OSLO, Oct 9: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan seems a favourite to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and his chances may have been boosted by his drive to combat global terrorism.

Other candidates for the prize on the 100th anniversary of the first award in 1901 include the Red Cross, the European Court of Human Rights, Pope John Paul, the banned Chinese spiritual group Falun Gong and the UN War Crimes tribunal.

“We will make the announcement on Friday,” Geir Lundestad, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, told Reuters. The head of the committee, Gunnar Berge, will read out the decision at 0900 GMT in Oslo.

Norwegian media, sometimes a source of leaks, have had scant focus on the peace prize amid the attacks on Afghanistan.

“Normally we have articles about the prize but this year we haven’t — it’s fallen into the background,” foreign editor Frode Holst of Verdens Gang, Norway’s top selling daily, told Reuters. “If I had to make a tip it would be Kofi Annan.” —Reuters