Jumaat, 14 Februari 2014

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Athletics-Pistorius talks of sorrow a year after Steenkamp shooting - Reuters

Posted: 14 Feb 2014 09:18 AM PST

Feb 14 (Reuters) - South African Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius on Friday broke his months-long silence about the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, calling her death at his hands a year ago a "devastating accident".

Pistorius, who goes on trial on March 3, says he shot Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder at his high-security home last Valentine's Day. State lawyers say he killed her in cold blood.

"No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident that has caused such heartache for everyone who truly loved, and continues to love, Reeva," Pistorius said in a brief statement posted on his website.

"The loss of Reeva and the complete trauma of that day, I will carry with me for the rest of my life," said the athlete, who is on bail but could face life in prison if convicted.

The 27-year-old double-amputee, known as "Blade Runner" for the prostheses he wears in competition, was one of South Africa's most revered sportsmen but his shooting of Steenkamp has divided national opinion on whether it was premeditated.

It has also highlighted South Africa's high rate of violent attacks on women, including rape, which rights groups say are often perpetrated by partners or other people known to them.

On Friday, the women's league of the ruling ANC party led a march in the capital Pretoria to commemorate Steenkamp's death, with many participants holding up posters denouncing violence against women. "Pistorius must rot in jail," one poster read.

In a statement, the league said its march was intended to make communities aware of the "barbaric conduct against women and children" in the country.

Private news channel eNCA ran an anniversary documentary in which Steenkamp's friends and family recounted how the law graduate turned model was vocal about such issues.

Police say 107 witnesses are expected to testify for the prosecution in Pistorius's trial. The state's case is that he intended to kill Steenkamp when he shot her in the head, arm and hip.

Last October, prosecutors said the Paralympic medallist, who also competed in the 2012 Olympics, would face two additional gun-related charges related to prior incidents in which he allegedly fired a gun in a public space. (Additional reporting by Dinky Mkhize; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Billionaire who compared the Occupy protests to 'Kristallnacht' now thinks that ... - Daily Mail

Posted: 14 Feb 2014 08:45 AM PST

  • Tom Perkins, 81, said that those who pay more taxes should be entitled to have more say in how the government is run
  • Gained notoriety for an op ed where he compared the 'progressive war on the one per cent' to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany
  • Said the smashing of banks windows during the Occupy protests was similar to the coordinated attacks on Jewish businesses in 1938
  • The retired venture capitalist is worth $8billion

By Daily Mail Reporter

|

A billionaire venture capitalist has made the controversial suggestion that people like him should be entitled to more votes while others shouldn't be allowed to have a say at all.

Tom Perkins, whose personal net worth is believed to be around $8billion, has suggested that only American taxpayers should be allowed to vote in the U.S. and that those who pay more in taxes should be allotted more votes.

'The Tom Perkins system is: You don't get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes,' he said at an event in San Francisco on Thursday.

Speaking his mind: Tom Perkins said that the rich deserve more voting rights than those who do not pay taxes

Speaking his mind: Tom Perkins said that the rich deserve more voting rights than those who do not pay taxes

Unrealistic: Perkins admitted that even he did not see it as a feasible plan, opting to provoke instead of propose

Unrealistic: Perkins admitted that even he did not see it as a feasible plan, opting to provoke instead of propose

'But what I really think is, it should be like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes. How's that?'

Mr Perkins admitted that even he did not see it as a feasible plan, opting to provoke instead of propose.

'I intended to be outrageous, and it was,' he said after his time on the stage was over, according to CNN Money.

The latest suggestion is far from his first outrageous comment, as he gained infamy last month following an op-ed letter where he compared the Occupy protests to Kristallnacht- the series of coordinated attacks on Jewish businesses at the beginning of the Holocaust. 

Perkins, 81, sparked criticism when he likened the Nazi party's war on Jews to what he called 'the progressive war on the American one per cent, namely the 'rich',' in a letter published Saturday in the Wall Street Journal.

'Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930,' he wrote, referring to the 1938 attack on Jews in Nazi Germany and Austria. 'Is its descendent 'progressive' radicalism unthinkable now?'

Perkins has since apologized for the analogy, but did not distance himself from the point he was trying to make.

In danger: The 'creative one per cent' says Perkins, is being threatened by raising taxes

In danger: The 'creative one per cent' says Perkins, is being threatened by raising taxes

Comparisons: Mr Perkins referenced the Kristallnacht attacks on Jews in Germany in 1938

Comparisons: Mr Perkins referenced the Kristallnacht attacks on Jews in Germany in 1938

'I deeply apologize to you and anyone who has mistaken my reference to Kristallnacht as a sign of overt or latent anti-Semitism,' he said in an interview Monday on Bloomberg Television. 'This is not the case.'

He reiterated his belief in the danger of discriminating against the richest Americans, whom he said were also the nation's leading job creators.

'Maybe you have to put up with a little techno-geek arrogance to get the results of those folks' thinking,' he said in response to questions about whether San Francisco's technology elite lived in a bubble.

At the Thursday event, called Inforum held at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club, Perkins spoke more specifically about how the tendancy to look towards the rich could radically change the country's economic structure.

'The fear is wealth tax, higher taxes, higher death taxes -- just more taxes until there is no more 1%. And that that will creep down to the 5% and then the 10%,' he said.

Protests: Mr Perkins also discusses the protests in San Francisco against Google buses and tech workers driving up the area's cost of living

Protests: Mr Perkins also discusses the protests in San Francisco against Google buses and tech workers driving up the area's cost of living

Lately, resentment toward that group has led to protests.

The firm Perkins co-founded, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, tweeted that 'Tom Perkins has not been involved in KPCB in years. We were shocked by his views expressed today in the WSJ and do not agree.'

'They chose to throw me under the bus,' Perkins said on Monday about the firm, which has gone through a few years of lackluster returns and is battling a former partner in a gender-discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.

'As I've distanced myself form the firm, there's been a corresponding decline,' he said.

Perkins, now retired, backed companies including Genentech and Tandem Computers, and his firm has backed Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc and others.

Kredit: www.nst.com.my
 

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