Myanmar allows aid, but snubs U.S.

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar's military regime allowed in the first major international aid shipment Thursday, but it snubbed a U.S. offer to help cyclone victims struggling to recover from a tragedy of unimaginable scale.

Five days after the storm, the junta continued to stall on visas for U.N. teams and other foreign aid workers anxious to deliver food, water and medicine to survivors amid fears the death toll could hit 100,000.

Among those stranded in Thailand were 10 members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team. Air Force transport planes and helicopters packed with supplies also sat waiting for a green light.

''We are in a long line of nations who are ready, willing and able to help, but also, of course, in a long line of nations the Burmese don't trust,'' U.S. Ambassador Eric John said.

Myanmar's isolationist regime issued an appeal for international assistance after the storm Saturday. More than 20,000 are known dead and tens of thousands more are listed as missing, and the U.N. estimates more than 1 million people are homeless in Myanmar, which also is known as Burma.

The cyclone blew off the roof of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's dilapidated bungalow in Yangon and cut off its electricity, a neighbor said. Suu Kyi, who received a Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy activism, has been under house arrest for years.