Florida vote probe detects Bush pressure

An investigation by The New York Times into the vote counting in Florida which decided last year's US presidential election says officials accepted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state election laws after intense pressure from President George W Bush's supporters.

The paper examined nearly 2,500 envelopes containing votes from Americans living abroad.

It found 680 questionable votes - President Bush's victory margin over Al Gore in Florida was 537.

The flawed votes included ballots postmarked after the election and ballots from people who voted twice.

An academic expert told the Times that there was only a slight chance that discarding the questionable ballots would have given Mr Gore victory.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service