Cyclone toll feared above 100,000

The Washington Times reports The United Nations said its workers based outside Burma had not received a single visa and that Burmese officials were demanding that official escorts accompany all foreigners.

MNN reports In 2006, the government of Myanmar passed a regulation forbidding non-governmental organizations from providing aid to the country. In light of the recent disaster, the government is now allowing outside aid. GFA is one of the only organizations allowed to offer immediate help to the people, as they already had missionaries in the country and found favor with the government. However, the junta government has opened some doors to China, Indonesia, India and Malaysia so that aid can trickle in slowly.

AP reports Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday called the Myanmar junta's obstruction of international efforts to help the country's hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims "obscene" and said he will urge China, ASEAN and others with leverage over the junta to apply more pressure on it.

AP reports As the international community waits to deliver desperately needed aid to Myanmar's cyclone survivors, it is getting a lesson in the mind-set of the country's military rulers: reclusive, xenophobic generals who despise the Western world.