LIMA (Peru) - PERUVIAN police officers who 'damage the image' of law enforcement by engaging in homosexual behaviour can lose their jobs under a new law designed to overhaul an unpopular national police force.

The new law that went into effect Tuesday also says officers will be fired for taking bribes and abusing detainees.

WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives approved on Thursday US$96.7 billion (S$141.6 billion) for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and economic and security aid to the struggling government of Pakistan.

Under pressure from Republicans, the legislation also seeks to force President Barack Obama's hand on how to deal with some 240 terrorism suspects after the detention facility at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is closed.

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican capital, which has suffered more than anywhere else from the H1N1 flu, will take up to six months before it fully defeats the disease, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday.

Mr Ebrard told Reuters the number of new cases in Mexico City has dropped and no one has died from the virus in about a week as millions of residents get back to a normal life after the teeming capital was shut down for 10 days to limit its spread.