Teams from Disasters Emergency Committee member agencies, along with flights of emergency relief items, are now reaching those affected by Cyclone Nargis. DEC is calling for urgent donations to the DEC Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal.

As the death toll from the Burma cyclone continues to rise dramatically, possibly to around 100,000, the Methodist Church and the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) in Britain have launched an emergency appeal for funds.

UK-based international development agency Christian Aid has launched an appeal to help those left without shelter, food or water in Burma after Cyclone Nargis hit the country four days ago.

Development agencies say that the final outcome of the Burmese cyclone disaster, which latest reports suggest has claimed over 23,000 lives, may be on the scale of the Asian tsunami a few years ago. They are urging a global response.

Global church development agencies, including the UK-based Christian Aid, are calling on the international community and the Burmese government to use all available means to help those affected by cyclone Nargis.

Buddhist monks who led anti-government demonstrations in Burma have been selected as the top religion newsmakers of the year 2007, in a poll of secular journalists who write about religion for media in the United States.

A Catholic university in the US will honour the Buddhist monks of Burma (Myanmar) for their courage and nonviolent demonstrations against the tyrannical Burmese military earlier this year, by awarding them with an honorary doctorate.

Australians have voted for change, says David Wood. The new premier is a Christian, but he points to a tradition which is outward looking and generous, not insular.

Several weeks after a brutal crackdown on thousands of democracy protesters across Burma, over a hundred Buddhist monks have taken part in the first public demonstration in northern Burma since the government's wave of repression.