DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

A spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme has confirmed it has suspended all immediate aid flights to Burma whilst it continues negotiations with the regime over allowing aid into the country. The move comes after two UN flights, carrying relief for survivors of Saturday's cyclone, were impounded by the Burmese regime. In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which has left more than a million people homeless, aid is still only trickling into the country. In a statement on Friday, Burma's foreign ministry said it was not in a position to receive foreign relief workers, saying it was responding to the crisis with its own resources. Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told a German press agency that Berlin will join France in urging UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to call a meeting of the Security Council on the crisis.