Burma today finally let in the first major international aid airlift for survivors of the cyclone that is thought to have killed more than 100,000 people.

Burma authorities claimed they seized weapons from Buddhist monasteries and announced dozens of new arrests, defying world outrage over their violent repression of protesters who sought an end to 45 years of dictatorship.

A THAI Buddhist temple has been reprimanded by religious authorities for selling amulets containing the ashes of cremated infants to raise money for a plot of land and a crematorium, an official said yesterday.

Volunteers dragged scores of bodies from Thai beaches, inland pools and once-luxury hotels today with the prime minister saying the death toll from earthquake-powered tidal waves could pass 2,000.

MUSLIMS are among one of the largest religious groups in Ireland, the 2002 Census figures reveal.