A potential leak ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize announcement for Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is "highly likely" linked to espionage, the Nobel Institute suggested in an interview with Norway's TV2 , according to news agency AFP .

The award was officially announced on Friday around 10 am local time. Yet unusual betting activity had already begun late Thursday on Polymarket, a popular online prediction market. Wagers on Machado surged, pushing her odds of winning to over 73 per cent shortly after midnight.

The sudden spike sparked suspicion. No media outlets or experts had listed Machado among frontrunners prior to the announcement, raising questions about whether confidential information had been leaked.

For a brief 45 minutes, the odds on Yulia Navalnaya, w

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