GENEVA - PEOPLE with HIV are at high risk from the new flu strain that the World Health Organization said is on the verge of pandemic, the WHO said on Saturday.

The United Nations agency said people with immunodeficiency diseases - including the Aids virus - will most likely be vulnerable to health complications from the H1N1 strain, as they are from regular seasonal flu.

LONDON - A BRITISH official says the government is paying close attention to the welfare of a pregnant UK woman facing death by firing squad on charges of drug smuggling in Laos.

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell says diplomats and doctors have visited Samantha Orobator.

WASHINGTON - THE strain of flu virus that is alarming the world is so new and poorly understood that it justifies the US government's multi-pronged efforts to fight it, President Barack Obama said on Saturday.

Swine flu, or H1N1 flu as the government calls it, has caused only one confirmed US death. But medical authorities fear it could become much worse, Mr Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, and that's why he has thrown substantial federal resources into the campaign against it.