News » flying at venues, shattered windows on a bus and

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The bomb squad rushed past crowds on Copacabana Beach to investigate a backpack abandoned near Rios ritziest hotel. Bob Gibson Cardinals Jersey . Despite the potential for danger, local diners sipped their beers, watched an Olympic swimming race on a big-screen television and took selfies with a disposal robot amid what turned out to be a false alarm.Meantime, a table of eight American tourists asked for the bill and scurried away.Suspicious packages, muggings, stray bullets flying at venues, shattered windows on a bus and an Olympic security officer fatally shot in a favela. A smattering of incidents since the Olympics began has unnerved visitors to Rio de Janeiro even as some Brazilians say typically crime-ridden streets in touristy areas seem more secure.I feel safer now than I ever have here, said Carlos Augusto, a military retiree who is a native of Rio.Contrast that with the reaction of German tourist Cristina Van Hove, who was in line waiting to enter the basketball arena at Olympic Park Thursday night when an explosion startled her and a friend. The crowd grew quiet as an announcer said something in Portuguese that they couldnt understand. Turns out, security had blown up a backpack left near a bathroom. The boom reverberated even inside Carioca Arena 1, where the game between Spain and Nigeria began in front of a scant crowd.We didnt know what it was, Van Hove said, adding that the sound took her back to the November terror attacks in Paris, when suicide bombers blew themselves up outside of the Stade de France as part of a coordinated attack by the Islamic State group that left 130 people dead.Its Van Hoves first Olympics, and despite all the social media chatter about alarming incidents here and there, she said she feels relatively, though not entirely, safe.Newton de Oliveira, an independent security expert in Rio, said its impossible to gauge whether crime has gone up or down during the games because there is a lag in the gathering and releasing of statistics. Olympic organizers also havent put a number to the incidents of violence or false alarms.At this point, all we can have are personal impressions, said De Oliveira. Tourists might believe that crime is up because they are not used to living in a city with all the security and violence problems of Rio.Pervasive crime is part of life here. In the first five months of 2016, homicides increased by 18 percent to 1,870 in greater Rio. And in the wealthier tourist districts, locals and visitors have long been targets of muggings. For the Olympics, more than 85,000 security forces have been deployed in Rio -- double the number of London in 2012.The most serious incident connected to the games so far happened Wednesday, when one Olympic security officer was fatally shot after he and two others got lost near a slum close to the international airport. No arrests have been made. The citys many favelas have not seen the stepped-up security present elsewhere.In another harrowing episode, two Australian rowing coaches were assaulted Friday night walking back to their hotel in the posh Ipanema beach neighborhood. Two teens, one of them brandishing a knife, grabbed the coaches by their throats and pushed them against the wall. The visitors quickly handed over their wallets and mobile phones, a spokesman for the Australians said.The next day, also near Ipanema beach, Portugals education minister was robbed at knifepoint on a busy street. The thieves were caught by police.Stray bullets have twice flown into the Olympic sports complex in Deodoro, a rough neighborhood thats playing host to events including equestrian and rugby. No ones been injured. And on Tuesday, two windows were shattered on a bus carrying journalists; Rio organizers blamed rocks, although one passenger, who identified herself as a former American military officer, insisted the cause was likely gunfire. No one was seriously injured.And in whats starting to feel like a common occurrence at these games, bomb squads have set off several controlled explosions after finding unattended items such as the backpack near the basketball arena. Detonations also have happened near the finish line of a cycling race and, Tuesday night, outside of the Copacabana Palace hotel.Authorities wont say how many calls theyve responded to, and while the vast majority of cases are immediately discarded, many are investigated, taking a toll on already overworked officers.You have to run things down, said Matthew Levitt, director of the Washington Institutes Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. The fact that you find out later it was nothing doesnt mean that you didnt need to do that. This type of vigilance is going to continue.Many tourists are only catching glimpses of the violence on TV or the internet, if at all.The risks were so exaggerated, said Byron Rivas, an accountant from Colombia walking around the downtown port area that until an Olympic cleanup had been a dangerous place. We got here worrying about security, and now we dont even think about.For locals, the heightened police presence is something of a godsend. And as for the bomb scares? Its all part of the Olympic show.After the incident outside of the Copacabana Palace, waiter Francisco Freitas joked: If the police allow me to grab that backpack, Id give it to my son to take to school.---Associated Press reporters Tom Withers and Pauline Arrillaga contributed to this story.---Joshua Goodman is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodmanPeter Prengaman on Twitter: http://twitter.com/peterprengaman His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/peter-prengaman Roger Maris Cardinals Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. Enos Slaughter Cardinals Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. https://www.cheapcardinalsonline.com/146...-cardinals.html .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Sevens took its bow in the Olympics on Saturday and we were there to see it at the Deodoro Stadium. Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, France and Canada went two from two and we round up the key talking points from day one of rugby in the Games.Australia are the team to beatThe favourites for womens gold put down a marker on day one of the sevens with the most complete pair of performances of any side here. In their first match against Colombia - Emilee Cherry started despite injury concerns - they showcased their all-court style of rugby with every player producing moments of sheer brilliance as they ran in nine tries. Whether it was the potent try-scoring of Charlotte Caslick, who grabbed three, the beautifully weighted kicking of Chloe Dalton or the orchestrating of Alicia Quirk, they had the opponent grasping at hot air as they waltzed through. And all that after they opted to start without star Ellia Green.In their second match of the day against Fiji it was a similar state of affairs with Cherry excelling and Caslick adding to her ever-growing try count. They are the team to beat here in Rio and having won this years World Sevens Series, they are nicely poised to complete a remarkable double.Portia Woodmans New Zealand are best-placed to challenge AustraliaIt was an ominous start from the Black Ferns and if anyone is to stop Australia, they are currently the team who will do it. Their star Portia Woodman, whos the current womens world player of the year, was in spectacular form. They finished day one unbeaten and Woodman followed up on her hat-trick in the first match against Kenya, a game they eased through 52-0, with a further score against Spain.Their support was also fantastic in the crowd. A strong contingent sat above the 22 nearest the tunnel cheering on every half-break and inevitably the resulting try while high-ranking officials from the New Zealand Rugby Union were also in attendance. The players looked confident and after their drubbing of Kenya, they then saw off Spain. It was a more error-strewn performance but on day one, they look best placed to challenge Australia for gold.Great Britain struggled with nerves but are nicely placedTeam GB looked nervous in their opener against the hosts with Brazil feeding off some superb support from the crowd. Natasha Hunt showed her class with two opportunistic tries but they did look rattled in the firsthalf beforre closing out the match. Adolis Garcia Jersey. They were making uncharacteristic handling errors and lacked a cutting edge but eventually they got over the line and then made the necessary improvements against Japan to finish two from two. The two real positives were not conceding any tries and the performances of two-try Jo Watmore.It was a shaky start, but we know sevens tournaments are not decided on the first day, and weve got two good wins under our belt, Team GB captain Emily Scarratt said. The second performance was really pleasing.We really pride ourselves on our defence, If you dont let other teams score tries, it is generally a lot easier to win games.U.S. lack physicality but have pace to punishWhen the U.S. have ball in hand, they look dangerous as they showed in their 48-0 eight-try win over Colombia but in the close quarters of the contact area against Fiji in their opening match, they were found wanting for physicality. Fijis Lavenia Tinai left her mark on the U.S. side with a series of blistering hits and though the Islanders lacked calmness at certain stages - despite mens coach Ben Ryans best efforts when he was shouting from the stands malua (slowly) -- they profited from the territory to win 12-7.It was a disappointing start and while they got back to winning ways against Colombia, it is Canada from the North American contingent who look set to be targeting day three semifinals. They flew under the radar with New Zealand and Australia the headline attractions, but Canada were ruthless in their two matches as they eased past Japan and then Brazil.Pocket Rocket Santini is Brazils key weaponAs the TV camera panned around the stadium before the hosts opening match against Team GB, the crowd started jumping. Their support for the team was brilliant with British knock-ons greeted like tries and the odd break as if theyd already got gold in the bag. Their key player will be the diminutive 1.50 metre-tall Edna Santini, nicknamed the pocket rocket, who is a wonderfully elusive runner but they must have her on the wing, spotting outside breaks rather than in the midst of the midfield scrap.Against Canada, they lacked the same intensity and focus they showed against Team GB but this is a team who are showing promise and did their watching faithful proud on day one. ' ' '