Asia, Political Unrest | featured news

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.

The Thai government extended on Tuesday a state of emergency imposed in about a third of the country during recent political protests, a minister said.

An estimated one million people have been affected by the violent conflict in Kyrgyzstan and need food and other aid supplies, U.N. officials said on Friday.

The U.N. number is a dramatic increase over the official estimate of a crisis that has left throng refugees without enough food and water in camps along the Uzbek border.

Kyrgyzstan's worst outbreak of violence since the president was overthrown in April raged for a second day on Saturday and officials said the death toll in the ethnic conflict had risen to at least 49.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva presented what he called a “letter to the Thai people,” calling for reconciliation in a country shaken by months of political unrest and scores of deaths.

The Thai government on Sunday extended a curfew in the capital and nearly a third of the country's provinces for at least two more nights, but shortened the hours when residents are required to stay off the streets.

Life in Bangkok inched back to normal on Friday as authorities cleaned up the Thai capital after riots and arson attacks by anti-government protesters whose movement was put down by troops after a two-month rally.