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The British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been tried to defuse the row sparked off by the head of the army who said Britain should withdraw its troops from Iraq soon. Mr. Blair said he agreed with what General Sir Richard Dannatt said, but added the army chief ignored some headline suggested urged an immediate withdrawal of British troops. Robert L reports.

In his interview, General Richard Dannatt said the British military presence in Iraq was exacerbating security problems in some areas and the troops should be withdrawn sometime soon. Oppotion parties in Britain have seized on the General's comments saying that they showed that he is out of step with government policy. But Mr. Blair /British/ said the policy had always been the British troops would withdraw from Iraq when the time was right once responsibility for security had been handed over to the Iraqis. He highlighted the fact that this has already happened in two provinces and said he believed some of the General's remarkes had been reported out of context.

The authorities in the United States have voted an investigation into fresh allegations of prisoner abuse at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. The Pentagon's chief inspector ordered the inquiry after receiving a sworn statement from a visitor to Guantanamo who described how guards had boasted to her of abusing inmates. J C reports from Washington.

The Pentagon's Inspector General's office ordered the inquiry after receiving a sworn statement from 23-year-old Sergeant Heather Cerveny, a legal assistant working for a Marine representing one of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. In her statement she described an alleged conversation between several guards at prison camp bar in which they boasted of hitting and punching prisoners. She went on to say that everyone in the group laughed at each other's stories of physical abuse that disappeared to be common pratice.

The incoming Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has called for a strong and clear Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's declared nuclear test. Mr. Ban who delt with Pyongyang in his post to South Korea foreign minister said the North must be given a message not to aggravate the situation further. Mr. Ban made his comments as the Security Council prepares for a vote during Saturday on a resolution imposing sanctions on Pyongyang.

There are / challenges to peace, development and human rights. A stuck / reminder was a nuclear test conducted by North Korea earlier in the week. I hope the Security Council quickly adopts a clear and strong resolution on this.

In a run-off to the vote, China and Russia have said they wanted to further discussion of a draft resolution prepared by Washington. US diplomats have already produced three drafts. But the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow wanted to ensure the response to Pyongyang's declared nuclear test was not extreme. The Chinese ambassador to the UN said more progress was possible. The American evnoy John Bolton said consultations would continue and there could be further alterations to the text.

You are listening to the world news from the BBC.

President Bush has signed a legislation which in effect makes online gambling illegal in the United States. The law prohibits people who plays bets through their computers from using credit cards, checks and electronic money transfers. Nick M reports from Washington.

The legislation was backed by Conservative and anti-gambling groups who believe online betting is particularly addictive. It means that it's now a federal offence for firms to accept or handle money, a paying from Internet betting in the United States. The scope of the bill is still unclear. The US government has 9 months in which to issue regulations setting the banks or other institutions must block gambling related transactions. There are almost 2,000 gambling sites on the Internet. The American market alone was worth more than 6 billion dollars a year.

A senior Republican congressman in the United States Bob Ney has pled guilty to corruption charges in an investigation into the former political lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Mr. Ney who represents the state of Ohio has admitted taking money gifts and favors in exchange for using his political influence to help Mr. Abramoff and his clients.

A court in Peru is expected to announce the / soon in a trial of the leader of the / guerilla group Shining Path. Abimael Guzman faces terrorism charges related to an uprising in which estimated 70,000 peopel were killed during the 1980s and the early 1990s.