Asia, Syria | featured news

A mass protest calling for sweeping changes in Syria’s authoritarian regime turned bloody Friday, with the government and protesters both claiming to have sustained heavy casualties in a restive southern city as the country’s three-week uprising entered a dangerous new phase.

Syria's president appointed a new prime minister Sunday, state television reported, as angry protesters gathered for the funeral processions of four demonstrators killed on Friday.

On a stage once commanded by his brutal father, President Bashar Assad blamed foreign conspiracies for Syria's unrest in a national speech Wednesday that sought to steel his family dynasty against a rebellion similar to those that have toppled regimes across the region.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accepted the resignation of the government on Tuesday, Syrian state television said.

An "extraordinary number" of security forces flooded Daraa on Monday, patrolling streets and guarding government buildings in an apparent attempt to stave off further protests, a political activist in the city told CNN.

Two Reuters journalists were released by Syrian authorities on Monday, two days after they were detained in Damascus.

Two Reuters television journalists have been missing in Syria since Saturday night, when they were due to return to Lebanon.

Violence erupted as tens of thousands of Syrians took to the streets across the country, in the most widespread unrest in years.