Washington - Kathleen Sebelius was approved by the US Senate as health secretary Tuesday, completing President Barack Obama's cabinet just shy of 100 days into his administration.

Sebelius, currently the governor of Kansas, will take over the Health and Human Services Department amid a growing swine flu outbreak in neighbouring Mexico and in the United States.

There were 64 confirmed cases of swine flu Tuesday in five US states, with the largest outbreak in New York. California has declared a state of emergency.

Islamabad- Pakistani security forces launched operations against the Taliban in an area captured last week by militants, a military spokesman said Tuesday. Meanwhile, troops finished a similar offensive in another northern district near Islamabad, killing up to 75 rebels, the military said.

Jet planes and helicopter gunships targeted militant positions in the mountains surrounding the Buner Valley in the Buner district, 100 kilometres north-west of Islamabad, Major General Athar Abbas told reporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital.

Washington - The US government proposed more aid to struggling homeowners on Tuesday, while a private group reported that a record housing price collapse in the country may finally be easing. The Treasury Department announced it would help homeowners modify their second mortgages and would make it easier for people that are unable to sell their homes to refinance into government-backed mortgages. President Barack Obama has said he will spend as much as 75 billion dollars to help people stay in their homes.

Vienna - Hungary's Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai expressed hope on Tuesday that his austerity package would help bolster faith in his country, as the new head of government was in Vienna for his first foreign visit. The recent measures would stabilize the economy even in case of a 6-per-cent downturn, he said at his meeting with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, according to Austrian press agency APA.

Moscow - Russian President Dmitri Medvedev fired Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin Tuesday, after one of his officers killed three people and wounded six in a shooting spree. Medvedev earlier Tuesday suspended several senior officers in the precinct where the shootings occurred, saying the local police should take full responsibility, Medvedev spokeswoman Natalia Timakova said.

Washington - Senator Arlen Specter, who has served as a Republican in Congress for nearly 30 years, announced Tuesday that he has switched parties and will now join the majority Democrats. The Pennsylvania senator's defection bolsters Democratic control of the Senate and enhances President Barack Obama's ability to push through his ambitious legislative agenda in Congress.