Click to play videoYangon (Myanmar): Myanmar's military regime has extended activist Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest by six months, a government official confirmed on Tuesday.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
Her detention has long been the symbol of the regime's heavy-handed intolerance of democratic opposition to its rule.
President Bush said he was "deeply troubled" by the extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest but stressed that the US would continue to provide aid for Myanmar's cyclone survivors.
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband said he was "was saddened, if not surprised," by the decision to keep her detained.
"While our immediate focus is on relieving the suffering caused by the recent cyclone, restoration of democracy in Burma is still vital for that country's long-term future," Milliband said.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is the country's largest legal opposition group, and it retains the loyalty of millions of citizens despite two decades of repression.
The party won the most seats in 1990 elections, but the military refused to convene parliament. Instead, it harassed and arrested members of the party, setting a pattern that still stands.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia in 1991 for her non-violent attempts at promoting democracy.
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