Meteorologists downgrade cyclone warning off Burma

"The potential for the development of a significant tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours is downgraded to poor," the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre in Hawaii said in a forecast issued late Wednesday, saying the centre of the storm had weakened.

 International aid workers had expressed fears that a second cyclone, or torrential rains, would add to the misery of up to 2 million people left in need of food, water, shelter and medicines in Burma after Cyclone Nargis, which smashed into the country's central coastal region May 2-3.

 According to government estimates, 38,491 people died and another 27,838 were missing, state-run television said Wednesday night.

 But United Nations officials have placed the actual death toll at closer to 100,000.//dpa