Police fire tear gas, noise bombs after Molotov cocktails thrown

CBC News , May 18, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/05/18/montreal-orotest0.html

Authorities cracked down on thousands of protesters flooding downtown Montreal near the Berri-ÙQAM metro station after Molotov cocktails were thrown.

Police declared the protest march illegal at 9:54 p.m. after several fire devices were thrown from the crowd, near St-Laurent and René-Levesque Boulevards.

Riot police responded with tear gas and noise bombs, and ordered people to disperse.

Police in armour blocked St-Laurent Boulevard to contain the crowd.

Some smaller groups splintered from the main march and made their way down side streets in Chinatown.

But the march’s tail swelled with more protesters.

Thousands of people answered the call to march Friday night in a show of defiance against a legal crackdown on protests by the Quebec government.

The nighttime protests have been going on every night for nearly a month.

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Plans to strike Iran “ready”, says U.S. Israel envoy

Reuters ,  May 18, 2012 ,(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Andrew Roche)

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFBRE84G0AQ20120517

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – U.S. plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is “fully available”, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers which suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear arms.

Like Israel, the United States has said it considers military force a last resort to prevent Iran using its uranium enrichment to make a bomb. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for purely civilian purposes.

“It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure than to use military force,” Ambassador Dan Shapiro said in remarks about Iran aired by Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday.

“But that doesn’t mean that option is not fully available – not just available, but it’s ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it’s ready,” said Shapiro, who the radio station said had spoken on Tuesday.

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Ayman al-Zawahri urges Saudis to topple ruling family

Reuters ,Dubai, May 17, 2012
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/uk-saudi-qaeda-idUKBRE84G1G320120517

(Reuters) – Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri on Thursday urged Saudis to rise up against the kingdom’s ruling Al-Saud family, suggesting they draw inspiration from uprisings that have deposed leaders across the Middle East and Africa in the past year and a half.

Speaking in a video clip that was posted on an Islamist website, Zawahri, who took over the leadership of al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan just over a year ago, said:

“Muslim brothers in the land of the holy mosques, a year has passed since the uprising of the Arab people against their rulers…my dear brothers why do you still accept to be ruled by the Al Saud family. They are one of the worst corrupt governments who steal your money,” he said.

“Why don’t you rise up (against the Al Sauds) as you are the companions of the Prophet,” he added.

Saudi Arabia has been spared the mass protests that have forced four Arab heads of state out of office, partly thanks to a big public spending package announced by the world’s largest oil exporter early last year.

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(Reporting by Amena Bakr; Editing by Andrew Osborn)