UNESCO seems to have come to its sense with this move, but they shouldn't have had a prize named after this dictator in the first place. Equatorial Guinea's leader Obiang has had a lot of human rights abuses happen under his reign, as quite a few non-fiction books on Africa have mentioned him in detail. Would they let Saddam Hussein or Robert Mugabe fund prizes?

The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen a lot of tragedy since what seems like ... forever, and the bad news doesn't seem to cease. Mass rapes has been in the Western limelight recently, but it remains to be seen what action will be taken. It's been deemed as a weapon of war, which seems to be quite obvious, and the sad thing is these aren't new.

In a bold gesture, the Nobel Committee awarded Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize. Liu, who helped draft Charter 08, a manifesto which advocates political reform and human rights that was signed by thousands of Chinese intellectuals and activists, is currently imprisoned as part of an 11-year term while his wife is under house arrest. Understadably this infuriated China, but it's also gotten some Chinese upset and brought on some criticism from commentators. Of course, it's also an opportunity for Chinese to mock their government. However, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made some waves of his own with a surprising call for reform earlier this week. One wonders whether it's genuine or an attempt to mitigate global anger and criticism of China.