The wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain condemns military junta while vowing to make improving human rights in Myanmar a priority if she becomes America's next first lady.

Western governments lashed out at the extension of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, but the outrage at Myanmar's military rulers was tempered by concern over disrupting aid flows to desperate cyclone victims.

U.N. officials expressed hope Monday they will soon be able to get help to more than 1 million cyclone survivors still waiting for food and shelter, if Myanmar's ruling junta keeps its promise to let foreign aid workers into the country.

The roads of the ravaged Irrawaddy Delta are lined these days with people hoping to be fed. After lifetimes living off the land, poor farmers have abandoned their ruined rice paddies, setting up makeshift bamboo shelters, waiting for carloads of Burmese civilians who have taken it on themselves to feed those who lost everything to Cyclone Nargis.

The 68 blue tents are lined up in a row, with a brand-new water purifier and boxes of relief supplies, stacked neatly but as yet undelivered and not even opened.  But for the majority of Cyclone Nargis survivors, aid is something they've had no access to.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon flew to Myanmar on Thursday to press the ruling generals to allow a full-blown international aid effort for 2.4 million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis.

Army-ruled Myanmar started three days of mourning on Tuesday for the 134,000 dead and missing from Cyclone Nargis as diplomats pressed the reclusive generals to speed up aid to 2.4 million survivors.

Hopes turned to a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Monday for a breakthrough in speeding up aid flows to the millions of desperate cyclone survivors in Myanmar.

Torrential tropical downpours lashed Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Friday, deepening the misery of an estimated 2.5 million destitute survivors of Cyclone Nargis and further hampering the military government's aid efforts.

Desperation among Myanmar's 1.5 million cyclone survivors mounted on Wednesday as the international aid flow remained a trickle and police barred foreign aid workers from worst-hit areas.

As frustrated foreign aid workers plead to enter Myanmar, one American couple is already ferrying supplies to cyclone victims.

European Union nations urged Myanmar's military leaders Tuesday to let in international aid to cyclone victims, saying that failure to do so could amount to a crime against humanity.

Two more American aid flights were due to leave for cyclone-hit Myanmar on Tuesday where the reclusive military government is keeping most foreign aid workers away from the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

The first U.S. relief airlift arrived in Myanmar on Monday after prolonged negotiations with the country’s isolationist junta, which considers Washington its enemy.

The U.S. was launching its first relief airlift Monday after prolonged negotiations with Myanmar's military rulers, accused of restricting international efforts to help up to 1.5 million cyclone survivors at risk of disease and starvation.