Old Buddhist monk sitting on the ground praying at Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon..Myanmar, formerly know as Burma, is a country located between Thailand, India, Bangladesh, China and the Bay Of Bengal. Since 1962 the country is ruled by a military junta and remains under the tight control of the military-led State Peace and Development Council. Myanmar is isolated from the world due to the many trade embargoes. The country's culture is based on Theravada Buddhism, intertwined with local elements. Myanmar has a very diverse population, with over a hundred different ethnic minorities which have played a major role in defining its politics, history and demographics in modern times, and the country continues to struggle to mend its ethnic tensions. The military regime is notorious for violating the human rights. Nobel peace price winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition, has been under house arrest since 1989. In 2007 anti-government protests, led by Buddhist monks and students, were violently suppressed by the Myanmar government. Media referred to these protests as the Saffron Revolution. On May 3th 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. The government's failure to permit entry for large-scale international relief efforts was described by the United Nations as unprecedented..March 07 2009.Credit: © Guido Van Damme 2009