Protests erupt on a regular basis, even in Damascus. On a government-escorted visit to the working-class and deeply conservative Midan neighborhood, the calm of one recent afternoon was suddenly shattered by the sound of merchants pulling down their shutters as a roar began to swell. A “martyr” to the cause of the opposition --- a soldier who had defected in Homs --- was being buried, and his funeral procession was accompanied by a noisy anti-government demonstration.

“God is great!” shouted those in the crowd of several hundred young men, as they marched up the narrow street toward a cemetery. And then, with greater force, arose the chant of what has become the chief rallying cry of the protest movement around the country: “The people want the execution of the president!”

The rage, energy and determination were palpable, suggesting that these young men, who have been taking to the streets on a regular basis since March, will not soon tire of their efforts to topple the regime.

A short distance and a world away, a group of students from privileged families debated politics over lattes and cigarettes in a cafe at the glitzy Cham City mall. Four of them supported the government to varying degrees. A fifth, who gave his name as Bassam, remained silent until asked for his views.

“I support the protesters, and I want total change. Including the president,” he said, adding that he had taken part in protests.

The tone of the discussion shifted abruptly.

“My president is untouchable, and I will kill people for him, just as they are killing against him,” screamed one of the students, Mariam, as she kicked Bassam under the table.

Bassam responded quietly that he was prepared to die for the sake of change. “My life is not more precious than the lives of those who have gone before,” he said.

The friends checked their watches and said it was time to go. Taking their farewells, they headed into the darkening streets and went their separate ways.

0920 GMT: Demonstrators in Sanabis chant, "We will welcome the Freedom Torch" and "Men and women are protesting; the revolution never ends".

0917 GMT: Journalist Andy Carvin, in Beirut for a digital media conference, gives a snapshot of the campaign against Bahrain human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, "Spent about 30 mins with @NABEELRAJAB. He got 6 or 7 harassing phone calls in just that period."

0915 GMT: Journalist James Foley writes, "Sirte residents report collecting 500 bodies in the last week, some from mass graves, some they say from air strikes, some in ones and twos."

0515 GMT: Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid, a Syrian-born American citizen, pled not guilty on Friday to charges he spied on anti-Syrian government protesters in the US.

Prosecutors claim Soueid provided video and audio recordings of demonstrators to Syrian intelligence officials.

0505 GMT: An analysis of Sunday's Tunisian election, in which the Islamist party Ennadha won 41% of the vote, by Erik Churchill for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace concludes:

The large secular parties’ reliance on advertising and reluctance to meet voters outside of the major cities made it difficult for undecided, rural voters, to put their confidence in them. The majority of Tunisians showed this weekend that Ennahda not only understood their preferences, but also that Tunisian voters cannot be taken for granted and should be reached out to directly. As the final votes are tallied, secular parties should reflect on the valuable lesson that was taught this weekend.

0500 GMT: The US company Blue Coat Systems has admitted that at least 13 of its devices to censor Web activity have been used in Syria, but it claims it does not know how the equipment reached Damascus.

Blue Coat, based in Sunnyvale, California, says it shipped the Internet filtering devices to Dubai late last year, believing they were destined for a department of the Iraqi Government. The company says it alerted U.S. authorities in recent days to the "improper transfer" and is cooperating with Washington's inquiries.

0450 GMT: The opening paragraphs of the story in The New York Times are provocative:

Once one of Syria’s closest allies, Turkey is hosting an armed opposition group waging an insurgency against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, providing shelter to the commander and dozens of members of the group, the Free Syrian Army, and allowing them to orchestrate attacks across the border from inside a camp guarded by the Turkish military.

The support for the insurgents comes amid a broader Turkish campaign to undermine Mr. Assad’s government. Turkey is expected to impose sanctions soon on Syria, and it has deepened its support for an umbrella political opposition group known as the Syrian National Council, which announced its formation in Istanbul. But its harboring of leaders in the Free Syrian Army, a militia composed of defectors from the Syrian armed forces, may be its most striking challenge so far to Damascus.

On Wednesday, the group, living in a heavily guarded refugee camp in Turkey, claimed responsibility for killing nine Syrian soldiers, including one uniformed officer, in an attack in restive central Syria.

Turkish officials describe their relationship with the group’s commander, Col. Riad al-As’aad, and the 60 to 70 members living in the “officers’ camp” as purely humanitarian.

0440 GMT: The number of deaths on Friday in Syria was notable --- at least 44 people reportedly perished at the hands of security forces --- but so was the pattern.

We expected further casualties in Homs, the country's third-largest city, as the military continued its attempt to suppress resistance, but the deaths returned to Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre where tens of thousands died. The northern city had been a flashpoint earlier in the conflict but had been relatively subdued --- at least compared to Homs --- in recent weeks.

The deaths came hours after Robert Fisk published an interview with Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior advisor to President Assad, in which she insisted, "Early in the crisis, our army and police and security services paid terrible sacrifices but they were told not to shoot at demonstrators."