Sudanese president rejects UN force in Darfur

UN chief Ban Ki-moon tried to persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur in talks Wednesday hours after al-Bashir flatly rejected the deployment. Ban met with the Sudanese president for more than three hours in late-night talks joined by Saudi King Abdullah and Arab League chief Amr Moussa on the sidelines of an Arab summit, the Saudi state news agency said.