World - Tuesday

Venezuela pulls Colombian envoy

A diplomatic crisis deepened as President Hugo Chavez's gov't recalled its ambassador. Chavez and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe have exchanged increasingly sharp words since Uribe last week halted efforts by Chavez to mediate a swap of prisoners for hostages held by leftist Colombian rebels. Chavez has called Uribe a "liar," and Uribe accused Chavez of favoring the FARC rebels over Colombia.

IRAN: The gov't claims it has a new missile with a range of 1,200 miles. It's capable of reaching Israel and U.S. bases in the Mideast.

PAKISTAN: Pres. Pervez Musharraf bade farewell to the military a day before he was to step down as army chief and restore Pakistan to civilian rule, a move that may ease political tensions.

SYRIA: Hundreds of Iraqi refugees boarded buses for home in the first convoy from an Iraqi-funded effort to speed the return of families that fled the country's violence. Many Iraqis have already headed back on their own from Syria, Jordan and elsewhere as attacks drop sharply.

SWEDEN: The 27 arms embargoes imposed by the U.N. since 1990 have been effective only about 25% of the time, a Stockholm research group concluded.