Merkel praises others as she accepts UN refugee agency award

GENEVA (AP) — Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has received the U.N. refugee agency’s top award. At the ceremony in Geneva, she crediting the people behind the welcome of more than 1 million refugees, mostly from Syria, after she opened Germany’s doors to them in 2015 and 2016. Merkel said she would donate the $150,000 prize for winning the UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award to four other regional laureates who were also recognized. The award celebrates Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian scientist, explorer and diplomat who was the first commissioner for refugees in the League of Nations — the predecessor of the United Nations.