WASHINGTON, May 16: The White House urged the Newsweek magazine on Monday to retract its report about the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran at Guantanamo Bay.

“It is puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story,” said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. “There is a journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not.”

The report set off the most violent and widespread anti-American protests in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government more than three years ago. On Sunday, Newsweek apologized for printing a small item on May 9 about the reported desecration of Holy Quran by American guards at Guantanamo Bay, causing the riots that led to death of at least 17 people.

But the magazine, while acknowledging possible errors in the article, stopped short of retracting it.