President in the soup

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) - President Jorge Serrano's trip to New York to present a peace plan at the UN has been overshadowed by a scandal about him visiting an expensive topless club.

The 47-year-old President and former pastor insisted he went to the club 'to get a bowl of onion soup', and accused Guatemalan rebels of creating the furore and the Spanish-language television network Univision of manipulating the film footage.

Mr Serrano arrived in Guatemala City late on Wednesday, hours after Univision broadcast a videotape of him leaving the bar, which features topless waitresses.