World IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Kurds, Iraqis Urged to Halt Fighting

Hoping to defuse another refugee crisis, U.S. officials met with Iraqi and Kurdish officials to press for an end to fighting in northern Iraq. The chief Iraqi diplomat in Washington was summoned to the State Department so U.S. officials could urge an end to Iraqi use of artillery against population centers. Department officials also met with representatives of the Kurdish leadership to discuss the fighting, which erupted last Saturday in the northeastern town of Kifri and later moved north to Sulaymaniyah, center of Kurdish nationalism. Kurdish guerrillas were massing at points close to Iraq’s borders with Iran and Turkey in case fighting resumes.