Kenya under pressure for political deal

The death toll from violence in the wake of disputed elections in Kenya has passed 700, police said Sunday, as rival political leaders remained under international pressure to drop all preconditions for talks.
"The country wide death toll is more than 700 dead," a top police commander told AFP, after another senior officer reported 89 more bodies had been recovered in the Rift Valley and western provinces.
Four new deaths were reported in the Rift Valley overnight.
An official from the Kenya Red Cross Society confirmed the new recorded deaths, and revised its official toll from 486 to 575 dead. A tally by AFP now stands at 693.
The toll rose after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga -- who claims he was robbed of the presidency in the December 27 elections -- that failure to negotiate a solution to the deadlock would be disastrous.