MOSCOW –  Tens of thousands of Russians flooded downtown Moscow on Saturday to demand an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's rule, braving sub-zero temperatures to keep the protest movement alive one month before a presidential election that Putin is still expected to win.

The protest -- which drew 120,000 people, according to organizers -- was the third mass demonstration since Putin's party won a parliamentary election Dec. 4 with the help of what appeared to be widespread fraud.

The election and Putin's presumptuous decision to reclaim the presidency proved the last straw for Russians increasingly unhappy with the creeping authoritarianism during his 12-year rule. The protest rallies -- which have brought together liberals, leftists and nationalists -- are the biggest in Russia since the the demonstrations 20 years ago that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Hanoi - Human rights were expected to top the agenda as the senior US diplomat on South-East Asia arrived in Hanoi Wednesday.

Vietnam is the second stop on a three-country tour for Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He arrived from Seoul and is to head to Cambodia Friday.

The visit came two weeks after Campbell called on Vietnam to improve its human rights record, saying it needed to do more to win support in Washington to expand cooperation.

A top Burmese official is promising the international community that his country's military-backed government is not done implementing democratic reforms.

Trade Minister U Soe Thane told Reuters Saturday the process of reform "is not finished yet."  He said Burma's government is still looking at additional political changes as well as reforms in the economic sector.

U Soe Thane made the comments in Davos, Switzerland where he is leading Burma's first official delegation to the World Economic Forum.

Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi hit the campaign trail Sunday ahead of by-elections seen as a key test of the military-backed government's commitment to reform.

Thousands of cheering supporters lined the roads of several towns in the southern district of Dawei, as the Nobel Peace laureate made her first political trip outside Rangoon since her National League for Democracy party registered to run in the April 1 election.

As huge crowds screamed “Long Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!” and others held banners saying “You Are Our Heart,” she promised to work to bring democracy to Burma and repeal repressive laws. She told the crowds, ''There is a lot to be done. To build the country that we all want."

A report by Human Rights Watch says Vietnam’s government has intensified repression against activists and dissidents over the past year.  The U.S.-based group is calling for the immediate release of political prisoners in Vietnam. The call came as senior U.S. congressmen on a visit to Southeast Asia stepped up pressure on Vietnam's government to improve its rights record, saying it is a condition for expanded bilateral military ties with the United States.

The Human Rights Watch global report, released Sunday, says Vietnam had carried out a “systematic crackdown” that in 2011 led to the prosecution of over 30 activists, who were charged under what the report calls “vaguely-worded articles” in Vietnam’s penal code and sentenced to prison.

The report says bloggers, writers, human rights defenders, land rights activists, religious and other groups were targeted by Vietnamese authorities and faced harassment, intimidation, arrest, torture and imprisonment.

HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. sanctions on Myanmar could begin to come down if by-elections scheduled for April 1 in the former British colony are fair and open, U.S. Senator John McCain said on Thursday.

After half a century of authoritarian rule Myanmar has taken a series of dramatic steps in recent months to open up, the latest of which was the release last week of some 300 political prisoners.

The United States decided to upgrade diplomatic ties with Myanmar as a result, and President Barack Obama called the move a "substantial step" in democratic reform but stopped short of lifting economic sanctions.

Senator Joe Lieberman, speaking in Vietnam ahead of a visit to Myanmar with McCain and two other senators, said if the by-elections were "fair and open and legitimate" Myanmar could expect "some response from the United States in terms of the status quo between our countries as it exists now."