Obama lobbies 2016 Olympics inspectors for Chicago
CHICAGO, April 4, 2009 (AFP) - President Barack Obama welcomed the International Olympic Committee to his hometown Saturday as he put the weight of the White House and his international popularity behind Chicago’s bid for the 2016 summer games.
“Chicago is that most American of American cities,” Obama said in a video address on the first day of the IOC Evaluation Commission’s tour of the “Windy City.”
“It’s a city where the world’s races, and religions, and nationalities all live and work and play and reach for the American Dream that brought them here; where our civic parades wave the colors of every culture; where our classrooms are filled with the sounds of the world’s languages; and where jazz and rancheras and bhangra can be heard down the street from one another.”
The IOC panel is meeting with bid officials and will tour proposed venues over the coming days as the US Midwestern metropolis challenges Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 spectacle.
Once considered the frontrunner, according to the influential GamesBids.com site, Chicago has slipped to fourth after a series of apparent setbacks.
But organizers are hoping to cash in on Obama’s star power and a cityscape deliberately designed to host large civic festivals and events.
The bid includes plans to build just five event venues and to make use of Chicago’s ample existing sports facilities and a network of lakefront parks to transform the downtown area into a single civic arena.
“Once you discover the Chicago that I know… I am confident you will discover that you’re already in the perfect host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Obama said.
“And when those games are finally held here, I promise you this: they will not only stir the soul of this city, they will not only stir the soul of America, they will stir the soul of the entire world.”
The initial meeting to discuss the city’s vision, concept and legacy plans “got off to a great start” said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the Chicago 2016 bid.
The bid’s slogan is “let friendship shine” and the overarching vision is to “celebrate the Olympic movement’s power to unite all humanity,” organizers said.
An opening video described Chicago as a city of festivals and the “ultimate canvas” for the world’s greatest architects and highlighted some of its most prominent residents: basketball legend Michael Jordan, talk show phenomenon Oprah Winfrey, and Obama whose election night victory party was held in the city’s lakefront Grant Park.
Organizers also highlighted the achievements of a non-profit group, World Sport Chicago, created to help encourage urban children to participate in sports as part of the long-term legacy of the bid.-AP
Llaima volcano spews lava, ash in southern Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - One of Chile’s most active volcanos is spewing lava and ash again, prompting evacuations and landslide warnings.
The national emergency department is reporting that the 10,250-foot-high (3,125-meter-high) Llaima volcano has hurled explosive materials up to 600 meters (650 yards) above the crater and issued a flow of lava more than 1,000 yards (meters) long.
A statement from the department Saturday noted that villagers were evacuated as a precaution after officials conducting flyovers saw snow melting around the crater, “which means a high risk of mudslides … (and) the possible rising of the Calbuco River.”
The volcano is located 380 miles (600 kilometers) south of the capital, Santiago.
Gunman ‘lying in wait’ kills 3 Pittsburgh officers
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest and “lying in wait” opened fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call Saturday, killing three of them and turning a quiet Pittsburgh street into a battlefield, police said.
Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn’t clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said. An officer who tried to help the two also was killed.
Poplawski, armed with an assault rifle and two other guns, then held police at bay for four hours as the fallen officers were left bleeding nearby, their colleagues unable to reach them, according to police and witnesses. More than 100 rounds were fired by the elite police teams and Poplawski, Harper said.
The three slain officers were Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III. Kelly had been on the force for 14 years, Mayhle and Sciullo for two years each. Another officer, Timothy McManaway, was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.
Poplawski had gunshot wounds in his legs but was otherwise unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, Harper said. He was charged with three counts of homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons violation.
The shooting occurred just two weeks after four police officers were fatally shot in Oakland, California, in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The officers were the first Pittsburgh city officers to die in the line of duty in 18 years.
“This is a solemn day and it’s a very sad day in the city of Pittsburgh,” Harper said. “We’ve seen this kind of violence happen in California. We never would think this kind of violence would happen in the city of Pittsburgh.”
At 7 a.m. (1100 GMT), Sciullo and Mayhle responded to an emergency call from Poplawski’s mother, who remained holed up in the basement during the entire dispute and escaped unharmed, Harper said.
When they arrived at the home, Sciullo was immediately shot in the head. Mayhle, who was right behind him, was also shot in the head.
“It appears he was lying in wait for the officers,” Harper said.
Kelly, who was on his way home after completing his overnight shift when he heard the call for help, rushed to the scene and was killed trying to help Sciullo and Mayhle, Harper said. Elite police teams and other officers arrived and were immediately fired on as well.
Don Sand, who lives across the street from Poplawski, said he was woken up by the sound of gunfire. Hunkering down behind a wall in his home, he saw the first two officers go down and then saw Kelly get shot.
“They couldn’t get the scene secure enough to get to them. They were just lying there bleeding,” Sand said. “By the time they secured the scene enough to get to them it was way too late.”
Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson, who lives nearby, was one of the first officers to arrive. He saw Mayhle by a bush to the right of the door; Kelly was in the street and McManaway, his hand injured, was kneeling beside him, yelling that Kelly needed help.
Donaldson suggested using a police van to get them. They draped a bulletproof vest on the window to protect the driver and several officers got into the van to get Kelly and McManaway.
During this time, Poplawski was somehow distracted, Donaldson said.
“We were fortunate that he didn’t fire on us. I don’t know why he was distracted, but he apparently didn’t see us coming down to get them,” he said. “It could have been worse.”
Poplawski had feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon,” said Edward Perkovic, his best friend.
Perkovic, 22, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, “Eddie, I am going to die today. … Tell your family I love them and I love you.”
Perkovic said: “I heard gunshots and he hung up. … He sounded like he was in pain, like he got shot.”
Poplawski had once tried to join the Marines, but was kicked out of boot camp after throwing a food tray at a drill sergeant, Perkovic said.
Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said Poplawski feared that President Barack Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he “wasn’t violently against Obama.”
Vire, 23, said Poplawski once had an Internet talk show but that it wasn’t successful. He said Poplawski owned an AK-47 rifle and several powerful handguns, including a .357 Magnum.
Obama has said he respects Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms, but that he favors “common sense” gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he would approve some curbs on assault and concealed weapons.
Poplawski had been laid off from his job at a glass factory earlier this year, said another friend, Joe DiMarco. DiMarco said he didn’t know the name of the company, but knew his friend had been upset about it.
The last Pittsburgh police officers killed in the line of duty were Officers Thomas L. Herron and Joseph J. Grill, according to a Web site that tracks police killings. They died after their patrol car collided with another vehicle while chasing a stolen car on March 6, 1991.
In 1995, an off-duty officer was shot with his own gun after he confronted a group of teenagers about graffiti. Tests later showed the officer had been drinking.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 133 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2008, a 27 percent decrease from year before and the lowest annual total since 1960.
Poplawski had often fought with neighbors and had even gotten into fist fights with an unnamed couple in the neighborhood, Sand said.
“This is a relatively really quiet neighborhood except for him,” Sand said. “He was just one of those kids that we knew to stay clear from.”
Harper confirmed police had responded to calls from the Poplawski house several times but said the incidents were still being investigated.
Rob Gift, 45, who lives a block away, said the well-kept single-family houses with manicured lawns are home to many police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other city workers.
Thousands flock to child ‘healer’ in Indonesia
BALONGSARI, Indonesia (AP) - Ponari was just like any other kid in Indonesia until he was struck by lightning. When he awoke, the story goes, he found a gray stone on his head with magical ‘healing’ powers.
Soon tens of thousands of people were lining up under the blazing sun for hours, sometimes days. They carried cups, plastic bags or buckets of water, waiting for the 9-year-old shaman to dip in his rock to transform the water into a cure-all potion.
“I’ve tried going to hospitals, but it’s always horrible,” said Mohammad Anas, a 65-year-old with high blood pressure. “It was expensive, I was sent from one department to the next, waiting in long lines, filling out papers, and in the end, I still was sick … I’d much rather take my chances here.”
The interest in Ponari reflects the longtime popularity of shamans in Indonesia, where Hindu, Buddhist and animist beliefs and traditions held sway long before 14th-century traders brought Islam. But it also seems to suggest that some people, like Anas, have all but given up on the long-neglected health care system in this sprawling nation of 235 million people.
Chronic funding shortages and chaotic decentralization efforts have forced many local clinics in the poorest parts of the country to scale back operations in recent years, reducing the time and money spent on community outreach, education and routine immunization.
The result: skyrocketing cases of measles, tuberculosis and other preventable diseases and often too-late diagnoses of illnesses such as high blood pressure, stroke and cancer.
“The government doesn’t spend near what it should,” said Zuber Safawi, a lawmaker who oversees parliament’s health commission, noting that only 1.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product goes to health. “It shows a real lack of political will.”
Few if any can recall quite so much hysteria around a single healer, much less one as young as Ponari. The boy is exhausted and can barely hold up his head as he rides piggyback on one man, while another dips his hand into containers of water.
The lines of people waiting to see him stretch for miles (kilometers), and he has brought more than $500,000 into the economy of the desperately poor village of Balongsari. It costs 50 cents to see the boy shaman, and many people donate more money.
So eager are people to see Ponari that four died in a crush in February to reach him, temporarily forcing police to shut down his practice. It reopened last month, despite objections by the boy’s father. Villagers punched the father in the face after he complained the third-grader was being exploited and belonged in school, playing with his friends.
“This is a hassle, sure,” said Sudarmanto, a 45-year-old diabetic patient, as he jostled with the crowds to see Ponari, rent a room from villagers and find a place to park his car. “It’s still cheaper and better than going to the hospital.”
Another diabetes patient, Suyatman, 60, traveled 160 miles (257 kilometers) to see the boy shaman.
“I just don’t trust state clinics,” he said. Another woman nodded, smiling as she held up her ticket with her number in line - 4,138 - written in pen on a purple square of paper.
They, like others, said they were at first excited about a program introduced several years ago to provide free medical insurance to the country’s most vulnerable. But they quickly became frustrated with the reams of paperwork and long waits, the result of so many people flocking to the hospitals for affordable care.
The plan, criticized as poorly enforced, also put a burden on the state. Some hospitals had to wait seven months before their bills were reimbursed. In many cases, patients with the free insurance cards said they were afraid that disgruntled doctors wouldn’t give them the same time or attention as those who paid upfront.
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari insists Ponari’s case says nothing about the state of the country’s health system.
“This is about desperate people looking for miracles,” she said in a telephone text message. “As soon as they realize they won’t get those miracles, the phenomenon will be over.”-AP
Azarenka upsets Serena in Key Biscayne final
KEY BISCAYNE, Florida (AP) - Belarus teenager Victoria Azarenka beat Serena Williams 6-3, 6-1 in the Sony Ericsson Open final, spoiling the top-ranked American’s bid for a record sixth Key Biscayne title on Saturday.
The loss ended Williams’ reign at Key Biscayne. She was bidding for her third title in a row. Instead, she fell to 38-2 in the tournament since 2001, with the only other loss to her sister Venus.
“I’m not that bummed, because I feel like there’s next year,” Williams said. “And then there’s the year after and the year after.”
The result continued the rise of 10th-ranked Azarenka, who won her first career titles at Brisbane in January and Memphis in February, and beat world No. 2 Dinara Safina en route to the semifinals at Indian Wells two weeks ago.
On Sunday, Novak Djokovic will bid for his second Key Biscayne men’s title against Andy Murray, the tournament’s first British finalist.
Williams played with her left thigh taped and struggled to move to her left. She served poorly and had trouble putting Azarenka’s 90 mph (145 kph) serves into play.
Williams said her left thigh began bothering her in the quarterfinals, and she also was bothered by a sprained ankle. “It was a little difficult moving to the left and a little bit to the right,” she said.
With a chuckle, she added, “A little forward was also difficult.”
Williams limped at times and said she considered pulling out before the match. “I don’t like to not play,” she said. “I gave the effort that I could give today.
That’s all I could give.”
Azarenka quickly realized Williams wasn’t 100 percent and took advantage with pinpoint strokes to the corners.
“You could see the leg tape right away,” 19-year-old Azarenka said. “But I wasn’t really paying attention too much, because I had to play my game, and I had to keep her moving as much as I could.”
Williams led 3-2 before Azarenka won five consecutive games to take control. The teenager also won the final five games and closed out the biggest win of her career when Williams sailed a backhand long.
Azarenka tossed away her racket, covered her face and hopped to the net.
Her voice shook during the trophy ceremony.
“I’m sorry. I think I forget my English right now,” she told the crowd. “It was such an honor for me to play Serena. She’s the greatest player for me. I was so happy to be able to play her and win.”
For Azarenka, it was a big improvement on their match in the fourth round at the Australian Open in January, when she became sick to her stomach beforehand and lost.
Azarenka said she battled nerves on Saturday, but they betrayed her only with an occasional double fault. She was so poised serving in the final game that when she challenged a call and was advised the replay system had malfunctioned, she smiled and won the next point.
“She has really, really improved,” Williams said. “I actually look forward to playing her again so I can play a little better, and obviously do better. She’s going to be a really good player.”
Azarenka was the steadier player in rallies, often punctuating her shots with a two-tone shriek worthy of Maria Sharapova.
A subdued Williams remained impassive throughout, even as the match slipped away, in contrast with Roger Federer’s racket-breaking outburst that stunned the entire stadium on Friday.
Williams dropped serve five times and committed unforced errors on 34 of the 64 points she lost. Despite reaching the final, she was erratic throughout the tournament: She lost five games in a row a staggering five times.
Despite the defeat, she’ll retain the No. 1 ranking for a 10th consecutive week next week, while Azarenka will keep climbing to No. 8.
Azarenka improved to 23-2 this year. She grew up in Minsk and befriended NHL goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who invited her to the United States to train. She moved to Arizona and has lived there with Khabibulin and his wife since 2005.
Azarenka said her title would be big news in Belarus, where the most famous tennis player has been men’s doubles specialist Max Mirnyi, who teamed with Andy Ram to win the doubles title on Saturday. She was expecting a congratulatory phone call from President Alexander Lukashenko, whom she met when she was in grade school.
“He came to one of the tennis tournaments, and I was presenting flowers to him,” she said.
Azarenka won $700,000, more than the men’s first prize of $605,500. The two tours offer the same total prize money but distribute it differently.
“I can spend it in one day,” Azarenka said. “I’m not allowed to drink in the States yet, but I’ll definitely go celebrate somewhere.”-AP