Myanmar

Even as the trial of activist Aung San Suu Kyi approaches a predictable conclusion in a tumbledown prison courtroom in Yangon, the verdict may already be in for Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. The opposition, already reeling before Suu Kyi's arrest, increasingly appears powerless, divided and incapable of mustering the international intervention needed to topple the country's long-ruling military government.

Aid agencies geared up Saturday to go into Myanmar's cyclone-hit Irrawaddy River delta after the country's military government pledged to open its doors to help ahead of an international donors meeting. After weeks of refusing assistance, the ruling generals of Myanmar, also known as Burma, have told the United Nations they are willing to allow workers of all nationalities to help survivors of the May 2-3 storm that left about 78,000 people dead and an additional 56,000 missing. The ability to assess the situation will be crucial in securing pledges from foreign governments, and the regime's about-face was seen as a concession to get more aid when 45 potential donor nations meet today in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, which is also known as Rangoon.

A military court in Myanmar today declared pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest and extended her sentence by a year and a half -- well past the date for national elections scheduled for 2010. Thousands of supporters and security personnel gathered outside the courtroom at Yangon's Insein Prison for the culmination of the stop-start trial that has drawn harsh criticism from Western governments, rights groups and the United Nations.

During 45 years of military rule, Myanmar's generals drilled fear and suspicion so deeply into the minds of their people that when their opponents tried to harness the rage seething on the streets last fall, no one knew whom to trust. The generals quickly took advantage, crushing the pro-democracy demonstrations, killing at least 15 people and jailing thousands. It was a brutally simple strategy that had worked before. But this time may be different.

In one of his most talked-about lectures, Buddhist monk Ashin Nyanissara tells the legend of a king who ruled more than 2,500 years ago. The king believed that spitting on a hermit brought him good fortune. At first, it worked like a charm, but before long his realm was annihilated under a rain of fire, spears and knives.

Myanmar's military regime announced Saturday that it would ask voters to approve a new constitution in May to make way for democratic elections in 2010, a move that drew the scorn of a skeptical opposition.

Army-ruled Myanmar has finished writing a new constitution, to be put to a May referendum, which gives the military the "leading political role," official media said Tuesday. "I hereby declare that the draft of the state constitution has been approved by this commission," Chief Justice U Aung Toe, chairman of the military-appointed drafting commission, was quoted as saying on state radio and television.

The generals, to put it mildly, can't take a joke. But the Moustache Brothers make their living mocking fools, including those who wear military uniforms. So they have drawn a battle line in this country's long struggle for democracy with a small stage that cuts across their cramped living room, site of the three-man comedy troupe's nightly performance. The military regime silenced street protests last fall by arresting and, in some cases, shooting peaceful demonstrators.

The death toll continued to climb in Myanmar as state media reported Tuesday that more than 22,000 people had died due to a weekend cyclone and more than 41,000 were missing. Efforts to reach the victims and help the estimated 1 million people left homeless by Tropical Cyclone Nargis remained mired amid bureaucracy, logistical problems and the isolation of many affected areas.

Frustration mounted Wednesday as humanitarian groups waited for Myanmar's government to grant visas and allow more relief flights into the country, steps deemed essential to easing the plight of as many as 1 million left homeless by a cyclone last weekend. By day's end, as gasoline lines grew and darkness enveloped a battered Yangon, Myanmar's most populous city, a trickle of aid was starting to flow.