The world's nuclear powers must begin "serious negotiations" aimed at disarmament, the Nobel committee said Friday as it awarded its prestigious Peace Prize to non-proliferation pressure group ICAN. 

"This year's Peace Prize is also a call upon these states to initiate serious negotiations with a view to the gradual, balanced and carefully monitored elimination of the almost 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world," said Norway's Nobel committee president Berit Reiss-Andersen.