TENS of thousands of people killed in last month’s Burmese cyclone may never be identified because their bodies have decomposed so badly and many ended up far from home, an aid organisation said yesterday.

BURMA’s ruling generals have accused foreign media of tarnishing the country’s image by reporting that cyclone victims have not received any assistance.

Burma’s military regime is forcing cyclone survivors to work in exchange for vital aid supplies, campaign group Amnesty International said today.

BURMA’S junta started evicting destitute families from government-run cyclone relief centres yesterday, apparently out of concern the “tented villages” might become permanent.

Burma’s cyclone victims are being forced from refugee camps and dumped near their wrecked homes without aid or supplies, the UN said today.

BURMA’S ruling junta lashed out yesterday at aid donors who promised millions of dollars for cyclone relief, saying survivors didn’t need “bars of chocolate“.

Burma’s isolationist regime has approved all pending visas for United Nations relief workers to enter the country, the world body said today, nearly a month after a cyclone left more than two million people in need of aid.

Foreign aid workers were today poised to reach the more than a million Burma cyclone victims still waiting for their first assistance, providing the military government gives them permission.

Donor nations say they are ready to provide Burma with more than $100m (€63m) to help it recover from Cyclone Nargis, but are warning its ruling junta they will not fully open their wallets until they are given access to the hardest-hit areas.

A 50-nation conference is preparing to pledge funds for survivors of Burma’s cyclone after the country’s xenophobic junta promised to open their doors to critically needed foreign assistance.

Foreign aid agencies urged Burma's junta today urgently to clarify rules for operating in the country's cyclone-devastated areas, after the regime promised to open its doors to the international community.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the Burmese junta's decision to allow "all aid workers" into the country to help cyclone survivors, after weeks of refusing access to foreign relief experts.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon met the leader of Burma’s ruling junta today, hoping to persuade him into allowing full international access to 2.5 million cyclone survivors.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon flew over the cyclone-ravaged landscape of Burma’s heartland today, touching down to learn from officials’ briefings and heart-to-heart chats with storm victims of the misery that he hopes more foreign assistance can alleviate.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in Burma to try to persuade the country’s ruling generals to let in a torrent of foreign assistance for cyclone victims rather than the current trickle.

BURMA’S military junta will set up orphanages for the many hundreds of children whose parents died in the recent cyclone, state media reported yesterday.

A deal may be in the pipeline to allow a US flotilla – and French and British ships in the same situation – to finally join in the relief effort after the devastating Cyclone Nargis.

Burma’s military regime has invited representatives of several countries to visit the cyclone-hit delta in a bid to deflect criticism that it is mismanaging relief operations, diplomats said today.

Burma's military regime allowed a United Nations envoy into the devastated Irrawaddy delta for a brief tour today after barring almost all foreigners from the cyclone disaster zone for days.

The leader of Burma’s increasingly isolated ruling junta made his first public visit to a relief camp today as state media lashed out at swelling international criticism that it was closing the door on aid to millions in desperate need following Cyclone Nargis.

A senior UN envoy headed for Burma today to plead with its military junta to accept more international aid for cyclone survivors, amid mounting fears of starvation, especially among children.

The official death toll from Burma's killer cyclone nearly doubled to 78,000 today as aid workers shackled by the country's uncooperative military regime struggled to get even the most basic data about the needs of up to 2.5 million desperate survivors.

BURMA’S military leaders were accused yesterday of deliberately keeping the full plight of suffering cyclone survivors from aid agencies.

Burma's military leaders were accused today of deliberately keeping the full plight of suffering cyclone survivors from aid agencies.

Relief supplies pushed into Burma by the international community remain far below the needs of up to 2.5 million victims of the devastating cyclone, the United Nations said.

AFTER 46 years of unbroken military rule, many people, both inside and outside Burma, think it will take an act of God to get rid of the junta.

Ordinary Burmese are increasingly stepping in to help the country’s cyclone victims in the face of the chaotic efforts of their government.

A second storm was heading towards Burma’s devastated Irrawaddy delta region tonight.

The United Nations said today another cyclone was forming near Burma, less than two weeks after it was devastated by a killer storm.

Burma’s corrupt military regime was today accused of siphoning off high-quality aid for cyclone victims and replacing it with rotten food.

The UN pleaded with Burma’s secretive government today to open its doors to foreign experts who could help up to two million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation.

The United States was launching its first relief airlift to cyclone-hit Burma today after prolonged negotiations with the country’s military rulers.

BURMA’S ruling generals said yesterday there was a “massive turnout” in their national referendum, held despite pleas to devote their resources to saving more than a million cyclone victims.

BURMA’S ruling generals said yesterday there was a “massive turnout” in their national referendum, held despite pleas to devote their resources to saving more than a million cyclone victims.

Humanitarian aid needs to get into cyclone-ravaged Burma to help avert a massive disease epidemic, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said today.

Burma’s military regime distributed international aid today but plastered the boxes with names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week’s devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.

Voting began in Burma today as the military government pushed ahead with a referendum on a controversial proposed constitution despite the devastating cyclone that killed tens of thousands.

The UN today said it would suspend aid shipments to Burma after discovering all supplies sent in so far have been seized by the ruling military junta.

Burma's isolationist regime indicated today it wants international relief but not foreign aid workers.

REPORTS of malaria outbreaks and diarrhoea in areas of Burma hit by the cyclone have left health experts desperate to prevent widespread illness.

Up to 1.5 million people have been severely hit and as many as 100,000 killed by the Burmese cyclone, it emerged tonight.

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’s isolationist government blocked United Nations efforts today to airlift urgently needed food aid to survivors of a cyclone which may have killed more than 100,000 people, UN officials said.

Burma’s isolationist military regime gave the go-ahead for the first major airlift of international aid into the country today, while dragging its feet on urgently requested visas by foreign agencies several days after a devastating cyclone.