WASHINGTON - THE US economy contracted 5.7 per cent in the first quarter, less than initially estimated, official data showed on Friday, due in part to improved readings on imports and durable goods orders.

The Commerce Department revised its initial estimate of a 6.1 per cent annualised decline for the January-March period, following a brutal 6.3 per cent contraction in the fourth quarter.

SEOUL - A SEA of wailing mourners filled the streets of Seoul for the funeral on Friday of former President Roh Moo Hyun, whose suicide six days earlier amid a deepening corruption probe plunged South Korea into grief and anger.

Heads bowed, thousands took part in a solemn ceremony in the courtyard of the 14th-century Gyeongbok Palace before the hearse carrying Mr Roh's body headed to a grassy plaza outside City Hall for emotional public rites attended by a reported 500,000 people.

CALCUTTA (India) - HUNDREDS of thousands of people flooded out of their homes by deadly Cyclone Aila crowded government shelters in eastern India and Bangladesh on Friday, and officials said the risk of disease outbreaks was growing.

The death toll from Monday's cyclone rose to 264 people in the two countries.

SEOUL - NORTH Korea on Friday fired a short-range missile off its east coast, the sixth since it staged a nuclear test earlier this week, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

The defence ministry declined comment but the news agency's reports of five missile launches earlier this week were later confirmed.