CHINA has admitted for the first time that it has introduced more stringent visa requirements to ensure a "safe environment", only months before Beijing is to host the 2008 Olympic Games
FOREIGN aid teams wanting to come to the military-ruled nation after the devastating cyclone would have to negotiate with the regime to be granted access, a Burma minister said today
UN aid agencies are still waiting for visas for disaster response teams to enter Burma some four days after a devastating cyclone struck the reclusive country, officials said today
BURMA`S military junta is "doing its best" to help those afflicted by Cyclone Nargis, which killed at least 15,000 people, the country`s Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said today
BURMA`S pro-democracy opposition said today that it was "extremely unacceptable" for the ruling junta to go ahead with a constitutional referendum after a cyclone killed 15,000 people in the country
INDIAN meteorologists tracking the cyclone that killed more than 22,000 people in Burma said they had given their neighbour 48-hours warning of an impending storm
THREE Taiwan ministers including the vice premier have resigned today over the island`s worst diplomatic scandal involving the alleged embezzlement of 30 million US dollars
US First Lady Laura Bush accused Burma`s military rulers of failing to warn their citizens in time about a killer cyclone and pressed the junta to accept US aid in the disaster`s wake
MELBOURNE Victory will be looking to put some hard earned lessons into practice in Wednesday`s dead-rubber Asian Champions League encounter away to Korea`s Chunnam Dragons
MANLY half-back Matt Orford concedes he can do no more to convince selectors of his claims at a New South Wales jersey, admitting his disappointment at his City Origin snubbing last week
IT was the full rock star treatment for New Zealand fullback Brent Webb who galloped onto the training field as planned for Friday`s centenary rugby league Test
Bad rap ... hip hop star Akon has served five years in prison and once threw a boy off the stage into the crowd / Milan Scepanovic
