Nuclear-free world is still illusive

The decision of Norway's Nobel Committee to award this year's peace prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, also known as ICAN, was deliberately timely.

"We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time," a statement from the committee said, citing the danger of more countries, such as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, acquiring them.

These concerns were echoed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who wrote in a congratulatory tweet to ICAN: "Now more than ever we need a world without nuclear weapons."