Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will address his nation on Friday, kicking off an annual legislative session that is expected to further tighten Beijing's grip on Hong Kong.China has ushered in a sweeping crackdown against critics in the semi-autonomous financial hub after huge and often violent pro-democracy protests rocked the city in 2019.As thousands of delegates gathered for China's week-long National People's Congress (NPC), official news agency Xinhua said late Thursday the a

Vietnam's secretive, twice-a-decade political transition kicked off Tuesday, with the Communist Party poised to select its future leaders who will have to contend with an increasingly assertive China and ramped-up trade tensions with the United States (US).The country's party general secretary, as well as three other key leadership "pillars", are up for grabs at the congress in Hanoi, which is taking place largely behind closed doors, and will run until 2 February.The lead

Taking turns to keep watch at their hideout in Lao, the four members of the self-exiled Thai activist folk band "Faiyen" believe they are on a hit-list like eight fellow dissidents who have already disappeared.Lao, which neighbours Thailand, became a haven for some of the most outspoken Thai anti-junta activists after a 2014 coup.All were vituperative in their condemnation of the Thai junta which last month cemented its long hold on power as its chief was elected prime minister by a

Dead dissidents dumped in a river, activists knotted up by the courts, and Big Brother-style internet laws – critics of Thailand's junta fear this week's election is poised to sharpen the dangers faced by those who disagree.Thais go to the polls on 24 March, in the first election since the 2014 coup that installed the generals in power.But it will be held under new rules established by a junta that has made clear it has no intention of leaving the political stage.Scores of dissident