Cuba

Havana freed Gross, who spent five years in a Cuban prison, as a humanitarian gesture. The former USAID contractor said he hoped the U.S. and Cuba move past their "mutually belligerent" policies.

The U.S. and Cuba will start talks on normalizing relations and discuss opening a U.S. Embassy in Havana. Also today, Cuba freed USAID contractor Alan Gross on humanitarian grounds.

President Obama called the unnamed man "one of the most important intelligence agents that the United States has ever had in Cuba." The agent spent nearly two decades in a Cuban prison.

The award was set up in 2010 after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Chinese dissident. Chinese media said the former Cuban leader was honored because he didn't use force in foreign relations.

Alan Gross was working for USAID, to bring Internet access to Jewish Cubans. The Cuban government sentenced him to 15 years in prison.