India is despatching more assistance to cyclonehit Myanmar in the form of two AN-32 aircraft carrying relief and medical supplies. India had earlier sent two ships carrying food and other relief items to Yangon on Monday. The ministry of external affairs said on Tuesday that all possible help has been offered to the country which was hit by cyclone

Neither the west nor the junta should play politics.

Myanmar's government raised its death toll from Cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to nearly 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, nearly all of them from a storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta. Of the dead, only 671 were in the former capital, Yangon, and its outlying districts, state radio said. The rest were in the vast swamplands of the delta.

The White House said Tuesday the U.S. will send more than $3 million to help victims of the devastating cyclone in Myanmar, up from an initial emergency contribution of $250,000. The additional commitment of funds, announced by press secretary Dana Perino, comes as Myanmar continues to resist entry for a U.S. disaster assessment team. The Bush administration insists that permission for such a team to enter the Southeast Asian nation and look at the damage would allow quicker and larger aid contributions.

Myanmar's military government raised its death toll from Cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to nearly 22,500 with another 41,000 missing, almost all from a massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta. The United Nations' World Food Programme began doling out emergency rice in Yangon, the largest city and former capital, and the first batch of more than $10 million worth of foreign aid arrived from Thailand. But a lack of specialized equipment slowed distribution.

For Burma's normally reclusive military rulers, resented by their own citizens and mistrustful of the outside world's intentions, the devastation wrought by tropical cyclone Nargis has posed an uncomfortable dilemma at a sensitive political moment. With the numbers of dead and missing now exceeding 60,000, the generals

President George W. Bush offered to send US naval forces to help cyclone-devastated Burma yesterday as the number of people dead and missing soared to 60,000. Mr Bush said the US, which has long-standing trade and investment sanctions against Burma, stood ready to "do a lot more to help", but that the ruling generals had first to open the door to the US. "We're prepared to help move navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing and to help stabilise the situation," said Mr Bush, who has been a fierce critic of the regime.

Myanmar said on Monday more than 10,000 people had been killed in the cyclone that tore into the impoverished and secretive Asian nation at the weekend, and tens of thousands more may also have died. Faced with the devastation, the foreign minister, Nyan Win, said his reclusive nation would welcome international aid, as neighbouring countries and the United Nations said they were ready to assist in the recovery.

Myanmar said Monday that more than 10,000 people had been killed in the cyclone that tore into the impoverished and secretive Asian nation at the weekend, and tens of thousands more may also have died. Faced with the devastation, Foreign Minister Nyan Win said his reclusive nation would welcome international aid, as neighbouring countries and the United Nations said they were ready to assist in the recovery.

Burma's military rulers told foreign diplomats yesterday that more than 10,000 people had died in the devastating cyclone at the weekend, as the regime made a rare appeal for international help to bring relief to survivors. The diplomats fear a further 3,000 could be missing. The cyclone, which devastated Rangoon, the largest city, and the rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta, reached speeds of up to 120mph as it ripped through the countryside.

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