| 16 weeks 7 hours 15 min ago Myanmar cyclone death toll nearly 78,000
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YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The cyclone's official death toll has
nearly doubled to almost 78,000 and another 56,000 people remain
missing two weeks after the devastating storm, state television
reported Friday.
The United Nations, meanwhile, said that severe restrictions by
Myanmar's military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark
about the extent of survivors' suffering.
John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian
affairs, will go to Myanmar on Sunday in an attempt to convince
junta leaders to grant more access to U.N. relief workers and
massively scale up aid efforts, said Amanda Pitt, a U.N.
spokeswoman in Bangkok, Thailand.
With pressure mounting, the military regime has invited foreign
diplomats to tour the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta on Saturday,
providing their first opportunity to personally view the
devastation.
U.S. Embassy charge d'affaires Shari Villarosa told The
Associated Press Friday that the Foreign Ministry was arranging the
trip, but no further details were available and it was unclear how
much access the diplomats will have outside the controlled tour.
The handful of foreign experts who have been allowed into the
country have been restricted to Yangon, the former capital. The
government has set up police and military checkpoints on roads
leading out of Yangon to Irrawaddy,
