Washington - US President Barack Obama said he was "gravely concerned" by the situation in Pakistan and expressed fears about the fragility of a civilian government struggling to contain the growing Taliban insurgency.

Obama said the Pakistani government lacked the ability to provide basic services for its people and promised the United States would do all it could to build up its institutions.

Washington - US President Barack Obama suggested last-minute talks to save Chrysler LLC from bankruptcy were yielding results, saying he was "very hopeful" Wednesday night that a deal could be reached with creditors.

"The details have not yet been finalized," Obama said of the government-brokered talks. "But I'm feeling more optimistic than I was" about a resolution.

Washington - US President Barack Obama said late Wednesday that there were no plans to close the country's border with Mexico despite a growing swine flu outbreak, but assured the public that his government was doing all it could to contain the threat.

Obama said closing the border was "akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out," as there were already nearly 100 cases confirmed in the United States, including one death.

Washington - US President Barack Obama called on Chrysler LLC bondholders to make sacrifices in order to keep the nation's third-largest carmaker from filing for bankruptcy.

Obama, speaking at a town hall meeting in Arnold, Missouri, credited the carworker unions for taking the necessary steps to help Chrysler avoid bankruptcy protection by accepting a new labour agreement.

"One of the key questions now is: Are the bondholders, the lenders, the money people, are they willing to make sacrifices as well?" Obama said. "We don't know yet."

New York - New York state officials Wednesday downplayed the fact that New York has the highest total of confirmed cases of swine flu among ten US states, saying the situation was inexplicable - even as health workers were investigating 75 more probable cases and some schools remained closed.

New York Governor David Paterson and his health commissioner, Richard Daines, who noted there was no vaccine for swine flu, said they did not consider the swine flu outbreak any more important than unseasonal flu in springtime.

San Francisco - Test flights for the much-delayed Boeing Dreamliner are due to start in June and the first customers are on schedule to receive the plane in the first quarter of 2010, the US aviation company said Wednesday.

Test flights for the aircraft have been delayed for more than two years, but Boeing has now filed 60 per cent of the paperwork needed for certification of the 787, Mike Delaney, chief project engineer of the 787 programme, said at a press conference.