|
|
| West urges Myanmar to act on crucial cyclone aid - 14, May 2008 |
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - Heavy rains pelted homeless cyclone survivors in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Tuesday, complicating the already slow delivery of aid to more than 1.5 million people facing hunger and disease.
As more foreign aid trickled into the former Burma, critics ratcheted up the pressure on its military rulers to accelerate a relief effort that is only delivering an estimated tenth of the supplies needed in the devastated delta.
In Brussels, the European Union called on the military junta to allow entry to aid workers to help victims avert "an even greater tragedy," and France urged U.N. action if the junta did not cooperate. Spain said that failure to allow aid in could amount to a crime against humanity.
The United Nations says more than 1.5 million people are struggling to survive and up to 100,000 are dead or missing after cyclone Nargis hit.
U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva it was also vital to secure the means to deliver aid.
"We need a kind of air bridge or sea bridge, and huge means (just) as the aid delivery we did in the tsunami, it is the same kind of logistical operation," said Byrs, of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The junta has accepted aid from the outside world but the help has only trickled in as the rulers have made it clear they do not want outsiders distributing it.
In a statement after emergency talks on Myanmar in Brussels, EU development ministers called on Yangon "to offer free and unfettered access to international humanitarian experts, including the expeditious delivery of visa and travel permits."
(c) 2008 Reuters
|
| Other news from HotNews category: |
-
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a U.S.-led coalition airstrike that local officials say killed 15 civilians, but the U.S. military says killed only armed Taliban militants.
More
-
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese leaders are finalizing a deal on the formation of a national unity government as stipulated in an agreement that ended the country's political crisis, political sources said on Saturday.
More
-
TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations meet this week in northern Japan to grapple with a raft of problems from soaring food and fuel prices to African poverty and global warming amid doubts about how much the annual diplomat
More
-
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran vowed on Saturday to pursue its uranium enrichment program, a day after delivering its response to an incentives package by world powers trying to curb its nuclear ambitions.
More
-
LONDON (Reuters) - A film secretly taken by a Zimbabwe prison guard and smuggled out of the country shows the extent of the rigging that took place for the June 27 presidential run-off vote, the Guardian said on Saturday.
More
-
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Firefighters in California have fended off a blaze threatening more than 3,000 homes in and around the coastal town of Goleta and are turning their attention to preventing its spread toward the nearby picturesque city of Santa Ba
More
-
ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might "refine" his timetable for withdrawing U.S.
More
-
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean police said they expect about 35,000 to gather on Saturday for a protest against a U.S. beef import deal and the polices of the new president, whose government has faced a crisis due to the weeks of street rallies.
More
-
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Exhausted California firefighters worked on Friday to contain two wildfires threatening homes along the coast before sundown, when shifting winds were expected to give the blazes more power.
More
-
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jesse Helms, a die-hard anti-communist firebrand who championed a wide range of conservative causes in his 30 years in the U.S. Senate, died early on Friday, aged 86, his foundation said.
More
|
|
| Software News |
'Containers' Out Perform Virtualization For KV Pharmaceuticals
(TechWeb)
TechWeb - InformationWeek - With a container approach from Parallels' Virtuozzo, memory consumption and processor overhead are reduced through the use of one operating system per host.
|
Nokia 6220 Smartphone Released
(TechWeb)
TechWeb - InformationWeek - The Nokia 6220 classic design includes 3G connectivity, compatibility with Microsoft Office applications, Bluetooth capabilities, and a 5-megapixel camera.
|
Microsoft Hopes Office Subscription Plan Will Counter Free Software
(TechWeb)
TechWeb - InformationWeek - Microsoft is counting on Equipt's convenience factor to help it fend off threats from Google, IBM, and others that are offering free desktop productivity suites.
|
Three Startups To Solve SaaS Integration Problems
(TechWeb)
TechWeb - InformationWeek - Boomi, SnapLogic, and Cast Iron are rolling out new offerings designed to help companies integrate software running in the cloud with onsite software.
|
Blogger Opinion: Why We Left NetSuite
(NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - I first met our solution provider, Ray Tetlow, the founder of Skyytek, on the Oracle Small Business (OSB from now on) user forum. At the time we were struggling with version 7 of OSB. It was really incomplete and badly tested software. Not only was it painfully slow, but also a lot of the features on which we based our purchasing decision just did not work.
|
Krugle enhances code search appliance
(InfoWorld)
InfoWorld - Krugle plans to ship next week an upgrade to its search appliance for enterprise software development projects, which makes it easier for teams of developers to maintain code.
|
|