U.S. government invalidates potent Rambus patent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The last of three patents that tech licensing company Rambus (RMBS.O) used to win infringement lawsuits against Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) and others has been declared invalid, according to legal documents.

The three patents - collectively known as the Barth patents - pertain to memory chips used in personal computers and are considered to be among Rambus' most valuable intellectual property.

An appeals board at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declared the patent invalid on January 24, according to a ruling posted on their website. The previous two were declared invalid in September.

The invalidation is more bad news for Rambus, whose stock shed 60 percent of its value in the weeks after a November 16 court decision in which it lost a $4 billion antitrust lawsuit against Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) and Hynix Semiconductor Inc

(000660.KS).

The Barth patents had been used to accuse a long list of tech companies of infringement, earning Rambus millions of dollars in licensing fees through settlements.

Rambus can appeal the latest decision from the PTO. "We're evaluating our options," said company spokeswoman Linda Ashmore.

Rambus' share price fluctuates sharply on its successes and failures in patent litigation and licensing. The company announced Thursday that it had fourth-quarter revenue of $83.4 million and annual revenue of $312.4 million.

Rambus has aggressively used the three Barth patents to pursue infringement claims against technology companies.

It was met with success in July 2010 when the International Trade Commission, which hears patent litigation involving imported products, ruled that graphics chip maker Nvidia, Hewlett-Packard and other smaller companies had infringed the three Barth patents. Nvidia subsequently settled with Rambus on the issue.

POTENT PATENT

The patents in question were also among six that Rambus used in accusing a long list of companies of infringing in a new ITC complaint filed in early 2011. That complaint was filed against STMicroelectronics(STM.PA), MediaTek (2454.TW) and Broadcom, among others. Broadcom has since settled.

It was unclear if Rambus appealed the invalidation of the first two Barth patents from September, and the company did not immediately respond to a telephone call seeking comment.

Scott Daniels, a partner in the law firm Westerman, Hattori, Daniels and Adrian, LLP, said Rambus was unlikely to win an appeal on the third Barth patent, since it would be appealed back to the examiner, who would be highly unlikely to disagree with the higher-ranking appeals board.

Once appeals are exhausted at the patent office, companies can dispute patent invalidations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Gary Hill)

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Greeks like their PM but unhappy with coalition government: poll

 

Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos attends a meeting with delegation of the the main private sector union (GSEE) in the Prime Minister's office at the Maximos mansion in Athens January 4, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/John Kolesidis

ATHENS (Reuters) - Most Greeks are unhappy with their coalition government but continue to support its technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, an opinion poll showed Saturday.

Pressure is building on Athens to conclude a deal to cut its debt load. Government negotiations with bankers and insurers broke up without agreement Friday, although officials said more talks are likely next week.

The survey by pollster Public Issue for Sunday's Kathimerini newspaper showed that 91 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the government, up from 80 percent in an early

December poll.

The three-party coalition government was formed in November to push a bailout deal and take the overborrowed country to elections, now tentatively set for April.

Papademos's approval rating remained higher than his government's, though it dropped slightly to 55 percent from 60 percent registered in the December poll.

Also, 50 percent of respondents said they did not see a need for immediate elections.

The poll, conducted on January 5-10 on a nationwide sample of 1,018 Greeks, showed the conservative New Democracy (ND) party maintaining its lead over the PASOK socialists but unable to secure an absolute majority if elections were held today.

New Democracy would win 30.5 percent of the vote versus 14 percent for the socialists and 12.5 percent for the communist party, which is not part of the coalition government.

"The political landscape remains fluid. New Democracy leads but without outright majority," Kathimerini said.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

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Nigeria heads of State and Government knocked churches after Islamists attack

1 of 8. In a view, the scene of a bomb explosion at the Theresa Catholic Church is St. at Madalla, Abuja, outside Nigeria's capital Abuja, December 25 2011. Islamist militant group Boko Haram said that it placed bombs that exploded on Christmas day in churches in Nigeria, one of which killed at least 27 people on the fringes of the capital.

IMG credit: Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

By Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria there is no competent leaders and former military ruler, one said heads of Government to address the security issues, on Monday, after Christmas bomb attacks on churches by Islamist fighters, more than two dozen people killed.

Muhammadu Buhari, a northern lights, lost to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, said in a statement in the Nigerian daily the last presidential election in April, that the Government was only slowly responding and shown indifference to the bombings.

The Boko Haram Islamic sect which aims, Sharia law over Africa's most populous country to impose responsibility for three Church bombs claimed the second Christmas in a row it led massacre on Christian houses of worship.

Security forces blamed the sect for two explosions in the North and fear grows that Boko Haram trying to ignite a sectarian civil war in a country split evenly between Christians and Muslims exist side by side for the most part in peace.

"How on earth would the Vatican and speak the British authorities, before the Nigerian Government to attacks in Nigeria, which have led to the death of our citizens?" Buhari, said in the statement by punch newspaper published.

"This is clearly a mistake of the leadership at a time, which must to ensure Government the people the ability to ensure the safety of life and property," said Buhari.

He said the Government more than had to spend more on security to deal with the problem.

Jonathan, would a Christian from the South, is fighting the threat of Islamic militancy, as the attacks "unhappy", but said Boko Haram "be (roughly) forever." "It will be to stop one day."

Pope Benedict on Monday condemned the attacks as "absurd" gesture and prayed that "the hands of the violent end."

The Pope, speaking from his window overlooking St Peter's square in Rome, said, that violence brought only pain, destruction and death.

COORDINATED ATTACKS

The attacks, which clashes between security forces and Boko Haram came a few days after which killed at least 68 people, evidence of more coordination and strategy of the group, which could be sounding the alarm bell in Nigeria and Western capitals.

St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madala, a satellite town, about 40 km (25 miles) from the Centre of the capital Abuja, was packed, when the first explosion exploded Gates after Christmas mass.

A few hours later, mountain of fire and miracles were reported at the Church in the Central, ethnically and religiously mixed city of Jos and in a church in Gadaka in the Northern State of Yobe State blasts. Residents said many wounded at Gadaka, but there were no immediate further details.

A suicide bomber killed four officials of the State security service in one of the other attacks in northeastern Damaturu was announced by the police. Residents heard two loud explosions and shots in the city.

Reuters reporter at the Church near the city of Abuja saw that the front roof had been destroyed, as several houses nearby had. Five cars were burnt out still smoldering. There were scenes of chaos as shocked disbelief staring people in the rubble.

"" Mass just gone and people were noise from the Church, and suddenly I heard a loud noise: "Gbam!" Cars were on fire and bodies strewn everywhere ", said veneciay minke Reuters."

Father Christopher Bard, Assistant pastor of the Church, said: "the officials counted me said they have collected 27 make so far." Police closed off area around the Church. Thousands of angry youths, you set roadblocks burn on the motorway from Abuja results in predominantly Muslim Northern Nigeria.

Police and military trying to dispel it by burning life shot into the air with tear gas.

"We are so angry!" Kingsley Ukpabi cried vehicles, as a queue of the OWL behind his flaming barrage lined up.

VIOLENCE CREDIT SPREADS

Boko Haram - in the Hausa language in Northern Nigeria speaking means "Western education sin" – is modeled loosely on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

The low level insurgency to the limited largely to Nigeria, but there are several parts to the North, Centre and Abuja fell this year.

Last Christmas Eve, a series of bomb blasts to Jos killed 32 people and other people died in attacks on two churches in the North-East.

A wounded man whose Beine were almost crushed into pieces by the explosion of security services on a stretcher in close to an ambulance was loaded at the Church near the city of Abuja.

"I will survive," he said in a quiet voice.

The explosion in Jos, a powder keg of ethnic and religious tensions occurred deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians have a spree shooting of militant, accompanied the fire was exchanged with the local police, Charles Ezeocha, Jos task force spokesman said.

"We have lost a policeman and we have four arrests." I believe that we get further information and work on it can use, "he said." Police found four other explosive devices in Jos, which disabled them, he added.

The White House condemned "This senseless violence and tragic loss of life at Christmas."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attacks and expressed his condolences "the people of Nigeria and the members of the."

"The Secretary-General once again calls for an end to all acts of sectarian violence in the country and reaffirms its belief that this use of violence can justify not an end,", a statement said published by his Office.

(Additional reporting by Tim cocks in Lagos, Tife Owolabi and Buhari Bello in Jos, Mike Oboh in Kano, correspondent in Maiduguri and Philip Pullella in Vatican City;) Write by Tim cocks and BATE Borisov Felix; (Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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N. Waziristan militant leader threatens Pakistan government

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By Haji Mujtaba

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan | Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:23am EST

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - The most powerful militant leader in Pakistan's North Waziristan border region has threatened to tear up a peace accord and turn his fighters against the Islamabad government.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur has an unofficial non-aggression pact with the military, focusing instead on attacking U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan can't afford new militant enemies. The army's hands are full with the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, blamed for many of the suicide bombings across the South Asian country.

Bahadur is known to have links with notorious militant groups in tribal North Waziristan, including the Haqqani network, which has emerged as the most high-profile threat to U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Bahadur criticized Pakistani leaders for allowing the United States to conduct drone missile strikes in North Waziristan and said the council of militant groups he heads would no longer hold talks with the government.

"We have been showing patience because of problems being faced by common people but now the government has also resorted to repression on our common people at the behest of foreigners," Bahadur, who heads a Pakistani Taliban faction, said in a statement distributed in North Waziristan.

He accused the government of firing mortar bombs and cannons on civilians and demolishing a hospital and other buildings in North Waziristan. Army officials were not immediately available for comment.

Local military officials said "terrorists" had used public buildings to launch rocket attacks at military checkpoints.

"We are disbanding the jirga (council) set up for talks with the government. If the government resorts to any repressive act in the future then it will also be very difficult for us to show patience," said Bahadur.

Pakistan has come under intense pressure to tackle militancy since U.S. special forces in May killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani town, where he had apparently lived for years.

Admiral Mike Mullen said before retiring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September that the Haqqani network -- blamed for several attacks on U.S. targets in Afghanistan recently -- was a "veritable arm" of Pakistani intelligence.

Islamabad denies the allegation.

The United States wants Pakistan to encourage militants to pursue peace in Afghanistan, and go after groups who don't cooperate.

But the government must tread cautiously in a country where anti-American sentiment over issues such as the CIA-operated drone campaign runs deep.

Pakistani leader criticize the drone attacks, saying they play into the hands of militants. But analysts say strikes which kill high-value al Qaeda and Taliban figures would not be possible without help from Pakistani intelligence agencies.

Bahadur, believed to have thousands of fighters, reached a peace agreement with the Pakistani government in 2007. But it has been strained lately.

Two clerics who are leaders of the committee that overseas the pact, Maulana Gul Ramazan and Hafiz Noorullah Shah, suggested the army had violated the deal.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Italy braces for new government, IMF warns Asia on euro

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota 
The Senate is seen during a voting session in Rome November 11, 2011. Former European Commissioner Mario Monti emerged on Thursday as favorite to replace Silvio Berlusconi at the head of an emergency government as Italy's politicians rushed to ward off a crisis that is endangering the entire euro zone.
Credit: Reuters/Stefano Rellandini
By Barry Moody and George Georgiopoulos
ROME/ATHENS |
ROME/ATHENS (Reuters) - Italy's parliament was set to approve austerity measures on Saturday, triggering the formation of an emergency government to replace that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and meeting European Union demands to avert a euro zone meltdown.
After months of dither and delay, Rome appears to have got the message as bond markets pushed it to the brink of needing a bailout that the euro zone cannot afford.
President Giorgio Napolitano and Italian lawmakers have put the process on a fast track: the Chamber of Deputies was due to start debating at 1130 GMT (6:30 a.m. EST) and final approval of the cuts by the lower house marks the Berlusconi government's final act.
Berlusconi was expected to hold a last cabinet meeting and then hand his resignation to Napolitano at the Quirinale Palace.
A largely technocratic government headed by former European Commissioner Mario Monti was seen in place by Sunday night or Monday morning.
In Athens on Friday, former European Central Bank policymaker Lucas Papademos, a technocrat like Monti, was sworn in to lead a new government tasked with meeting the terms of a bailout, after days of political angling.
WARNINGS OF GLOBAL CONTAGION
In Tokyo, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned that if strains in Europe worsen, Asia would be negatively affected through trade and financial sector links.
At a news conference after meeting Japan's Finance Minister Jun Azumi, she said: "...we touched on the economic situation in the euro zone, the way to address it, and the consequences that the euro zone crisis has and would have if it deteriorated further in the rest of the world, particularly in Asia."
"I insisted with Minister Azumi that no country can be immune under the present circumstances, no matter how developed or how emerging or how far away it is. The countries are totally interconnected. That is what we see at IMF," she said.
Her warning came after pressure from Washington for faster action from the currency bloc.
"The crisis in Europe remains the central challenge to global growth. It is crucial that Europe move quickly to put in place a strong plan to restore financial stability," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy about the crisis late on Thursday.
MARKET RELIEF...BUT WILL IT LAST?
The euro made its strongest gains against the dollar in two weeks on Friday and Italian bond yields, which had raced above sustainable levels this week, fell in relief at the prospect of a new government.
European shares also rose, with Italian banks including Intesa Sanpaolo rallying.
But some investors doubted the recovery would last, as even a technocrat government might struggle for progress on fiscal reforms Italy has long promised but never delivered.
"We can have maybe two or three days of calm -- in inverted commas -- but nothing has really changed underneath," one bond trader said.
Spain, the euro zone's fourth largest economy and due to hold elections in nine days, stopped growing in the third quarter, putting its deficit-reduction goals in doubt.
With European leaders dithering over how to tackle the deepening crisis, pressure has mounted on the European Central Bank to act more forcefully by becoming a full lender of last resort like the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
"There is real turbulence in the markets, real question marks over whether countries can deal with their debts and a big question mark over the future of the euro zone," British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed doubts Europe had the firepower to avoid the "catastrophe" of an Italian collapse. Russian experts "believe that without direct intervention from the ECB this problem cannot be solved," he said.
On the same day that the head of the 440-billion-euro ($600-billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) was quoted saying market turmoil had made it more difficult to boost the bailout fund, Putin said the EU, which accounts for half his country's trade, badly needed more emergency funding.
"The EFSF, alone or cooperating with the IMF, does not have the necessary resources. I believe that the resources needed to overcome the crisis are about 1.5 trillion euros," said Putin.
MORE ZEROS WON'T HELP
EFSF chief Klaus Regling told the Financial Times it would now be a challenge to boost the fund to 1 trillion euros as euro zone leaders proposed in a late-October summit, hoping to lure bond investors by offering to insure any eventual losses.
"The political turmoil that we saw in the last 10 days probably reduces the potential for leverage," said Regling.
But ECB policymaker Juergen Stark from Germany reiterated his view that it is up to politicians and not central bankers to solve the problems in the euro zone.
"I personally doubt very much that adding two or three zeros to the bailout volume can solve the structural and political problems," Stark, who opposes the ECB's strategy of buying the bonds of problem states such as Greece to prop them up and will quit the bank early this year, told a Swiss paper.
Senior ECB policymakers have rebuffed arm-twisting from investors and world leaders to intervene massively on bond markets to shield Italy and Spain from financial contagion.
Germany, Europe's biggest economy, strongly opposes the ECB taking on a broader crisis-fighting role, arguing that this would compromise the central bank's independence.
Greece's Papademos, a former ECB vice president, faces major challenges at the helm of a unity government forged after a chaotic power struggle between the two main political forces.
"With the unity of all people, we will succeed," Greece's premier told George Papandreou, who led the previous Socialist administration that fell apart last week.
Papademos has about 100 days to start fulfilling the terms of a 130-billion-euro bailout plan to keep Greece solvent while placating warring political factions.
Socialist party big-hitter Evangelos Venizelos will remain finance minister in a new cabinet that includes many of the same politicians who led the nation into crisis.
(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Rome, Renee Maltezou in Athens, Nick Edwards in Beijing, Ana Nicolai da Costa and Francesco Canepa in London and Gleb Bryanski in Russia; Writing by Mike Peacock and Stephen Brown; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Italy government hangs by thread as coalition crumbles

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1 of 2. Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gestures during a news conference at the end of the G20 Summit in Cannes November 4, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Dylan Martinez

By Barry Moody

ROME | Fri Nov 4, 2011 10:32pm EDT

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to step down on Friday despite a party rebellion that has brought his center-right coalition to the brink of collapse in the face of a growing economic crisis.

Berlusconi is widely believed to have already lost the numbers he needs to survive in parliament but he told reporters at a G20 summit in France: "We have a majority which I continue to believe is solid and so we will continue to govern."

The 75-year-old media magnate described party rebels as traitors to the country but said they would return to the fold once he spoke to them, despite the economic crisis that has fueled an open revolt in his ruling PDL party.

Underlining the foreboding atmosphere, yields on 10-year Italian bonds hit a euro lifetime high of 6.43 percent at one point on Friday, close to levels which led to bailouts of Ireland and Portugal.

President Giorgio Napolitano issued the latest in a series of alarmed calls for political consensus to pass painful economic reforms, saying the country was suffering a grave crisis of international confidence.

Berlusconi, caught in the crossfire from European powers and the party revolt at home, agreed at the summit to IMF monitoring of economic reforms which he has long promised but failed to implement. He said he had turned down an offer of IMF funding for Italy.

In an interview with BBC television IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said Italy had been right to ask for expert guidance in making sure it sees through fiscal reform.

"Italy considers that it does not need the money and Italy considers, rightly so in my view, that it needs the credibility of an expert independent third party to actually verify that their promises are delivered upon," she said.

"We will check that what Italy has promised Italy is delivering. And if it is not delivering I will say so."

All this may soon be irrelevant to Berlusconi who returned home on Friday to face what looks increasingly like a deadly rebellion by his own supporters.

The strains in his government were on display in Cannes where Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti -- with whom he has long had frigid relations -- refused to directly answer a question on whether he agreed Berlusconi could continue.

With financial markets in turmoil over Greece, and Italy viewed as the next domino to fall in the euro zone crisis, calls are mounting for a new government to carry through reforms convincing enough to regain international confidence.

Berlusconi says the only alternative to him is an early election next spring, rather than the technocrat or national unity government urged by many politicians and commentators.

DEFECTIONS

Two deputies from Berlusconi's PDL party this week defected to the centrist UDC, taking his support in the 630-seat lower house of parliament to a likely 315 compared with the 316 he needed to win a confidence vote last month.

But at least seven other former loyalists have called for a new government and could vote against him.

"The (ruling) majority seems to be dissolving like a snowman in spring," said respected commentator Stefano Folli in the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Other commentators spoke of an "inexorable" revolt against Berlusconi.

Even Defense Ministry undersecretary Guido Crosetto, a Berlusconi loyalist, said on television: "I don't know how many days or weeks the government has left. Certainly a majority relying on a few votes cannot continue for long."

Berlusconi, one of Italy's richest men, still has significant powers of patronage and he and his closest aides are expected to spend the weekend trying to win back support for a parliamentary showdown on Tuesday.

Some rebels have already threatened to vote against Berlusconi in the vote to sign off on the 2010 budget.

Berlusconi faced concerted calls to resign when he lost a previous vote on this routine measure, which was almost unprecedented. Although it is not a confidence motion, he would come under huge pressure if he suffered a second defeat.

"Unpopular prescriptions are necessary and this challenge cannot be faced with a 51 percent government," said UDC leader Pier Ferdinando Casini, in a reference to Berlusconi's weakness and a widespread feeling that the reforms can only be passed with a broad consensus.

The premier has promised European leaders he will call a formal confidence motion within 15 days to pass amendments to a budget bill incorporating new measures to stimulate growth and cut Italy's huge debt. That will be in the Senate where he has a more solid majority but it could still bring him down.

Berlusconi said in Cannes these amendments contained 90 percent of reforms promised to European leaders, but a decree law would also be drawn up with further measures.

Berlusconi, beset by a string of sex scandals and court cases, has consistently resisted pressure from groups ranging from a powerful business lobby to the Catholic Church to stand down.

President Napolitano said during a visit to the southern city of Bari that Italy was at the center of concern by international and European institutions and must quickly implement reforms it had promised to EU leaders.

"A serious crisis of confidence has emerged toward our country, in Europe and not only in Europe. We must be aware of this and rather than feeling wounded, be spurred on in our pride and determination to respond," Napolitano said.

(Additional reporting by Giselda Vagnoni in Cannes, Stefano Ambrogi in London and Paolo Biondi and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Syrian forces kill 19, Government offers amnesty

 Soldiers are seen on an army in Hula, in the vicinity of Hims 4 November 2011.Credit: Reuters/handout

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN | Friday, 4 November 2011 10: 01 pm EDT

AMMAN (Reuters) - killed Syrian security forces at least 19 people and wounded dozens, as she said after Friday prayers, hard activists to protests, throwing doubt on whether a plan of the Arab League can stop bloodshed in months.

The Government offered an amnesty to anyone with weapons, if she reported police within a week, "as long as they don't kill no crimes committed," State television reported.

The gesture was not displayed, part of which would begin a plan of the Arab League, Wednesday, under which the army would leave free way, and a dialogue with the opposition period of two weeks, would turbulent cities, political prisoners of Syria to be accepted.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland dismissively responded, when asked whether she thought Syrians should take part in the amnesty, saying: "I would not recommend anyone to make authorities regime at the moment."

She threw out the Syrian Government on the plan of the Arab League to wear, and said that the United States have no confidence that it would. "We have a long and deep history of broken promises by the Assad regime," told reporters.

Violence has, if anything, increased since announcement of the Arab League agreement amid reports of sectarian murders.

Troops fired on protests, which broke people nine in the city of Hims, where tanks were again in action, and in Saqba, near the capital after Friday prayers in many cities, killing at least seven activists in Kanaker, South of Damascus.

A further two demonstrators in the city of Hama, 240 km (155 miles) North of Damascus, were killed when security forces several thousand demonstrators, the, March, large demonstrations before the tanks that stormed the city three months ago fired at Hauptplatz of Orontes, scene which, they said.

"Many people fell to the ground with gunshot wounds, and we fear that some will not make it," Mohammed, a resident said by phone Kanaker.

Citing activists in Kanaker, the Syrian information centre for human rights, that the 20-year-old a-year soldier mutinied a colonel said during his unit from protesters in the city was fire and killed five members of the security forces, including, before he shot and killed.

Hard media curbs have hard to check the events in Syria since the beginning of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad in March, inspired by revolts against Arab autocrats elsewhere.

GOVERNMENT DENIES TÖTUNGEN

Syrian State television denied all killings and broadcast of recordings, which were one from areas where protests, result masses were reported quiet from mosques after prayers. It said that four police were injured by shots from "armed terrorist groups in Kanaker."

But YouTube allegedly waving material, flags of many cities and towns, thousands of people, with some shouting: "don't cry mother, Bashar of the days are numbered."

A clip from the town of Taybet al-Imam, was close to Hama, masses marched along a main road, where huge Syrian flags from the pre-Ba'ath era were over buildings, adopted crashed the Muammar al-Gaddafi with the Libyan flag through those draped.

"People want the execution of Assad," screamed people at a rally in the town of Deir Baalba near the city of Homs.

Homs has established itself as a flash point of the protest and a Centre for emerging armed resistance against the Government. Activists tank and sniper said at least 22 people in the central city fire Thursday, killed in the old town of Bab AMRO.

The violence in Homs, where tanks for the second day were just bombed the indicates how difficult it will be, to the plan of the Arab League in a country locked in a deadly struggle between Assad and enemies to implement his 11-year rule.

Diplomats who have seen the agreement, saying that there was no any timetable for implementation.

SECTARIAN MORDE

This week in reports of the murders of members of the minority Alawite Assad and counter killings of Sunnis, the a majority of Syria are fears that unrest will have a sectarian turn 20 million mounted.

State News Agency SANA quoted several inhabitants of Hims, which describes attacks by armed taxis Thursday.

A woman named Ikhlas Ashour, said armed forced passengers from the taxi and robbing them of their money and identity cards before killing all the men.

"It was an incredibly ugly scene, I felt like I was living a nightmare," she was quoted.

Another resident, Ghayath Darwish, said SANA armed some male passengers killed at random and dragged their bodies way.

The opposition has talks with Assad rejected so far, as long as the violence continue and said that the only way to peace for the President to resign immediately.

The United Nations says that since the uprising against the 41 years of Assad family reign began in March more than 3000 people have been killed. The authorities blame Islamic militants and foreign-backed armed gangs to kill 1,100 security forces.

Western sanctions and growing criticism from Turkey and Arab neighbors raised have pressure on Syria to stop the bloodshed.

(Additional Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny in Beirut;) (Editing by Alistair Lyon and Rosalind Russell)

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Libyans want jobs from "grey men" of the Government

A man goes in a souk, decorated with the Kingdom of Libya flag in downtown Tripoli 30 October 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Jamal Saidi
By Barry Malone
TRIPOLI | Wed, November 3, 2011 3: 28 pm EDT
Tripoli (Reuters) - jobs, normality and democracy are high on the wish lists of the Libyans on the streets of their capital in question but after months of civil war, their expectations to meet, is a demanding task for the "grey men" who now try to lead the country.
Few know anything about their new Prime Minister, Abdurrahim El-Keib, was Libya an academic and electrical engineer prior to his appointment surprise to the most difficult job in post-Gaddafi.
As head of the interim Government, he must be the National Transitional Council (NTC) a broken country with weapons flooded to control claim to revive the economy and the introduction of Libya to democracy.
"I came back to this land to this tool in my hands," said Saad Helmi, a 30-year-old a-old revolutionary fighters, Reuters in Tripoli of the old town, keep a machine gun with ribbons in the colours of the flag of Libya to the handle and his head wound.
"Now I will put them and replace it with a pen or a laptop." "I want a job to stay here," said Helmi, lived in Scotland for ten years.
Jobs have been regularly mentioned on the Tripoli streets, many young men who say that it was unemployment, fighting the Government of Muammar al-Gaddafi, now dead and buried.
Libyan top two politicians, Keib and NTC President Mustafa Abdel Jalil, have difficult challenges: institution-building from the ground up again, reviving the oil industry, disarming of the militias and try, the scars of the war in a country with regional and religious cure shares among the leading politicians.
Furthermore many Libyans are located dismissed with fresh ambition and the NTC.
Software Engineer Mohammed Ashour, 23. "you know what I was before the revolution?", said "I was someone without a job, which observed by Gaddafi's thug sons parade in my city."
"Then someone made me a weapon and changed." We young men the revolution gave the older men. It was our gift-we gifted them a country. "Now we want that they to pay us back."
The weapons, which a violent end brought get rid of the old order in Libya is second on the to-do list of Keib and the Cabinet he has promised to form within two weeks.
The Cabinet will sit for eight months after which there will be elections for a National Assembly, which will spend a year drafting a new Constitution before a parliamentary poll.
But most people in Tripoli road, look more normal, every day, said that work, including the disarming of the militias, start now.
After "Jobs" and "Weapons", "normal" was the word used most of Tripolitanians when it comes to the future. "I would like to normal,", said a woman named Nabile in English. "Normal", a friend agreed. Being "Normal", a third of reviewed.
"Such as Europe," said a fourth.
BORING PEOPLE A CHANCE GIVE
This wish is growing dissatisfaction with the once revered breeding that still roam the streets NTC militiamen.
"I'm tired of the fighters," Fatima Gdour said Reuters really, in a street full of jewellery shops.
"they are still around to to at night, the arrest of people who say they are for Gaddafi." I've heard that they steal cars. The NTC is promising, they take their weapons, so why not another? "
Political analysts and other Tripolitanians, said the answer is, that always is up to and after the war not the only thing they expect to occupy the NTC in about 20 months before elections. You think that jostling for position may be even more important.
"they need their militias so that they can get the best government jobs." Are all worried that if they disarm, they will be threatened and some lose, "teacher Ayman Abdulgader told Reuters, laugh, when a group of armed fighters from the city of Misurata past drove."
"So we have with them to put up."
Misurata that country raced in Tripoli on the night of 23 August, the second largest city Benghazi and other places armed brigades and Gaddafi fled. But since taking over the capital, and armed checkpoints through the downtown and the suburbs set up, have refused to leave.
You are probably not going to the most important cities and regions-that armed men are allied - decide, their place in the so-called "new Libya" is often given is.
The choice of the Keib, a Scion of the nationalist family from Tripoli, the old town, such as Prime Minister may be a first attempt to bridge this gap and to deflect accusations that the NTC is biased to Benghazi, Tripolitanians said.
"I can't see any other reason, why they elected him,", said lawyer Hamza Mohammed, drinking tea with friends under a sign, the "Libya United" proclaimed. "He is just a nobody without (Abdel Jalil)." I wonder whether this NTC men can do. "What are they except against Gaddafi?"
His friend Mustafa chipped, to laugh, that he "boring" should have said men NTC.
"But this is a good thing," he said. "Since the world knew us years for a man nobody was said boring." It was exciting, every day, it is true. "Let's see whether, how they, say in England that grey can make better men."
(Editing by Tim Pearce)

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