DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

Burma's ruling military junta now says that 78,000 people have died as a result of a cyclone that struck part of the country two weeks ago. State television said 56,000 others were missing. The junta is now allowing some foreign aid into the country, but it has again rejected international calls to let outside experts direct relief efforts for more than two million survivors in urgent need. The European Union's commissioner for development, Louis Michel, has left Rangoon empty-handed after failing to persuade the regime to accept large-scale foreign help. The United Nations says Burma's junta has now granted a visa to its emergency relief co-ordinator. John Holmes is expected to arrive in Rangoon on Sunday. Meanwhile, aid agencies with local staff in Burma say cholera has broken out in the devastated Irrawaddy Delta.