SEOUL: South Korea is speeding up its acceptance of North Korean refugees from Thailand to ease the burden on overcrowded immigration centres there, officials said yesterday.

A Seoul official told Chosun Ilbo newspaper: 'We've brought North Korean refugees from South-east Asia almost every week since last December. As a result, the number of North Korean refugees in the Thai centre has dwindled to about 300.'

Chosun said that an estimated 800 North Koreans are still staying at police stations, private homes or immigration facilities in Thailand, with hundreds more in Cambodia and Laos.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

TAKE A SHOT BEFORE CRUCIFIXION

MANILA: Philippine health officials yesterday warned people taking part in Easter crucifixions and self-flagellation rituals to get a tetanus shot first and sterilise the nails to avoid infections.

Every Good Friday in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation, dozens of men re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by having themselves nailed to wooden crosses, while others whip themselves as a way of atoning for their sins over the past year.

The Catholic church frowns upon the rituals which have become a tourist attraction in a number of towns around the country. The department of health advised people to have tetanus shots and to check the condition of the whips, warning that dirty whips could lead to tetanus and other infections.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

UN ENVOY REBUFFED BY JUNTA

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations envoy to Myanmar has expressed disappointment that his latest visit to Myanmar did not produce 'any immediate tangible outcome'.

Professor Ibrahim Gambari was rebuffed when he suggested that the military junta amend its 'roadmap to democracy' to include input from the country's pro-democracy movement and other political parties. The junta also rejected a UN role in its referendum in May on a new Constitution, which is to be followed by a general election in 2010.

He said his visit did provide an opportunity to prod the government to engage the opposition, but noted that the junta had again refused his efforts to meet Chairman Than Shwe.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PAKISTAN'S FIRST FEMALE SPEAKER

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's new lawmakers have elected the country's first-ever female Speaker of Parliament.

The outgoing speaker of the National Assembly announced that Dr Fehmida Mirza easily won yesterday's ballot.

Dr Mirza is a businesswoman and medical doctor who has been elected to parliament three times.

She was nominated by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BLOW TO ANTI-KOSOVO DRIVE

BELGRADE: Serbia's neighbours - Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria - dealt a blow to the Serb campaign to overturn Kosovo's month-old independence yesterday by announcing that they would recognise the new republic.

In a joint statement issued in Zagreb, Budapest and Sofia, they said that the decision was based on 'thorough consideration'.

They also underlined the importance of protecting the Serb minority in Kosovo's 90 per cent ethnic Albanian republic.

Diplomats said that recognition by the neighbours was a wake-up call to Serbia that European recognition of an independent Kosovo was not going away.

Meanwhile, UN police began returning yesterday to Mitrovica, a Serb-held town in northern Kosovo where violence involving protesters armed with guns and hand grenades killed a UN policeman from Ukraine and wounded dozens of people on Monday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS