Palestinian president receives invitation to attend Mideast conference

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received an invitation Tuesday to attend the US-sponsored Mideast peace conference next week in Annapolis, Maryland, a Palestinian official said. Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said the long-awaited invitation was delivered to Abbas at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. At the time, the US consul in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, was meeting with Abbas.