International aid groups in Myanmar have urged the government to allow free access to Rakhine State, where an army offensive has sent 480,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh but hundreds of thousands remain cut off from food, shelter and medical care. [...] "INGOs in Myanmar are increasingly concerned about severe restrictions on humanitarian access and impediments to the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance throughout Rakhine State," aid groups said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Thousands of Burning Man revellers abandoned their bicycles when they left the desert festival. Will hurricane victims give them a second life and a new purpose? [...] Burning Man partners with local charities to take, refurbish and sometimes donate the bikes to needy families, but this year, the sheer number of bikes overwhelmed even these partners. An estimated 5,000 bicycles were left behind.

Turkey has become a pillar in providing international support and humanitarian assistance on the plight of the Rohingya, the Muslim minority in Myanmar, forced to flee their land, a policy in line with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions of asserting his country's position as a global player, said local experts.

Natural disasters know no political boundaries. And that’s why international humanitarian relief flows so quickly, and in such great and humbling quantities, when hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis strike. But today, with Houston suffering as Mother Nature’s latest victim, will the world’s giving nations step-up and step-in to help American relief efforts?