. The decision made Malala, a 17-year-old student and education activist, the youngest-ever Nobel winner.

The news set off celebrations on the streets of Mingora, the main town in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley, with residents greeting each other and distributing sweets.

At the town's Khushal Public School owned by Malala's father: students danced in celebration Friday, jumping up and down.

Malala / Kailash

Appropriately, Malala was at school Friday in the central English city of Birmingham at the time of the Nobel announcement and was expected to make a statement later in the day. Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the decision "has given pride to the whole of Pakistan."

The Nobel committee's announcement reflected a delicate diplomatic balance, naming one activist from Pakistan and another from India, two countries that are long-time bitter rivals; one Muslim and one Hindu; both sexes; an elder statesman of child's rights and a youthful advocate who had herself been a victim. Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said it was important to reward both an Indian Hindu and a Pakistani Muslim for joining "in a common struggle for education and against extremism."

The two will split the Nobel award of $1.1 million."