197 nominations for Nobel Peace Prize

Nearly 200 individuals and organizations have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the second-highest number ever, a Nobel official said Wednesday.

The secretive Nobel committee does not reveal who is on the list, but those making nominations sometimes announce them.

This year's 197 nominations are believed to include former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the artificial world language Esperanto.

"We are very pleased that we are receiving nominations from all over the world," prize committee secretary Geir Lundestad told The Associated Press. "The peace prize has become more and more global."

The deadline for nominations is Feb. 1, but the number traditionally creeps up during the month as late mail arrives or the committee makes its own nominations.

Lundestad said the prize committee had already decided on a shortlist of names. He wouldn't reveal how many names were on it, but said the shortlist typically has 30-35 names and is whittled down to about 10 at the committee's next meeting in April.

The highest number of nominations was in 2005, when 199 candidates were put forth, Lundestad said.

Last year's peace prize was shared by former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work to raise awareness of global warming.