MOSCOW -- Russias counter-terrorism agency says its studying a video posted by an Islamic militant group that asserted responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 34 people last month and is threatening to strike the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Tyler Graovac Jersey . Security experts say the Russians are right in taking the threat seriously. The video was posted online Sunday by a militant group in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russias volatile North Caucasus. The Olympic host city of Sochi lies only 500 kilometres (300 miles) west of Dagestan. Two Russian-speaking men featured in the video are identified as members of Ansar al-Sunna, the name of a Jihadist group operating in Iraq. It was unclear whether the men in the video had received funding or training from that group or only adopted its name. There was no confirmation the two men were the suicide bombers who struck the southern Russian city of Volgograd last month as the video claims. Scores of people were also injured by the bombings of a train station and a bus. Russias National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Monday it was studying the video and would have no immediate comment. The video couldnt be viewed in Russia, where Internet providers cut access to it under a law that bans the "dissemination of extremist materials." It was released by the Vilayat Dagestan, one of the units that make up the so-called Caucasus Emirate, an umbrella group for the rebels seeking to establish an independent Islamic state in the North Caucasus. Doku Umarov, a Chechen warlord who leads the Emirate, had ordered a halt to attacks on civilian targets in 2012. But he rescinded that order in July, urging his followers to strike the Sochi Olympics, which he denounced as "satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors." The games run from Feb. 7-23. The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya claimed last week that Umarov was dead, but the claim couldnt be verified. The Vilayat Dagestan statement said the Volgograd attacks were carried out in part because of Umarovs order, but it didnt specifically say he had ordered them. Dagestan has become the centre of an Islamic insurgency that has engulfed Russias North Caucasus after two separatist wars in Chechnya. Militants seeking to create an independent state governed by Islamic Shariah law in the Caucasus launch daily attacks on police and other authorities there. One of the two ethnic Chechen brothers accused of staging the Boston Marathon bombings spent six months in Dagestan in 2012. Andrei Soldatov, an independent Moscow-based security analyst, said the video threat need to be taken seriously. "They have capabilities to strike beyond the North Caucasus, which they demonstrated in Volgograd," he said. "Its extremely difficult to stop a lone wolf suicide bombing attack." Georgy Mirsky, a respected Russian expert on the Middle East, said the video reflected the increasingly close ties between Jihadists in the Caucasus and elsewhere. Russias war against Caucasus militants has made it an enemy on par with the United States and Israel for militant Islamic groups in the Middle East, he wrote on his blog. Russia has responded to the Islamic threat by introducing some of the most sweeping security measures ever seen at an international sports event. Some 100,000 police, army and other security forces have been deployed, according to analysts, and tight restrictions have been placed on access to the Sochi area. Anyone attending the Winter Olympics has to buy a ticket online from the organizers and obtain a spectator pass that requires providing passport details. Authorities have already barred access to all cars registered outside of Sochi and Russian police have gone house-to-house methodically screening all city residents. Soldatov argued, however, that Russias massive security presence at the Olympics could also have an adverse effect. "When you put so many troops on the ground, you might get some problems with the co-ordination of all these people," he said. Soldatov noted that the ominous threat of a "present" for the visitors to the Games contained in the video is loosely phrased and could herald an attack outside tightly guarded Olympic facilities. "They never tried to specify the place where they might strike, thats why everybody should be concerned," he said.
Mike Gartner Jersey . "If we could score a six in every game, obviously I would be pretty excited," Jones said. "Its a long week but a short week. Its a pretty short round robin from what were used to so you dont want to get behind the eight ball early.
Christian Djoos Jersey . The Canadians led for much of the game before Argentina forced overtime in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Canada weathered the storm after squandering a lead with a series of made shots. "Its a fantastic win for our country with 11 first-time Canadian national team members," said head coach Roy Rana.MONTREAL - The tightly cornered Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is a different track than most in Formula One, but dont expect the Mercedes AMG team to be any less dominant. The Mercedes duo of three-time Canadian Grand Prix champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has won all six races to start the season, finishing one-two in the last five. They will be the favourites again despite the close walls and hard braking on the 4.361-kilometre circuit. "I dont think it will be different from the other weeks before," a resigned Nico Hulkenberg of the Force India team said Thursday. The race weekend begins with practice on Friday, and qualifying on Saturday, before the grandstands on the island track across from downtown Montreal fill up on what is expected to be sunny, warm day for the 45th Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. It will be first experience for Canadian fans of the quieter, more fuel-efficient 1.6-litre turbo engines introduced this year, which have dropped the formerly dominant Red Bull team down the grid and raised Mercedes AMG to near-invincibility. In the opening six events, Rosberg has two wins and finished second four times to lead drivers standings with 122 points. Hamilton has four wins and one second to sit second with 118 points. Next closest is Ferraris Fernando Alonso, a two-time world champion, with 61 points. Sebastian Vettel, the F1 champion the last four years with Red Bull, is sixth with 45. Some felt the peculiar Gilles-Villeneuve track, which features long straightaways leading into sharp turns, a hairpin and some tricky chicanes, might close the power gap on Mercedes. No such luck, said Hamilton. "Ill be guessing, but I dont feel that will be the case," the 29-year-old Briton said. "Were particularly strong in the straights, the Mercedes are, but I dont know. "Maybe well be surprised this weekend, but the long straights do suit us very well. We have a very good power unit in our engines. Mercedes has done the best job with the engines, so Renault and Ferrari would have had to have done an exceptional job coming into this weekend in that area to be able to keep up with us on the straights." The Mercedes supremacy is drawing comparisons to 1988, when the McLaren Honda team of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won 15 of the 16 races on the schedule, with the Brazilian taking eight and Prost winning seven. "In a way Im honoured to hear those comparisons because that was an extremely high-level, big battle at the time,, but I leave it at that," said Rosberg.
Evgeny Kuznetsov Jersey. . "I dont really compare myself to that era. I want to do my own thing." It seems the only thing that can stop Mercedes may be infighting between Hamilton and Rosberg, but even the tension that was building between them looks to have abated since a blow-up at Monaco two weeks ago, when Hamilton felt Rosberg cheated him of a chance to claim pole position. Hamilton tweeted recently "we spoke and were cool, still friends #noproblem." The Hamilton-Rosberg duo already has Mercedes 141 points clear of Red Bull and 162 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors championship. Vettel has had bad luck in Canada in the past, but broke through last year when he cruised to win from the pole, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Alonso. Now hes grasping at any edge to stay competitive. "It will be difficult to match the Mercedes-powered cars down the straights," the German said. "There are also some corners here and weve been competitive in the past. "We were in a very good position in to win the race in 2011 and we won last year, so we have reason to be confident. But we know it could be a difficult weekend. "We know that the corners are very tricky and demanding here and you can make up a lot of time in the corners. Well try to do our best down the straights and try to do better than everyone else on the corners." Another leveller could be the infamous wall of champions, a concrete barrier at the chicane leading to the final stretch to the finish line. Over the years, some of the sports greatest drivers have crashed into it. Jenson Button of McLaren Mercedes is confident that even with the lighter back end on this years cars they should get through the turn OK. "Weve been driving these cars all year and if we can drive these cars around Monaco, I think well be all right around here," he said. The McLaren, Force India and Williams teams also use Mercedes engines, but none has put the package of engine and car together quite like Mercedes AMG. "In terms of the development of the car, it is working and were going in the right direction," said Button, the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix winner who has found himself battling just to get into the points by finishing in the top 10 this season. "Its tough. "When youve been fighting for wins and the team is used to fighting for wins, its difficult when you find yourself in this situation."
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