President Clinton: the American people want me back at work

At a news conference in Moscow with the Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, on Wednesday, Mr Clinton told reporters he believed his televised speech to the US nation, last month, had conveyed his "profound regret to all who were hurt."

BBC Washington Correspondent Bridget Kendall reports on a moment President Clinton was dreading

"I've actually been quite heartened by the reaction of the American people and the leaders throughout the world about it," he said.

"I have acknowledged that I have made a mistake, said that I regretted it and asked to be forgiven. I believe it's time for us to now go back to the work of the country."

Paula Jones testimony to go public

In the latest development in the affair, a judge in the United States says she intends to make public a deposition from President Clinton in which he denies having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky.

District Judge Susan Webber Wright said she had concerns about the president's testimony, given in a sexual harassment suit brought by Paula Jones.

The suit was dismissed in the courts earlier this year, but President Clinton later changed the account of his relationship with Miss Lewinsky, admitting that he had an "inappropriate relationship" with her.

Fair trial

Excerpts from Mr Clinton's deposition have already been made public, but his lawyers had sought to block release of the full deposition, claiming that it would taint the prospects of a fair trial should Mrs Jones's legal action be reinstated upon appeal.

In a one-sentence footnote to her decision, Judge Wright said she "has concerns about the nature of the president's January 17, 1998, deposition" but "makes no findings at this time regarding whether the president may be in contempt."

Mrs Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, alleged that Mr Clinton, who was then state governor, exposed himself to her in a Little Rock hotel in 1991 and asked her for oral sex.