WORLD IN BRIEF

Leaders of Two Koreas Plan Pyongyang Summit

SEOUL -- The leaders of the divided Koreas will hold a summit Aug. 28 to 30 in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, South Korean news media reported Wednesday.

It will be only the second summit between the two countries, which are still technically at war.

The first, in 2000, in Pyongyang between then-South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and current North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, led to decreased tension and unprecedented North-South cooperation.

the middle east

· AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordan will allow the children of Iraqi refugees to register in public schools this month, responding to a U.N. appeal on behalf of an estimated half-million young Iraqis who fled violence in their homeland and have little or no access to education.

Jordan estimates that 50,000 Iraqi children will enroll, but exact figures will come after children sign up for the school year starting Aug. 19, said Ahmed Shaheen, spokesman for the Education Ministry.

U.N. agencies responsible for children's and refugee issues warned last month that a "generation of Iraqis could grow up uneducated and alienated" and said that they would provide $129 million to help Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and other countries buy prefabricated classrooms and hire teachers.

-- Yasmin Mousa

· DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria will host an international security meeting about Iraq on Wednesday, despite U.S. doubts about Damascus's willingness to play a role in stopping violence in its eastern neighbor.

The two-day meeting will be held in a government complex on the outskirts of Damascus. Officials from Iraq, the United States, Britain, Iran, Turkey and Jordan will attend, a Syrian official said.

U.S. officials held security talks in Baghdad this week with Iran. After a visit to Damascus last month by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syria said explicitly for the first time that it supports the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.