السبت، 23 فبراير 2013

Pistorius must live with conscience, Steenkamp father says

Barry Steenkamp after his daughter's funeral on 19 February 2013

Mr Steenkamp says only Oscar Pistorius and God know what really happened

Oscar Pistorius arrest

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius "will have to live with his conscience" over the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, her father has said.

Barry Steenkamp was speaking a day after the Paralympic champion was freed on bail pending his trial.

Mr Pistorius, 26, admits shooting Ms Steenkamp, 29, but denies murder, saying he mistook her for an intruder.

"If it didn't happen the way he says it did he must suffer and he will suffer," her father told Beeld newspaper.

"It does not matter how much money he has and how good his legal team is, he will have to live with his conscience," Mr Steenkamp said.

"But if he speaks the truth, I can perhaps some day forgive him," he added.

Reeva Steenkamp's mother June says she wants the truth about her daughter

Reeva Steenkamp was a model and law graduate with a burgeoning television career.

She was shot dead in the toilet of Oscar Pistorius's home in the early hours of 14 February - Valentine's Day.

Mr Pistorius admits firing the shots through a locked door but says he thought he was firing at an intruder, not the woman he says he loved.

He was released on bail on Friday after eight days in police custody.

A magistrate ruled that the state had not made a case that he would flee, or that he had a violent character.

The next hearing is set for 4 June.

AnalysisAndrew HardingAfrica correspondent

My own view is that, even by his own account of events, Oscar Pistorius displayed the most extreme recklessness in firing blindly into a closed door, without even the most basic appreciation of who or what might lie behind it.

Perhaps he is being punished enough by losing the woman he told friends he thought might become his wife.

Having sat just over a metre away from him for the last four days in court, I can tell you he is a broken man.

But still, it is hard to imagine he will walk away from a trial without some form of sanction, and with his life and career changed forever by four shots fired into a toilet door.

Read more from Andrew

'Immense relief'

Mr Pistorius is currently staying at his uncle's house in the upmarket suburb of Waterkloof in Pretoria.

His uncle Arnold said his family and friends felt "immense relief" on hearing he had been granted bail.

"What happened has changed our lives irrevocably," Arnold Pistorius said.

"Oscar will never be the same, having lost his love and at the same time having to live with the knowledge that he caused the death of the woman he loved," he said in a family statement.

Arnold Pistorius said the family was "acutely aware" that this was the start of a long road to prove he never meant to harm Ms Steenkamp.

"We realise the law must run its course, and we would not have it any other way," he said.

Reeva Steenkamp's mother June told Beeld that she had received a bouquet of flowers from the Pistorius family.

"But what does it mean?" she asked. "Nothing".

Pistorius bail conditions

Must hand over 1 million rand: 100,000 rand in cash up front, and proof that the rest is available
Must turn in passports and any guns that he owns
Cannot leave Pretoria without permission from probation officer, nor can he return to his home
Forbidden to take drugs or drink alcohol
Must report to police station between 07:00 and 13:00 every Monday and Friday

Argument?

During the bail hearing, which began on Tuesday, both prosecution and defence laid out their cases.

Both sides agree that Oscar Pistorius shot through the bathroom door four times, hitting and killing Ms Steenkamp.

But prosecutors allege the shooting happened after the couple had an argument at Mr Pistorius's home in the early hours of 14 February.

The athlete says he woke in the middle of the night, and thought there was an intruder in the bathroom.

The prosecutors sought to portray him as man with a history of violence who was likely to flee the country.

But the defence argued it would be impossible for him to flee because his prosthetic legs would be noticed wherever he went.

Oscar Pistorius, 26, won gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004, in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.

In London he made history by becoming the first double-amputee to run in the Olympics, making the semi-final of the 400m

Syria conflict: opposition coalition pulls out of talks

People gather at the site of what activists say was a Scud missile attack on Aleppo on 22 February 2013

Missile attacks on Aleppo have enraged the opposition

Syria conflict

The main Syrian opposition alliance will not attend a series of meetings in protest at what it said was the international community's "shameful" failure to stop violence.

The National Coalition said it had decided not to attend a summit of the Friends of Syria in Rome next month.

It was also turning down invitations for talks in Washington and Moscow.

A statement singled out Russia for supporting and supplying weapons to President Bashar al-Assad.

"The international silence on the crimes committed every day against our people amounts to participating in two years of killings," the National Coalition said.

Analysis

Jim MuirB

"The Russian leadership especially bears moral and political responsif readiness to step down, our correspondent adds.

In Syria on Saturday, the battle for control of Aleppo's international airport reportedly intensified.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said the fighting between government forces and rebel fighters was focused on a section of motorway linking the airport to the city, which has been used by the military to transport troops and supplies.

The fighting comes a day after troops were accused of firing missiles into a rebel-held district in Aleppo's east, killing at least 31 people.

The UN special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, meanwhile described the car bomb attack on the ruling Baath Party's headquarters in Damascus on Thursday as a war crime. He said it left about 100 people dead.

Manny out of Money’s radar

Unbeaten WBC welterweight champion Floyd (Money) Mayweather Jr. has chosen from among three candidates whom to face on May 4 in Las Vegas and Manny Pacquiao was not even in the list as the showdown that could’ve once brought a combined $100 Million payday for both fighters isn’t relevant at the moment.

Mayweather, who turns 36 on Sunday, has announced plans of fighting twice this year – something he hasn’t done since 2007 when “Money” outpointed Oscar de la Hoya and halted Ricky Hatton. The speculation is Mayweather has finally realized his boxing years are numbered and wants to maximize whatever is left of his mileage. The other day, he signed a six-fight deal over 2 1/2 years with cable network Showtime, meaning a crowded schedule of a bout every six months.

The three options on Mayweather’s table for his next engagement were IBF welterweight titlist Devon Alexander, interim WBC welterweight ruler Robert (The Ghost) Guerrero and Juan Manuel Marquez. Over a week ago, Mayweather named Alexander as his May 4 opponent but it was apparently just a ploy to wangle a better deal with Guerrero. It made no sense for Mayweather to fight another American on the Mexican Cinco de Mayo weekend. Besides, Alexander – who has lost to Timothy Bradley – wouldn’t be much of a threat.

Marquez, 39, is coming off a sensational knockout win over Pacquiao but couldn’t be considered a draw particularly as he was badly beaten by Mayweather in 2009. Their fight wasn’t even close as judge Burt Clements scored it 120-107, judge Dave Moretti 119-108 and judge Bill Lerch 118-109, all for Mayweather who dropped Marquez in the second round. Instead of knocking on Mayweather’s door, Marquez would be smart to face Pacquiao in a fifth meeting, perhaps in September. A loss to Mayweather in May will severely diminish the market potential of a quintology with Pacquiao. And in a rematch with Mayweather, the chances are Marquez will lose as convincingly as he did four years ago. So the obvious choice was Guerrero who is of Mexican descent.

* * * *

WBC lightmiddleweight champion Saul Alvarez will battle Austin Trout in the Mayweather undercard on May 4. If Alvarez and Mayweather win that night, they’ll likely square off on Sept. 14 during the Mexican Independence Day weekend. Sept. 14 is earmarked in Mayweather’s schedule for his second fight this year.

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As for Pacquiao, Mayweather may not be a priority now. He’ll want to avenge his setback to Marquez and there is talk of a tune-up in April if it can be arranged. If no promoter puts up a pile for a tune-up, Pacquiao could go straight to a fifth bout against Marquez in September. Marquez, his promoter Fernando Beltran and trainer Nacho Beristain claim they’re not interested in another Pacquiao fight because there’s nothing left to prove. But that’s suspiciously posturing. Marquez, like Mayweather, is counting the years before he retires and he’ll want the biggest paycheck available – that could only come from a fifth Pacquiao duel.

Mayweather has a 43-0 record, with 26 KOs, and the first fighter to stain it is destined to leave his mark in boxing history. “Sooner or later, time will take the edge off him,” said John Dennen of Boxing News. Matt Christie, also of Boxing News, said, “Whether the defeat comes this year or not, the defeat will come. The sport is slowly changing its guards and Mayweather will soon be clocked by Father Time.”

For his next fight, Mayweather is bringing back his father Floyd Sr. as chief trainer. That may or may not be a positive because the father appears to be as delusionary as the son. Mayweather is intent on hanging up his gloves with an unbeaten record and believes he’s invulnerable. “No one has a chance to beat me,” said Mayweather, quoted by Bernard Fernandez in The Ring Magazine. “I’m not saying nobody else is good but I know how to win. I’m the best that ever lived, hands down. No one can get me to say Sugar Ray Robinson or anybody else was or is better than me. No one was better. No one is better. Maybe, no one else will be better.”

* * * *

Guerrero, 29, totes a 31-1-1 record, with 18 KOs, and is unbeaten in his last 17 outings since losing a split decision to Gamaliel Diaz in 2005. But he should’ve lost to Orlando Salido in 2006 only the fight was declared a no-contest and Salido’s win by unanimous decision was erased after he tested positive for steroids.

Although Guerrero insists he will deal Mayweather his first loss, the consensus is it’s a pipe dream. “Mayweather’s still undefeated after all these years and no one has come close to beating him because he can make so many adjustments,” said Guerrero quoted by Donald McRae in Boxing News. “But a lot of fighters break down mentally before they meet Mayweather. This is the difference between me and them. I’ve been through such a lot both in and outside the ring. I’ve defended my world (IBF superfeatherweight) title in the week Casey (his wife) was diagnosed with leukaemia. I knocked out a real tough guy (Martin Honorio) just days after I got the most devastating news. It takes a very strong person, mentally, to do that.”

Alvarez, 22, has the best chance of beating Mayweather. He boasts a 41-0-1 record, with 30 KOs, and could stop “Money” in his tracks with relentless pressure. Alvarez is 13 years younger and won’t wear down as quickly as Mayweather will. Pacquiao also packs the tools to defeat Mayweather and if ever their paths cross, it could be the Fight of the Decade. Pacquiao, however, has Marquez on his mind for the time being and once he exacts revenge, expect the Filipino icon to call out Mayweather. Pacquiao may not be in Mayweather’s line of sight now but that’s a temporary state of affairs.

No compromise to principles

The commendation that the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) recently gave to its Election Committee, led by former Philippine Volleyball Federation (previously Philippine Amateur Volleyball Association or PAVA) president Victorico (Concoy) Chaves, was a testament to the integrity and no-nonsense approach to principles of the three-term Congressman from the second district of Misamis Oriental.

Chaves, 80, wouldn’t bend to pressure from any quarter and made sure the POC elections last November went through without a hitch. Despite a threat of a nuisance TRO, Chaves said he was ready to go to jail because the elections would proceed no matter what. The two members of his Election Committee – Ateneo sports director Ricky Palou and La Salle vice chancellor Br. Bernie Oca – were prepared to be imprisoned, too. When POC president Jose Cojuangco, Jr. heard that the Election Committee would make a determined stand against any intervention, he also declared he would be ready to join Chaves, Palou and Oca in prison for defying the court order which, as it turned out, never came.

The commendation, in part, cited the Election Committee for “its gallant efforts and steadfast commitment to ensure that the elections would reflect the mandate … its timely intervention to stop cheating and various efforts to frustrate the will of the NSAs … (and) its rejection of various internal and external pressures, leading to clean and credible elections.”

Throughout his professional career, Chaves has been known as a stickler for principles, crusader of justice and No. 1 fighter against corruption. That’s why during the recent POC elections, he wouldn’t budge when asked to withhold the name of the candidate confirmed to have offered bribe money to a voter. “It wouldn’t be fair to announce such a thing happened without naming names because then, every candidate would be a suspect,” said Chaves. So he bit the bullet, braved the tense atmosphere and gave the go-signal for Br. Oca to make the disclosure before the balloting started.

* * * *

It was no surprise that Chaves acted the way he did. He’s been consistent in upholding what is right from his first day in public service. That reputation led to his election to three consecutive terms as Congressman in 11 straight years from 1987 to 1998. When he was offered to run for Senator in 1992, Chaves turned it down because the position wasn’t relevant to his primary goal of serving the constituents of the 13 municipalities and one city in his district. There was still a lot of work to be done in the district that was closest to this heart and he wouldn’t sacrifice his mission for a position in the Senate. In his three terms, Chaves attended to the needs of his constituents, spending weekends even in far-flung barangays with wife Teena to address the problems of the availability of potable water, power, food, education and commerce.

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“I was being offered a budget of over P100 Million to run for Senator by my political party, all I had to do was to accept the nomination but I was committed to my district,” said Chaves whose reputation as a clean politician remains intact to this day. Chaves was once vice president of the LDP party where Neptali Gonzales, Sr. was chairman, Ramon Mitra was president and Cojuangco was secretary-general.

Chaves is particularly pleased that women’s volleyball today is drawing huge crowds, crediting the Shakey’s V-League for promoting the sport. It will be recalled that Chaves served 10 years as PAVA president up to 1995.

“Our women’s volleyball team was virtually unbeatable at the Southeast Asian Games when I was PAVA president,” he said. “I remember staying only three days in Seoul for the Olympics in 1988 because I had to fly to Cebu and recruit a 6-3 player for our women’s team. We brought the player to Manila and she became a mainstay in our national team. That’s how dedicated we were. In 1995, I asked President Ramos for a P6 Million budget to host a leg of the World Grand Prix for women’s volleyball and it was given by the PSC through chairman Mel Lopez. That opened everyone’s eyes to the potential of volleyball as a spectator sport.”

* * * *

The Grand Prix brought in the national teams of Peru, Netherlands, South Korea and US and the eight-day tournament drew mammoth crowds at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. “I was hoping that since we got P6 Million from the government, we could build a kitty to develop our national team from ticket sales which I expected to be at least P1 Million,” he said. “I wanted the ticket prices to be affordable, P10 for general admission and P100 for the most expensive seats. I wanted the prices to be like the ticket prices for a movie. Thousands of fans watched the games. But when we made an accounting later, nobody could come up with the proceeds from the ticket sales. I couldn’t believe the men whom I entrusted to organize the event would be so corrupt. Even the hotel rooms of two foreign guests, international president Ruben Acosta (of Mexico) and Asian president Yasutaka Matsudaira (of Japan), were left unpaid even though we had provisions from the P6 Million budget and I had to personally settle those bills.”

Chaves, a principal author of the law that created the PSC in 1990, said the final nail on the coffin was when he gave allowances from his own pocket of $20 a day to 24 players of the national junior boys and girls teams for a one-week trip to Thailand only to find out that certain officials skimmed from the top to give reduced amounts to the players. Even what Chaves allocated for food allowance was pocketed by unscrupulous team officials. Chaves could’ve purged the ranks of scalawags but his priorities as a Congressman took precedence. He resigned from the PAVA in a telling message that he would never countenance corruption and exploitation of athletes. More than his achievements as PAVA president, his commitment to integrity was Chaves’ legacy to sports.

NKorea warns US commander in SKorea over drills

PYONGYANG (AP) — North Korea warned the top American commander in South Korea on yesterday of "miserable destruction" if the US military presses ahead with routine joint drills with South Korea set to begin next month.

Pak Rim Su, chief of North Korea's military delegation to the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, sent the warning yesterday morning to Gen. James Thurman, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said, in a rare direct message to the US commander.

The threat comes as the US and other nations discuss how to punish North Korea for conducting an underground nuclear test on Feb. 12 in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from nuclear and missile activity.

North Korea has characterized the nuclear test, its third since 2006, as a defensive act against US aggression. Pyongyang accuses Washington of "hostility" for leading the charge to punish North Korea for a December rocket launch that the US considers a covert missile test.

The US and North Korea fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, and left the Korean Peninsula divided by a heavily fortified border monitored by the US-led UN Command.

Washington also stations 28,500 American troops in South Korea to protect its ally against North Korean aggression.

South Korea and the US regularly conduct joint drills such as the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises slated to take place next month. North Korea calls the drills proof of US hostility, and accuses Washington of practicing for an invasion.

"You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction," KCNA quoted Pak as saying in his message to Thurman. He called the drills "reckless."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, meanwhile, has been making a round of visits to military units guiding troops in drills and exercises since the nuclear test, KCNA said.

Jie Yorro & Jhette Macalo: A Canadian love story

By Kimi Patino (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 24, 2013 - 12:00am

Newlyweds Jie and Jhette Yorro with their ninongs Jess Victoria, Edwin Pigao, Reynaldo Dilig, Marco Gutierrez, and Edgar Yorro

You don’t always hear of two friends ending up as lovers, and then finally tying the knot, do you? Well, that’s exactly the love story of Jie Yorro and Jhette Macalos.

MANILA, Philippines - Jhette was a bid analyst at American President Lines in Alabang while Jie was contract analyst. They were nothing more than colleagues until Jhette celebrated her first year at APL on Sept. 26, 2008, which was also Jie’s last day in the company. He left and transferred to another logistics company.

On Dec. 28, 2008, the MTC Department of APL had a swimming party and invited old colleagues, including Jie. Almost everyone was there and a good friend of theirs invited Jhette to tag along, saying that it was a “special request.” The couple started chatting, little realizing this would lead to a deeper relationship. They went out on a date on Jan. 26, 2009 at Starbucks in Tagaytay. Little did Jhette know that she would someday be working at Starbucks — in Canada!

More dates followed — group dates in Tagaytay, sipping Starbucks coffee, enjoying the cool breeze, and gorging on great meals in fancy restaurants.

And then on March 6, 2009, Jhette handed Jie a delicate gift — a stuffed toy with a recorded message especially for him. It was her long-awaited answer to his question if she would be his girlfriend. Baby Gee delivered that message successfully!

Jie had an ongoing Canadian visa application, and when it was granted, he left the country in 2011. This wasn’t bad at all as Jhette also has an uncle in Canada who finally got her to have her own Manitoba Provincial Nominee application. Many Facetime and Skype calls later, Jhette also left for Winnipeg, Canada to join Jie and her relatives.

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Middle of last year, they decided to go back to the Philippines to get married! After their wedding last Dec. 19, the couple returned to One Place Tagaytay to spend their first date as Mr. and Mrs. Yorro, just beside the very same place — 711 — where they had their first date three years ago.

NBC hack infects visitors in 'drive by' cyberattack

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NBC hack infects visitors in 'drive by' cyberattack

By Julianne Pepitone @CNNMoney February 23, 2013: 9:31 AM ET

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NBC.com and related sites were exploited to dump malware on unsuspecting users' computers.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Chances are, you know not to open that e-mail attachment from the "Nigerian prince" who wants to give you a hundred grand. But a hack of some NBC.com sites on Thursday proves you can accidentally download malware even when visiting a reputable website.

The hack, which affected NBC.com and related sites for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "Jay Leno's Garage," infected visitors to the compromised sites with the Citadel Trojan. The potent strain of malware is used for cyberespionage and to steal bank account information.

Infecting computers with malware when they navigate to a website is called a "drive-by download," and cybersecurity experts say it's a growing -- and terrifying -- attack technique. Users who are simply surfing the Web can unwittingly stumble upon a hacked website, which may look completely normal.

Security researcher Dancho Danchev, who wrote a detailed blog post about the attack,, told CNNMoney the hack was both invisible to the average user and tough even for security experts to track.

"The cybercriminals behind the campaign embedded invisible ... elements on the main page, which they periodically rotated to prevent detection from security vendors and researchers," Danchev said.

The tool used to inject malicious code into NBC.com is called RedKit. It first popped up in May 2012, and it has reared its ugly head many times since, Danchev noted.

When a user clicks on a malicious Web site, RedKit checks whether the user is running outdated versions of software or browser plugins. If it does detect any outdated software, it exploits that weakness, installing malicious software on the user's computer. (Typically, those weaknesses get fixed in newer versions of the software.)

While the identity of the cybercriminals isn't yet known, Danchev said he found a link between the NBC.com hack and a a group that spammed Facebook (FB) and Verizon Wireless (VZ, Fortune 500) customers last year, phishing for account information.

The NBC.com security breach was a sophisticated attack, unlike the amateur hacks of theBurger King (BKW) and Jeep Twitter accounts, which were overtaken on Monday and Tuesday.