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Jordan's King Abdullah II has been awarded a prestigious prize in Germany for his peace efforts in the Middle East.

At the award ceremony Saturday for the Westphalian Peace Prize in Muenster's town hall, German President Joachim Gauck said Abdullah and his fellow Jordanians had "set standards for humanity" for their work in the region's refugee crisis.

Jordan, with a population of about 6.5 million, is hosting about 635,000 refugees from neighboring war-torn Syria.

The annual prize commemorates the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, a series of treaties concluded and announced in Muenster town hall in 1648 that ended the Thirty Years' War and other conflicts.