BBC News with Fiona MacDonald

The man selected by Egypt's ruling military council to serve as a civilian prime minister, Kamal Ganzouri, has said that he'll form an all-inclusive cabinet to serve the Egyptian people. As Mr Ganzouri addressed the nation, huge crowds again occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square, calling for an end to military rule. Wyre Davies is in Tahrir Square.

The speech itself won't have much of an impact because people had made clear their opinions of him before. When we knew he's been appointed, those who support him say that he's a prominent politician, he was a relatively popular prime minister under Mubarak - although he's in his 70s now - and that he is just the kind of person that is needed to guide this country through a difficult electoral process. Others say of course that he is an acolyte of the old regime, he's exactly what is wrong with Egypt now. Even though Hosni Mubarak left the scene nine months ago, it is people like him, many of his old officials and

acolytes

who are still in power.

(Some) Elsewhere in Cairo, tens of thousands of people have been staging a counter-rally in support of the governing military council. Syria has defied the threat by the Arab League of new economic sanctions by failing to meet a deadline to agree to the league's demand for observers to be allowed into the country. The Arab League is due to meet this weekend to decide on the sanctions. A BBC Middle East correspondent says all the signs from Syria indicate that the government is unlikely to