MANILA - BRANDISHING a surgical saw on national TV, the health chief warned revelers that amputations often result from firecracker accidents as the Philippines braced on Wednesday for a violent New Year's Eve celebration.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque resorted to scare tactics to discourage the use of banned - but popular - powerful firecrackers.

PRAGUE - THE Czech Republic will start issuing visas to Vietnamese nationals again in January following a suspension in November over crime fears, a newspaper reported.

'It won't be on Jan 1, but we expect to resume the visas next month,' the Lidove noviny daily quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Zuzana Opletalova as saying.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - THREE foreigners died and 16 others were injured in a gas explosion at a seafood factory in Brunei, the government said on Wednesday.

It gave no further details about the dead.