Louis vuitton outlet Thousands of antigovernment demonstrators took to the streets Monday immediately after Syrian President Bashar Assad delivered his first public address in two months, a speech promising political reforms but offering no concrete steps toward democracy demanded by a burgeoning protest movement.

But blaming unspecified foreign conspirators for instigating protests that have drawn a violent reaction from his security forces, louis vuitton handbags Assad fell far short of opening up one of the world's most tightly controlled police states. Indeed, the longtime president continued to insist that "conspiracy is blooming in Syria," describing the perpetrators as "vandals" and "germs" that had infected the country. louis vuitton shoes

At the same time, some pro-democracy activists acknowledged that the tone of Assad's speech was less arrogant than in previous addresses and said he at least attempted to acknowledge the country's dire situation.

Louis vuitton outlet Unlike in two previous speeches on the protests, Assad on Monday spoke of martyrs "on both sides" and said that "innocent blood was shed." louis vuitton bags Sounding confident and appearing in good spirits, he urged thousands of Syrians who have fled to refugee camps in Turkey to return home. louis vuitton shoes

Western officials eyeing stronger action against Syria for its alleged human rights violations dismissed the speech as mere rhetoric. "What is important now is action, not words," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington. "A speech is just words."Activists said an authority handpicked by the government would fail to address the roots of the problem. louis vuitton

"Who are these people who will take part in the dialogue?" said Georges Chachan, a member of Syria's Assyrian community and an opposition activist now living in Belgium. louis vuitton purses "If they are people chosen by the regime to speak in the language of the regime and to work on the timetable of the regime, then we have a problem.

vibram five fingers In recent weeks, Assad announced several reforms, including the removal in April of a decades-old emergency law that curtailed civil liberties and the issuance of citizenship rights to the country's long-repressed Kurdish minority. Such changes failed to quell the protests or rein in security forces increasingly using deadly weapons on demonstrators. five finger shoes Late Monday, protesters were already gearing up for another round of nightly protests leading up to mass demonstrations after weekly prayers Friday.

mbt shoes "The president is a hypocrite," said Adel Othman, a Syrian opposition activist reached in the eastern city of Dair Alzour. "He acknowledges our demands as legitimate but then calls us conspirators, traitors and criminals. If he really believed this was a foreign conspiracy, why would he want to talk to us anyway?" mbt

vibram five fingers The NFL's labor talks resumed Tuesday amid signs that enough progress has been made in recent negotiations that a deal is within reach in the next two to three weeks, according to people on both sides of the dispute.

Owners of the 32 teams have been told to leave their schedules open in case a meeting scheduled for next Tuesday in Chicago runs late or spills over into the following day, said several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are at a sensitive stage. One said there was a small chance of a reaching a deal within days.

five finger shoes It is possible, but unlikely, that owners would vote on a labor deal at their meeting, people familiar with the negotiations said. It is far more likely, they said, that the owners would review the terms with their negotiators and a deal with locked-out players would be completed the following week.

The recent negotiations have been marked by a dramatic change in tone, people throughout the sport have said, perhaps because courtroom decisions that favor the owners have affected negotiating leverage and the threat of a shortened season looms if the talks stall again. Despite caution that the talks still could unravel, the prevailing sentiment among those with knowledge of the negotiations is that the deal is likely to get done and the main question at this point is when.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said last month that a deal would have to be completed by July 4 to allow time for a free agent signing period followed by a full training camp, preseason and regular season.

mbt shoes Others, however, said the issues are very complex and even if progress continues, it might take a week or two longer than the current early-July target for the deal to be finished. Washington Redskins defensive tackle Lorenzo Alexander said: "Until they actually get something agreed upon, signed and across the table, then I'm not even putting much weight into anything. I'll wait and see when something's done and then I'll be happy."

The league and players have been at odds over how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenue. In a previous round of talks, the two sides were about $320 million apart on the salary cap in the first year of a deal and had not reached an accord on how to divide future revenue that exceeds projections.

Players have been locked out by owners since March 12, the day after they dissolved their union and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. The regular season is scheduled to begin Sept. 8. The talks that resumed Tuesday on Maryland's Eastern Shore were scheduled to continue through Wednesday. Attorneys for both sides rejoined the talks Tuesday after they were left out of negotiations the previous two weeks. mbt

Dialogue between the two sides also is taking place via informal talks between formal negotiating sessions. The league and players are awaiting a ruling by a federal appellate court on the legality of the lockout. A federal court ruling that ordered an end to the shutdown was put on hold by the same appeals court.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for significant cuts to collective bargaining rights for public workers in the state, undoing a lower court's decision that Wisconsin's controversial law had been passed improperly.

Louis vuitton outlet The Supreme Court's ruling, issued at the close of the business day, spared lawmakers in the Republican-dominated Capitol from having to do what some of them strongly hoped to avoid: calling for a new vote on the polarizing collective bargaining measure, which had drawn tens of thousands of protesters to Madison this year and led Democratic lawmakers to flee the city in an effort to block the bill.

Republican leaders had warned on Monday that if the Supreme Court did not rule by Tuesday, they would feel compelled to attach the same measure to the state's budget bill, which is expected to be approved this week. The decision ended, at least for now, lingering questions about when and whether the cuts would take effect, but it also underscored the state's partisan divide, which seems to grow wider by the day. The ruling was 4 to 3, split along what many viewed as the court's predictable conservative-liberal line.

louis vuitton bags The majority of the justices concluded that a lower court was wrong when it found that the Legislature had forced through the cuts in collective bargaining without giving sufficient notice - 24 hours - under the state's open-meetings requirements.

In its written decision, the court cited the importance of the separation of powers, and said the Legislature had not violated the state's Constitution when it relied on its "interpretation of its own rules of proceeding" and gave slightly less than two hours' notice before meeting and voting. In the end, the provision passed without the attendance of any of the Senate's 14 Democrats.

Justice David T. Prosser, whose re-election bid was threatened this year because he was seen as a conservative who would cast the deciding vote on the collective bargaining measure if it came before the court, voted to overturn the lower court ruling. He issued his own opinion concurring with the majority. louis vuitton shoes

Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, who is viewed by many as leading the court's liberal wing, wrote a scathing opinion that accused the majority of a "hasty judgment." "It is long on rhetoric and long on story-telling that appears to have a partisan slant," Chief Justice Abrahamson wrote of Justice Prosser's opinion.

louis vuitton Republicans, who won control of both legislative chambers and the governor's office in last November's elections, praised the ruling, and said they could now move forward with what some of them describe as a fiscally wise budget. "The Supreme Court's ruling provides our state the opportunity to move forward together and focus on getting Wisconsin working again," Gov. Scott Walker said.

louis vuitton purses Democrats said the court's decision was unsurprising given a battle that has turned so fierce. Protesters, again, were mounting at the Capitol. Democratic leaders said they planned to remind voters of the collective bargaining bill in the weeks before Senate recall elections that grew out of the fight. "I guarantee you, some Republicans are breathing a sigh of relief about not having to take this up again," said Senator Christopher Larson, a Democrat. "On the other hand, these justices just sent a reminder to voters of what has happened here."

Louis vuitton outlet Just a few months ago, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's appointment to the intelligence committee drew mild resistance and private snickering from her Republican colleagues. Now, it's becoming a central part of the narrative behind a presidential campaign that is quickly gaining steam.

louis vuitton handbags At Monday's Republican presidential debate, Bachmann flexed her newfound national security credentials: She told the nation that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had been unable to identify a vital national security interest in Libya, and she discussed reports that the Al Qaeda branch in North Africa might be coordinating with the Libyan rebels. In doing so, she demonstrated a facility with national security issues that comes with regular access to high-level secrets.

It was, quite simply, a different Michele Bachmann who emerged on stage at St. Anselm's College in New Hampshire - a nuanced, focused and polished politician rather than the one-dimensional firebrand she's been caricatured as in the past. If she is to make a serious run at the presidential nomination, Monday's debate might be the turning point that gave the GOP establishment a reason to give her a second look.

louis vuitton shoes "I think she did a really good job last night," House Speaker John Boehner said. "I think she's a bright member of our caucus; it's one of the reasons why I appointed her to the intelligence committee." Some Republicans say it's only a matter of time before she implodes, but others think there's a chance Bachmann has turned a corner.

"Most of the time she's smart. Then she just goes off," one House Republican colleague said of her modus operandi in recent years - a pattern that he said is beginning to change. "She practices all the time. Now, she's starting to get pretty good."

Bachmann may have justified Boehner's faith in her abilities, but he wasn't always so confident. When he appointed her to the committee last December, he made a special point of sitting Bachmann down to warn her that she could not let national secrets slip.