Venezuela rejected Mexico’s demand for an apology today in a spat between President Hugo Chavez and Mexican leader Vicente Fox, calling it an unjustified ultimatum and saying Venezuela was recalling its ambassador.

Rescue workers today searched for victims of a mudslide near a volcano-ringed lake popular with tourists in Guatemala, as the death toll from flooding sparked by heavy rains climbed to 79 across the country and 65 in neighbouring El Salvador.

THE Taoiseach was at the centre of an embarrassing diplomatic gaffe in Mexico yesterday when his partner Celia Larkin was officially referred to several times as his wife.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is beginning an official visit to Mexico today at the invitation of the country’s President Vincente Fox Quesada.