UN pulls staff from Sudan * KHARTOUM - The United Nations yesterday evacuated more than 250 civilian staff from Sudan's flashpoint town of Abyei where bullets were fired near the UN camp during fighting between the army and ex-rebels.

Taliban leader vows revenge on US KHAR, Pakistan - A top Taliban leader vowed yesterday to target the US after an alleged missile strike killed several people in northwest Pakistan, a threat that could undermine the new government's efforts to negotiate peace deals with militants.

Indonesia to provide bird flu data * JAKARTA - Indonesia's health minister said yesterday she would start sharing all genetic information about her country's bird flu virus with a new global database, to monitor whether the disease is mutating into a dangerous pandemic strain.

Latin American, Euro heads meet * LIMA - European and Latin American leaders gathering in Peru for their fifth summit in a decade this week plan to tackle climate change, high food prices and poverty.

Chavez warns of military base * CARACAS - President Hugo Chavez is warning Colombia against any US military base near its border with Venezuela, though neither Colombia nor the United States have publicly suggested such a plan.

800 000 evicted in Abuja * ABUJA - A human rights group says that 800 000 residents of the Nigerian capital Abuja were forcibly evicted over a four-year period to clear space for the fast-growing city.

Iraqi forces hunt for Mosul militants * BAGHDAD - Government troops began house-to-house searches for al Qaeda in Iraq militants in Mosul yesterday, part of a major security operation to cleanse Iraq's third largest city from cells of the terror network.

World News Headlines Of The Last 48 Hours