Hundreds of people braved the rain and marched in downtown Hong Kong today to commemorate the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy protests in Beijing 18 years ago.

A Chinese factory worker has been released after serving 17 years in jail for setting fire to a military vehicle during the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, he said today.

The man expected to be China’s next leader became the only top politician re-elected to the Communist Party’s inner sanctum today, the most solid sign yet of Hu Jintao’s ascent to the acme of Asia’s largest, fastest-growing country.