Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and Tawakul Karman of Yemen were announced as the winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo this morning.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs has a new book, "The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity," and the heart of it is a single argument: all of the nation’s current economic, political and productive woes share a similar root cause: that America’s financial and political leaders are failing to take the moral steps necessary to restrain a society of markets, and policies run amok, and that we need to become a "mindful society."

Three women were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, becoming the first women to win since 2004. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and Tawakul Karman of Yemen will share the award. The Norwegian Nobel committee honored the three women for "their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work." Johnson Sirleaf is the first democratically-elected female head of state in Africa, Gbowee is an activist, and Karman is a leading figure in Yemen's pro-democracy movement.

This weekend, two of the season's biggest star vehicles are opening in theaters. "The Ides of March," with George Clooney as a distinctly pre-2008 Obama-like candidate, and Ryan Gosling as an idealistic campaign staffer. "Real Steel" stars Hugh Jackman as a boxer eight years in the future, when robot boxing has replaced actual human boxing as America's favorite bloodsport.

The Detroit Tigers are heading to the ALCS after edging out the New York Yankees 3-2 on Thursday night in a decisive winner take all game 5. Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, The Takeaway's sports contributor, gives his analysis of the game.

Today marks ten years since U.S. invaded Afghanistan. In many ways, it's a quiet landmark; the White House has no public events planned to mark the occasion. The United States and NATO plan to leave the country by 2014, saving lives and billions of dollars for America. But, as retired Army General Stanley McChrystal said in remarks on Thursday night, many are worried that it will not have established a fully-functioning and secure government and military by the draw-down date. The U.S. and NATO remain "far from reaching their goals," McChrystal said.

Monthly unemployment figures will be released later this morning. Economists are expecting little or no job creation in September, and that unemployment will continue to hold at 9.1 percent.

On Thursday, President Obama spoke at a press conference from the White House on his jobs proposal, calling it "an insurance policy against a possible double-dip recession." Obama hopes to fund the plan via a plan pitched by Senate Democrats this week, to tax Americans with incomes above one million dollars per year. Senate Leader Harry Reid plans to bring the jobs bill to the Senate floor next week.

Todaymarks ten years since the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan began — a milestone many people may not have imagined the U.S. would reach. For soldiers, the anniversary is cause for reflection. Special Forces Major Fernando M. Luján made his reflections public last week, in an op-ed in The New York Times called "This War Can Still Be Won." Luján, who was stationed in Afghanistan for 14 months, and is now a member of the Afghan Hands program, says "the Afghans have the will to win, with or without us."

After Steve Jobs died on Wednesday, many reflected on his innovations, and how they changed what the world has come to expect from technology. His intuitive understanding of design and human psychology helped him to create a user-friendly approach to high-tech computing which, in turn, made Apple one of the most popular brands in the world.

Chuck Klosterman has his finger on the pulse of contemporary American life. His essays and novels examine not only sports and pop culture, but also what the most popular athletes, music, movies and Internet obsessions say about who Americans are. Klosterman’s new book, "The Visible Man" is a novel about a therapist and her extraordinary patient, a man who claims he’s perfected the art of invisibility.

Three women were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, becoming the first women to win since 2004. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and Tawakul Karman of Yemen will share the award. The Norwegian Nobel committee honored the three women for "their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work." Johnson Sirleaf is the first democratically-elected female head of state in Africa, Gbowee is an activist, and Karman is a leading figure in Yemen's pro-democracy movement.

Employers added 103,000 jobs in September, keeping the unemployment rate at 9.1 percent. Employers have added an average of only 72,000 jobs in the last five months. The economy must create twice as many in order to keep up with population growth. The figures rebuff grim warnings from economists in recent weeks that the U.S. is headed for a double-dip recession. Many economist continue to be concerned over the growing European sovereign debt crisis, which President Obama said in a press conference on Thursday "could have a very real effect on our economy at a time when it's already fragile."