Suu Kyi

YANGON, Myanmar - Ko Paul had been warned that the old Yamaha piano in the upstairs sitting room of the dilapidated lakeside mansion was in bad shape. Tropical climates aren't great for pianos. Heat warps their sound boxes, humidity swells their pin blocks, reducing string tension, and termites savor an easy meal. But this one was worse than the piano tuner expected that day in 2009. "Pretty much everything had to be changed, the pins, the dampers, all the hammers," he said in a coffee shop in Yangon.

Testing the waters for a revitalized Asian alliance Now through Saturday, April 20: Democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to Japan this week is purportedly unofficial, but the Nobel Peace Prize laureate probably has more clout than any Myanmar government delegation in charting a course for repairing business and social ties between Tokyo and her homeland. Japan's investments in Myanmar after half a century of military dictatorship pale in comparison with the billions being pumped in by China, Thailand and India.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked six years of continuous detention by Myanmar's military regime today, as she defends herself in court on charges that she violated the law by sheltering an uninvited American at her home. Suu Kyi testified Tuesday that she did not violate the law. The trial, which opened Monday and is expected to end in a guilty verdict, has continued despite international outcry.

NEW DELHI, India -- Myanmar's main opposition party led by Nobel laureate lawmaker Aung San Suu Kyi began three days of meetings in Yangon on Friday to elect leaders for the first time in its 25-year history. The fact that the government allowed the general assembly of the once-banned party is in itself a milestone in a country emerging from decades of repressive military rule. Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under detention before her release in late 2010, is widely expected to be reappointed party head.

The military junta that runs Myanmar has sought to silence its leading critic by holding her under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years. Yet the longer Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention, the more powerful she becomes. The generals first locked her away in 1990, but if they believed she would fade from view, they were badly mistaken. The next year, she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

President Obama will meet Wednesday with Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi, the White House said. The human rights advocate and member of the Myanmar National Assembly is visiting the U.S. for the first time in two decades, after a lengthy series of house arrests from 1989 to 2010. Her tour includes a meeting with the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and leaders on the Hill, who will award her the Congressional Gold Medal. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was initially awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008 during a house arrest imposed by Myanmar's military junta.

Democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial behind closed doors Monday, police ringing the prison court to deter supporters who say she is being prosecuted to keep her out of politics. Despite the closed nature of the trial, a U.S. consular official was allowed in because an American, John William Yettaw, is also a defendant. He prompted the charges against Suu Kyi by swimming to her property and sneaking into her home where she is being held under house arrest.

Though some have claimed that 2012 was “the best year ever” on a global scale, it certainly doesn't seem that way from a cursory glance at the headlines. Civil wars, revolutions and natural disasters seemed as rampant as ever, but amid the chaos, there appeared to be steps in the right direction. In the Middle East, the "Arab Spring" continued to revolutionize the region. Egypt's elections, which brought Mohamed Morsi to power, have since sparked fighting between his supporters and those accusing him of trying to consolidate power . There was the continuing crisis in Syria ; an increasingly isolated and nuclear-ambitious Iran; yet another military flare-up between Israelis and Palestinians; and the lethal attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi , Libya, prompted political controversy in the U.S. The Great Recession clung to Europe, with Greece and Spain particularly volatile as citizens resisted austerity measures . The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize , but violent protests in Athens and beyond tested fiscal resolve.

Myanmar's military government extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another year, defying an outpouring of international appeals for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's freedom. Suu Kyi, 60, has spent more than 11 of the last 17 years in detention and most of the last four years confined to her residence in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell denounced Myanmar's detention of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi as "a travesty" and said he and President Bush would press Asian nations in meetings this weekend to adopt a tougher stance on the regime. Speaking to reporters as he flew to Bangkok, Thailand, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Powell said the U.S. would raise concerns about the treatment of Suu Kyi and the response of Asian nations.

Though some have claimed that 2012 was “the best year ever” on a global scale, it certainly doesn't seem that way from a cursory glance at the headlines. Civil wars, revolutions and natural disasters seemed as rampant as ever, but amid the chaos, there appeared to be steps in the right direction. In the Middle East, the "Arab Spring" continued to revolutionize the region. Egypt's elections, which brought Mohamed Morsi to power, have since sparked fighting between his supporters and those accusing him of trying to consolidate power . There was the continuing crisis in Syria ; an increasingly isolated and nuclear-ambitious Iran; yet another military flare-up between Israelis and Palestinians; and the lethal attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi , Libya, prompted political controversy in the U.S. The Great Recession clung to Europe, with Greece and Spain particularly volatile as citizens resisted austerity measures . The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize , but violent protests in Athens and beyond tested fiscal resolve.

YANGON, Myanmar - Maung Thura, a comedian known as Zarganar, is a barrel of a man, stocky with a shaved head and a deep, forceful voice that seems out of place among the fluorescent lights and office furniture of the Home media group he recently helped found. Zarganar's biting wit and open criticism of repression in recent decades often irked Myanmar's government, which jailed him for 11 years on such charges as "public order offenses," including five spent in solitary confinement.

YANGON, Myanmar -- President Obama was greeted by thousands of people here Monday, a sea of smiling faces and tiny American flags filling the streets in a place where even small public gatherings once caused government suspicion. But it was the U.S. president who was laying out the welcome mat. Obama flew to Myanmar as a gesture to symbolically welcome the long-isolated Southeast Asian nation back to the international fold. After decades of harsh authoritarian rule, the government's recent steps toward democratic reforms -- epitomized by its release in 2010 of iconic dissident Aung San Suu Kyi -- earned it its first U.S. presidential visit, along with a fresh cache of aid and other support.

YANGON, Myanmar - Barack Obama was riding in his motorcade, the first U.S. president to visit long-isolated Myanmar, when he suddenly ordered an unscheduled detour Monday. The Secret Service scrambled. Police raced ahead to clear crowded roads. Tourists were chased away. Soon Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were barefoot in the muggy afternoon. They hiked up a long set of marble stairs and took in the 325-foot-tall Shwedagon Pagoda, which is covered with gilt leaf and topped by a jewel-encrusted spire.

Yangon, Myanmar  - President Obama on Monday became the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar, a once-secretive nation emerging from decades of authoritarian rule. Obama is expected to urge the Southeast Asian country's government to stay the course toward democratic reforms. The White House has billed his visit as a celebration of the recent shift by the government of President Thein Sein, symbolized most publicly by the release of dissident Aung San Suu Kyi in 2010 after years of house arrest.

From a tiny Afghan bakery to China's Great Hall of the People, here are five stories you shouldn't miss from this past week in global news: Bleakness only a child's smile can lift Kenyan information minister leads an IT revolution China's new party leader eschews predecessors' rhetoric Israel attack on Gaza: Familiar tension, new circumstances Suu Kyi's piano tuners play small but key part in Myanmar history ...

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi denied as "bogus" military accusations that she has conspired against the government and said she is prepared to be arrested. Col. Kyaw Thein, a high-ranking intelligence officer, accused Suu Kyi of breaking Myanmar law by meeting and colluding with outlawed expatriate dissident groups. In an interview, Suu Kyi admitted she had met some of the people the military listed but insisted she had not violated any laws.

The government has barred a prominent activist lawyer from defending opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as pressure intensifies on the regime to drop new charges against the Nobel Peace laureate. Aung Thein said the order revoking his license was issued Friday, a day after a prison court charged Suu Kyi with breaking the conditions of her nearly six-year house arrest, due to end May 27. Critics have denounced the trial as an attempt to keep her locked up.

YANGON, Myanmar - Ko Paul had been warned that the old Yamaha piano in the upstairs sitting room of the dilapidated lakeside mansion was in bad shape. Tropical climates aren't great for pianos. Heat warps their sound boxes, humidity swells their pin blocks, reducing string tension, and termites savor an easy meal. But this one was worse than the piano tuner expected that day in 2009. "Pretty much everything had to be changed, the pins, the dampers, all the hammers," he said in a coffee shop in Yangon.

President Obama will meet Wednesday with Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi, the White House said. The human rights advocate and member of the Myanmar National Assembly is visiting the U.S. for the first time in two decades, after a lengthy series of house arrests from 1989 to 2010. Her tour includes a meeting with the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and leaders on the Hill, who will award her the Congressional Gold Medal. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was initially awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008 during a house arrest imposed by Myanmar's military junta.