World pledges $10B for Syrians, but peace prospects bleak

LONDON -- World leaders pledged more than $10 billion Thursday to help fund schools, shelter and jobs for refugees from Syria's civil war, money British Prime Minister David Cameron said "will save lives, will give hope, will give people the chance of a future."

But participants at the conference in London acknowledged prospects for ending the conflict are bleak: Peace talks are suspended, fighting is intensifying, Russia and the West are at odds, and millions of Syrians are suffering from bombardment, homelessness and hunger.

"The situation in Syria is as close to hell as we are likely to find on this Earth," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was no more upbeat.

"After almost five years of fighting, it's pretty incredible that as we come here in London in 2016, the situation on the ground is actually worse," he said.

The one-day meeting, held under tight security at a conference center near Parliament, aspired to bring new urgency to the effort to help the 4.6 million Syrians who have sought refuge in neighboring countries including Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Another 6 million people or more are displaced within Syria, and a quarter of a million have been killed.

Aid workers warn of a "lost generation" of Syrians if some 700,000 refugee children who are not attending school don't get an education.

Education campaigner Malala Yusafzai and 17-year-old Syrian refugee Mezon al-Melihan met with Cameron and other leaders to press for $1.4 billion for education for children in Syria and its neighbors.

"Without education, who will bring peace?" al-Melihan said.