US, UN demand proof of missing Chinese tennis star's well-being

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, November 19, 2021 

The WTA is threatening to pull out of China if tennis star Peng Shui's
whereabouts and safety are not confirmed (AFP/GREG BAKER) 

The United States and UN on Friday demanded proof of Peng Shuai's whereabouts and well-being amid rising concern for the tennis star, missing since alleging she was sexually exploited by a former vice-premier of China. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden's administration wanted China to "provide independent, verifiable proof" of Peng's whereabouts and expressed "deep concern" about the former world top-ranked doubles player. 

The United Nations insisted on a fully transparent investigation into the claims made by Peng against Communist Party grandee Zhang Gaoli. 

Tennis stars, sports bodies, governments and human rights defenders also spoke up for Peng, 35, and demanded information. 

The head of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) said he was prepared to cut lucrative business ties with China if Peng remains unaccounted for and her sexual assault allegations are not probed. 

Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka have also voiced their concerns for one of China's greatest ever players. 

"It would be important to have proof of her whereabouts and well-being," Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva. 

"According to available information, Peng, a former world doubles number one, hasn't been heard from publicly since she alleged on social media that she had been sexually assaulted. 

"We are calling for an investigation with full transparency into her allegation of sexual assault." 

WTA threatens China pull-out 

Peng alleged on the Chinese social media site Weibo earlier this month that Zhang, now in his 70s, had "forced" her into sex during a long-term on-off relationship. 

The claims were quickly scrubbed from the Twitter-like platform and she has not been seen since. 

The WTA, the top world body for women's tennis, has called for proof that Peng is safe. 

Its boss Steve Simon said he is willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Chinese business in one of the WTA's biggest markets to ensure Peng's safety. 

"We're definitely willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it," Simon told CNN. 

"Women need to be respected and not censored," he added. 

Tennis legend Serena Williams also demanded an investigation. 

"I am devastated and shocked to hear about the news of my peer, Peng Shuai," the former singles world number one wrote on Twitter. 

"This must be investigated and we must not stay silent." 

Peng represented China in the Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro Olympics and won gold for China at the 2010 Asian Games. 

She is a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion. 

France said the international community and sports bodies were worried for Peng's situation. 

"We are concerned about the lack of information," the French foreign ministry said. 

"We call on the Chinese authorities to implement their commitments in the fight against violence against women." 

The Lawn Tennis Association, the sport's governing body in Britain, offered its assistance to the WTA in its efforts to establish Peng's safety. 

Email doubts 

Peng's claims brought the #MeToo movement into the highest echelons of China's ruling Communist Party for the first time. 

"The Chinese government has systematically silenced the country's #MeToo movement," said Amnesty International's China researcher Doriane Lau. 

"Given that it also has a zero-tolerance approach to criticism, it is deeply concerning that Peng Shuai appears to be missing," she said. 

China has repeatedly refused to comment on her fate or the case. 

But Hu Xijin, the outspoken editor of the Communist Party-owned Global Times, tweeted on Friday that he didn't believe that "Peng Shuai has received retaliation and repression speculated by foreign media for the thing people talked about". 

Earlier this week, state-run CGTN published a screenshot on Twitter of what it said was an email written by Peng to Simon and other WTA officials. 

In the email, Peng claims that her earlier accusations are "not true" and says she is "resting at home and everything is fine". 

But doubts were quickly flagged about the awkward language used in the purported email and the cursor visible in the screenshot. 

Simon said that he was struggling to believe the email was authentic. 

"I don't think there's any validity in it and we won't be comfortable until we have a chance to speak with her," he said. 

Amnesty's Lau said: "China's state media has a track record of forcing statements out of individuals under duress, or else simply fabricating them."

Thunberg sets an example to teenage tennis star Gauff

Yahoo – AFP, 17 October 2019

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has been an inspiration to fellow
teenagers such as tennis sensation Coco Gauff she told The Guardian newspaper

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is leading a changing of the established order in how the young are now emboldened to speak up and not kowtow to their elders, said American teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff.

Gauff, aged just 15, has taken the women's tennis circuit by storm this year, with eye-catching performances at Wimbledon and the US Open and winning her first professional title in Linz, Austria, last weekend.

She told The Guardian she is using her fame to promote causes she believes in through her following in social media especially Instagram.

Thunberg, 16, came to the world's attention when in August last year, she began sitting alone in front of Sweden's parliament on Fridays with a sign reading "School Strike for the Climate".

In little more than a year, she has galvanised millions of young people around the world to take part in demonstrations to raise awareness for action on climate change.

"Lately, younger people are leading movements and I guess the world has to get used to it because we're used to older people telling us what to do," Gauff said speaking in Luxembourg where she played this week but lost in the first round.

Coco Gauff says her success on court is gaining her a growing 

following on social media and thus a bigger audience for 

her to address social issues she cares about

"My generation has just decided it was time to speak up on our own about things. I do follow the (climate) movement a lot and I’m learning about ways we can better change, at least my lifestyle and the way my family live.

"It's great when they say I'm young and I'm doing great things.

"It will get frustrating when they say: 'You're young, you don't know any better." I think it's a good thing to point out that to a younger person but I think we shouldn't put someone's intelligence down no matter what."

Gauff, who during Black History Month this year posted facts about Juneteenth -– the American commemoration of the abolition of slavery -– and things she did not learn at school, says fame is helping her to get her own messages across about issues she is interested in.

"Wimbledon (she reached the fourth round losing to eventual champion Simona Halep) has given me an opportunity to raise money and raise awareness for other things and I'm glad that I was able to," she said.

"With every match I win I seem to get more and more people following me, so that's good.

"And that means more and more awareness for subjects I care about. I always wanted to not just be a tennis player."

Her win in Linz last weekend aged 15 years and seven months made her the youngest player to win a WTA event since Czech Nicole Vaidisova, who triumphed in Vancouver and Tashkent two months apart in 2004 as a 15-year-old.

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"The Energy of the Future" - Dec 7, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The New 'Message' from Space

Let me tell you what the message is that is being communicated: Unlock to 44 percent! This is the message: The Human race has passed the marker and is ready for the next step in evolution. I am talking about the old soul. You are the ones who will be first to get this message. It is you, and some of your "old soul" children, who are starting to feel and accept this!

Let me tell you in this lesson today that the first thing that this unlocking will begin to create is what we're going to call Akashic acuity. You're going to start remembering, and it's about time. Can you celebrate this? It's about time that when you're born you don't start from scratch, in the dark, and doing everything all over again. Instead, you remember!

I want to talk to some individuals who are listening to this and are in this room. Have your grandchildren had the audacity to tell you who they used to be? Don't raise your hand; I know you're here. They feel it, and they know it, and out of the mouths of these babes come the most profound information that this planet has ever heard! They knew who they were! Some will point their fingers at you and say, “Don't you remember? I was your mum in another life.” That's a bit disconcerting, isn't it?

I want you to remember one of the premises of incarnation, the one that we have given you over and over. You incarnate in family groups. There's a reason for this, so there is comfort and joy. It's so you don't have to learn the energy of each related person, all over again, each time. The energies of the family stay together and you can accomplish more that way. There's always a benevolent reason for these things. Every single attribute of the esoteric system of life, whether it's your grids or reincarnation, is benevolent. Did you hear that? It's a beautiful system, and not random. It's not about judgment; it's not about punishment. It is, instead, about the love of God for you, and what I'm about to tell you is what is changing is energy.

Akashic Acuity

So we have established that you are moving into this new radiation, and we have established that it intersects the sun. The sun blasts your magnetic field with it (via the solar wind) and the magnetic field talks to your DNA. Suddenly, there is the potential some of your DNA is being unlocked. The attributes of unlocking Akashic acuity will help you to remember who you've been. Now, with this remembrance comes energy - not about who you were, but rather it gives you the energy of what you did. I don't mean physically; I mean energetically and mentally. Old souls carry with them experience. When you look into the eyes of a child, you're going to see wisdom just waiting to break out. Dear ones, these children are different. They are not going to go through what you did! They have a whole new set of issues, and most of their issues are trying to navigate the old issues you create for them!

There's something we brought up in a former channelling called the wisdom factor. Now, the wisdom factor is caused by Akashic acuity. After living Human life over and over, you start remembering the wisdom that you have gained through these past lifetimes. You don't necessarily remember who you were, but rather the fact that you were at all and the experiences you had. Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing how to read? Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing not to touch something hot? Where did it come from? You're going to see more of this, and a feeling of "been there, done that".

Akashic acuity is remembrance of experience during past lifetimes. As the child grows, that remembrance becomes pure wisdom. As the child starts to awaken and the pineal opens, something else happens. The grid starts talking to the child through the DNA, and in the grid is also the information from the time capsules we spoke about in past channellings. The time capsules start feeding the planet with increased wisdom and knowledge. You don't have to reincarnate to awaken even further! Akashic acuity means suddenly Humans know more than other children have in the past - much more. …”

Iran says 'blue girl' football fan admitted 'mistake'

Yahoo – AFP, 14 September 2019

Iran has come under increasing pressure to lift a ban on women entering
stadidums (AFP Photo/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND)

Tehran (AFP) - An Iranian football fan who set herself ablaze and died after being arrested for trying to enter a stadium had "confessed her mistake" when she was questioned, the judiciary said Saturday.

Sahar Khodayari, dubbed "blue girl" because of the colours of the team she supported, Esteghlal FC, was reportedly detained when she tried to enter a stadium dressed as a man to watch them last year.

She died of her injuries in a Tehran hospital after setting herself on fire outside a court last week.

Her death sparked outrage online, with celebrities and activists using the hashtag #blue_girl to urge the sport's world governing body FIFA to ban Iran from competitions and fans to boycott matches.

Iranian women spectators have been barred from football and other stadiums in the Islamic republic since 1981, despite international pressure to let them attend.

Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar on Tuesday asked the judiciary to investigate her death.

The judiciary said, without naming anyone, that a young woman had been arrested when trying to enter a stadium and faced charges of offending "public chastity and insulting" law enforcement officers.

On Saturday, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said Khodayari "had clearly confessed her mistake during questioning, accepted it and expressed regret". He did not give further details.

Esmaili, who was quoted by the judiciary's Mizan Online website, said no sentence had been issued against her since there had been no trial to begin with.

The spokesman also dismissed reports she had been told she would be jailed for six months as "fabricated rumours and hearsay".

Esmaili said such reports "stirred public opinion" and provided material for "foreigners and enemies" of Iran.

Despite the boycott calls following her death, Khodayari's father told Mehr news agency that she did not "sacrifice" herself for any cause.

Iran has come under pressure from FIFA to allow women to attend qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, and was reportedly given a deadline of August 31 to comply.

The sports ministry said last month that women fans would be allowed into the stadium when Team Melli -- as the national team are known -- play their next home qualifier on October 10.

Clerics argue that Iran's ban on women attending sports events is to protect them from the masculine atmosphere and sight of semi-clad men.

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Women open historic round at once all-male Augusta National

France24 – AFP, 6 April 2019

Mexico's Maria Fassi, left, plays in Saturday's final pairing at the Augusta National
Women's Amateur, with LPGA legend Nancy Lopez, right, serving as one of the
ceremonial starters at the famed home of the Masters GETTY IMAGES NORTH
AMERICA/AFP/File

Augusta (United States) (AFP) - Striking blows for gender equality with every swing at former men-only enclave Augusta National Golf Club, women golfers competed for a trophy for the first time Saturday at the home of the Masters.

In a club that opened in 1933 but didn't admit its first women members until 2012, LPGA legends Pak Se Ri, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Nancy Lopez hit ceremonial shots off the first tee to launch the historic final round of the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur.

"It's just exciting to be a part of history," Lopez said. "A day of history for us, for the amateurs that are here and for Augusta National."

A field of 72 played the first 36 holes at nearby Champions Retreat before the event moved to the famed Masters layout, with everyone having a practice round Friday but only the top 30 advancing to compete in the last 18 holes of the tournament.

"It's a dream come true. I'm so happy for them," Sorenstam said. "This has huge potential to not just inspire young girls but golfers, other women in sports and women in business."

American Anna Redding, a University of Virginia senior, was the first competitor to tee off, but she was eight strokes adrift of US leader Jennifer Kupcho. The Wake Forest University senior led after 36 holes on 5-under par 139 with Mexico's Maria Fassi, a University of Arkansas senior, one stroke behind.

"To play here for the first time is going to be just a great motivation and it's beautiful. They know how special it is," Ochoa said. "Hitting that first tee shot is probably going to be the highlight of their career."

Augusta National's all-male status led to a 2003 protest across the street from the club but it was not until August 2012 when businesswoman Darla Moore and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were named the club's first women members.

Another move was 2014's debut of the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship, where young girls and boys won titles with a decisive putt on Augusta National's famed 18th green -- three Women's Amateur players having taken part as youths.

Pak struck the first ceremonial tee shot followed in order by Ochoa, Lopez and Sorenstam, handling the duties in a similar fashion to how Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and the late Arnold Palmer have done at the Masters.

"First time in a long time I get nervous," Pak said. "I have honor to lead."

"For them to kind of make us like Arnold, Jack and Gary, it's a real big honor to be here and hit that first shot," Lopez said.

Paris celebrates 2024 Olympic win as LA accepts 2028 consolation

Yahoo – AFP, Françoise CHAPTAL, Aug 1, 2017

Paris was insistent on hosting the Olympics in 2024, on the 100th anniversary
of the city's 1924 Games (AFP Photo/FRANCK FIFE)

Paris (AFP) - Paris was celebrating victory on Tuesday in its bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games after Los Angeles announced its intention to host the 2028 event instead in return for financial sweeteners.

Officially, French President Emmanuel Macron gave Monday's announcement by Los Angeles a cautious welcome, hailing a "very important step" on the road to hosting the Games.

The deal was described by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach as a "win-win-win" agreement for both cities and the Olympic movement.

But despite the fact that Paris is now effectively the only remaining candidate to host the 2024 Summer Games, Macron and other bid leaders shied away from overt triumphalism until an official announcement.

"France notes the decision of Los Angeles to put forward its candidature for 2028 and to reach an agreement with the IOC and Paris," a statement from Macron's office said.

Macron spoke to Bach following Los Angeles' announcement and was "delighted by this very important step towards France obtaining the Games in 2024".

Olympic Games host cities (AFP Photo/Paz PIZARRO)

Announcing the decision on Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said "this deal was too good to pass up".

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Twitter: "Happy that my friend @MayorofLA has made an important new step on an agreement that will have three winners: Paris, Los Angeles and the IOC."

However others were less circumspect, with French newspapers celebrating the Paris win and Tony Estanguet, the Paris bid co-leader, saying he could see "nothing standing in the way of Paris staging the Games".

"This time we've won it," said a headline on the front page of Le Parisien newspaper.

Paris, which will host the Games for a third time, endured the disappointment of failed bids in 1992, 2008 and 2012.

Both Paris and Los Angeles had wanted to host the 2024 Olympics, with the winner to be officially named by the IOC on September 13 in the Peruvian capital Lima.

But the possibility that Los Angeles would abandon a 2024 bid and instead accept the 2028 Games has been growing since the IOC decided in July that it would attempt to award both Games at its Lima meeting.

The French capital insisted it only wanted to host the Games in 2024, on the 100th anniversary of the city's 1924 Olympics, prompting Los Angeles to soften its stance and consider hosting the 2028 Games.

Los Angeles has twice hosted the Summer Olympics, in 1932 and 1984 (AFP

Photo/FREDERIC J. BROWN)

'Proud'

And confirmation of the decision everyone was expecting came on Monday night.

"I am proud to announce the Olympic Games are coming back to the United States of America," Mayor Garcetti said at a ceremony at the StubHub Center stadium.

"In 2028, we are bringing the Games back to LA, one of the great capitals of the Olympic movement. A city that has always been a Games changer and will be again in 2028."

LA officials, who had put forward a $5.3 billion (4.5 billion euros) bid for 2024, said an agreement had been reached with the IOC on financial considerations that would make waiting an extra four years feasible.

Bid chief Casey Wasserman said the IOC had waived various fees and payments that could ultimately save LA organisers millions.

The IOC will also advance $180 million to LA organisers to lessen the impact of the longer lead-up time, money that normally would not be disbursed until closer to the Games kickoff.

Los Angeles' Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the city "would be stupid" not to 

agree to host the Olympics in 2028 (AFP Photo/Fabrice COFFRINI)

"The IOC contribution as stipulated by the HCC is $1.8 billion and has the potential to exceed $2 billion according to the evaluation of the LA bid committee when taking into account the estimated value of existing sponsor agreements to be renewed and potential new marketing deals," the bid committee said in a statement.

Like Paris, this will bring the Games back to Los Angeles for a third time, after the city hosted in 1932 and 1984.

The agreement must still be approved by the Los Angeles City Council and the United States Olympic Committee -- both of which backed the 2024 bid.

But Bach said he expected any remaining hurdles to be cleared.

"We are very confident that we can reach a tripartite agreement under the leadership of the IOC with LA and Paris in August, creating a win-win-win situation for all three partners," he said.

The United States last hosted the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 while the Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Paris, LA to host Summer Olympics

Yahoo – AFP, Ben Simon, Jul 11, 2017

(From left) Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, International Olympic Committee President
 Thomas Bach and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti pose on July 11, 2017 in
Lausanne (AFP Photo/Fabrice COFFRINI)

Lausanne (AFP) - The International Olympic Committee agreed Tuesday to award the 2024 and 2028 Games at the same time, effectively guaranteeing that Paris and Los Angeles will be the hosts.

The French capital is tipped to stage 2024 while the Californian city has hinted that it was prepared to wait four more years.

Paris and Los Angeles were the remaining candidates for the 2024 Olympics, a contest that IOC boss Thomas Bach said created "a golden opportunity".

The Olympic movement has had increasing trouble attracting prospective hosts given the soaring costs and taxpayer support required.

Paris and Los Angeles mounted progressive, exemplary bids that would trim expenses by using existing facilities, the IOC said, making clear that it did not want to reject either candidate.

Bach lobbied for a double hosting plan, which won unanimous approval from IOC members at a meeting Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The IOC boss called the decision "historic".

"Ensuring stability of the Olympic Games for 11 years is really something extraordinary," he told reporters shortly after the plan was approved.

The Los Angeles and Paris Olympic sites for the 2024 Olympics ahead of the

Paris presentation to the IOC on Tuesday. (AFP Photo/Paz PIZARRO)

Two month window

The IOC now has a two-month window to negotiate with Paris and Los Angeles over which city will go first.

Bach said he wants a "tripartite agreement" before the IOC's main annual meeting in Peru's capital Lima on September 13, when a vote on the 2024 host had been scheduled.

Immediately after the deal was approved, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and his Parisian counterpart Anne Hidalgo appeared on stage arm-in-arm to thank the IOC members, leaving little doubt that a three-way pact was achievable.

Speaking later alongside Bach, Garcetti and Hidalgo voiced full confidence in the upcoming talks.

"I now know that I am sitting up here with two mayors, from two cities that will host after Tokyo the next two Olympics," Garcetti said, referring to the 2020 Games in Japan.

Hidalgo assured that "the Games will return to Paris".

Paris and Los Angeles mounted progressive, exemplary bids that would trim 

expenses by using existing facilities, the IOC said, making clear that it did not

want to reject either candidate (AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS)

Paris 'ready', LA to wait?

Bach said the negotiations would begin immediately, possibly over glasses of wine on Tuesday, adding an agreement could be announced next month.

In the highly unlikely event that there is no deal, the IOC will vote in Lima on 2024 alone, as initially planned, Bach said.

Delegations from the two cities -- led by French President Emmanuel Macron and Garcetti -- were in Lausanne making fresh pitches to IOC voters.

Paris has maintained a tougher line on the 2028 question, insisting it was focused on 2024, the centenary anniversary of the city's last Games.

"I am here to convey a message to say our people are ready to host these Games," Macron told reporters on Tuesday.

"After three failed bids we don't want to lose a fourth one," he said.

Paris mounted losing bids for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Games.

The Los Angeles team has done did little to quell speculation it was open to 2028, with bid chairman Casey Wasserman reminding that the city had never given the IOC "an ultimatum" on the 2024 question.

The city last hosted the Games in 1984.

The LA 2024 team says it has secured $5.3 billion (4.7 billion euros) in private funding, 

which if delivered could set a new paradigm for hosting Games that have historically

relied on taxpayer money (AFP Photo/KEVORK DJANSEZIAN)

"Working hard to get the Olympics for the United States (L.A.). Stay tuned!" President Donald Trump said in a tweet, without making reference to a particular year.

'Great' Olympic cities

The Olympic movement has been stained by Games that erected grand multi-million dollar facilities that were left to crumble and rot, while the billions spent in public money offered no long-term benefit to host communities.

Los Angeles has stressed its near entire reliance on private funding while vowing to use the Games to broaden access to sports, something it won praise for doing following the 1984 edition.

While Paris has equally focused on leaving a positive legacy, Macron also highlighted the opportunity for France to rally around the "Olympic values" of tolerance and inclusivity, saying they were embedded in the country's "DNA."

"It truly is a tale of two great Olympic cities," said a report released last week by the IOC's 2024 Evaluation Commission.

Bach called their presentations on Tuesday "mind-blowing."

In Louisville, Ali seen as face of 'real Islam'

Yahoo – AFP, Sébastien Blanc, 5 June 2016

Moroccan King Hassan II (R) decorating Muhammad Ali during a ceremony

 in the Royal Palace in Rabat on January 15, 1998 (AFP Photo/Abdelhak Senna)

Louisville (AFP) - At a time when Muslims in America are facing scorn and bigotry, the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali should be remembered as the true, peaceful face of Islam, residents of his hometown say.

On Sunday, two days after the three-time heavyweight champion known simply as "The Greatest" died at age 74, hundreds of people filed past his childhood home in Louisville, now a museum dedicated to his remarkable life.

Mourners leaving flowers and other mementos remembered his sporting prowess and his activism, but also spoke of Ali and his Muslim faith -- he converted in the mid-1960s -- and how his example can help dispel stereotypes about Islam.

"As a Muslim, I think it's definitely important for us that we have such a person in the respected world that's known to everybody, that gives us a good image," said Hamza Shah, a doctor in Louisville, where Ali grew up and first started boxing.

"With the stuff going on these days, most of the time, you see in the media there's a bad image of Muslims," Shah said.

"The one person we can definitely get a good image of was Muhammad Ali, and he portrayed what the real Islam is."

Since early 2015, attacks by Muslim extremists in Paris, San Bernardino, California, Brussels and elsewhere have fueled animosity among some Americans toward the Islamic world.

Visitors line up to visit and pay respects the Muhammad Ali Childhood Home 

Museum on June 4, 2016 in Louisville, KY (AFP Photo/Michael B. Thomas)

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, now the party's presumptive nominee, has seemingly co-opted that hostility for political gain, on Sunday even suggesting a Muslim judge could be biased against him in US courts.

Trump sparked outrage at home and abroad in December when he suggested a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States.

"We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda," Ali said in a sharp rebuke to the Trump proposal.

"I believe that our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam, and clarify that these misguided murderers have perverted people's views on what Islam really is."

'Man of truth'

When he learned that Ali, who abandoned his given name Cassius Clay when he converted to Islam in 1964, had died, Syed Hussein Shaheed -- a Chicago imam -- said he dropped everything to head to Louisville.

Shaheed was traveling with several other men, all dressed in white and wearing caps.

"He was famous for multiple reasons, but the biggest was that he became Muslim," Shaheed said as he and his group contemplated an art installation at the Muhammad Ali Center, another place in Louisville where fans have gathered.

Ali was respected throughout the Muslim world -- from Pakistan to Indonesia, from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia and across Africa -- for the values he espoused and promoted, the imam said.

"He didn't want to kill anybody, he couldn't do it and he did not want to support people who were killing people in a wrongful way," the imam said in reference to Ali's refusal to serve in the US armed forced in Vietnam.

That decision cost Ali his heavyweight title, years of his career and nearly landed him in prison.

Key dates in the life of heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali (AFP Photo/

Jonathan Storey)

"He stood up as a man of truth, and Muslim countries look to people who not only are truthful but also compassionate and merciful."

'Devout Muslim'

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, Ali sharply cautioned Americans against categorizing all Muslims as extremist killers.

"Islam is a religion of peace. It does not promote terrorism or killing people," he said.

"I am angry that the world sees a certain group of Islam followers who caused this destruction, but they are not real Muslims. They are racist fanatics who call themselves Muslims, permitting the murder of thousands."

He repeated the message in his December response to Trump, saying: "True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so-called Islamic jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion."

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, who is fighting Hillary Clinton for the right to face Trump in November, said Saturday that Ali was not only an elite athlete but a champion of civil rights, and a true believer in Islam.

"To all of Donald Trump's supporters who think it is appropriate to tell us that they love Muhammad Ali but they hate Muslims, understand that Muhammad Ali was a devout Muslim who took his religion very seriously," Sanders said.

He shook up the world, and the world's better for it. Rest in peace, Champ. pic.twitter.com/z1yM3sSLH3

— President Obama (@POTUS) June 4, 2016

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."