Russian police kill Islamic terror suspect in Winter Olympics security crackdown.

Russian police kill Islamic terror suspect in Winter Olympics security crackdown.(Guardian).

Police have killed a senior Islamist militant in a shootout in Russia's North Caucasus before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the national anti-terror committee has said.

The operation against Eldar Magatov, a suspect in numerous attacks on Russian targets, at a house where he had taken refuge in the Dagestan region was part of an intensifying security clampdown as the Games approach.

President Vladimir Putin has staked his political reputation on organising a successful Olympics and tightened security nationwide after insurgents who hope to create an Islamist state in the North Caucasus threatened to attack the Games.

Magatov led an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan, the committee said. Dagestan has become the focal point of the insurgency, which is rooted in two separatist wars in neighbouring Chechnya.Read the full story here.

Olympics: Putin orders Sochi check after third quake since Dec 10.

Olympics: Putin orders Sochi check after third quake since Dec 10.(SD).Earthquakes continue to plague a region near the Black Sea. Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the Black Sea coast ,near the border between Georgia and Russia.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the emergencies ministry to check the 2014 Olympic sites in the southern city of Sochi following a string of earthquakes, his spokesman said. “The President ordered the emergencies ministry to pay close attention to the shocks in Sochi and other cities,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Interfax reported.
“He asked that special attention is paid to construction sites to make sure they suffer no damage,” Peskov added. Three earthquakes were felt in Sochi since December 10. Authorities said they caused no damage, but paid special concern to the Black Sea resort city due to ongoing construction of the 2014 Olympic Games venues.
A quake of 5.5 magnitude hit the future Olympic host city early Wednesday, according to the Krasnodar region branch of the emergency ministry. A quake of the same magnitude affected Sochi on Sunday. On December 10, Sochi residents also felt the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that struck near Novorossiysk, the port city over 100 kilometers northwest from Sochi.
On Tuesday, rumors of a stronger earthquake in the city became so prevalent that Sochi’s administration issued a special statement urging residents “not to succumb to panic” and threatened police action against people who spread earthquake rumors. Olympic developers in Sochi are managing two giant construction sites, in the mountains and by the Black Sea, connected by a road, which is also unfinished. Although some sport events are already hosted by the city, much of the supporting infrastructure is still unfinished, while residents complain of constant power and water outages.Read the full story here.