Pistorius, a double-amputee who competed at the 2012 Olympics, was convicted in 2015 of murder after shooting Reva Steenkamp, a model, multiple times through a bathroom door in his home on Valentine’s Day 2013. Pistorius was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison, and became eligible for parole after serving half his sentence under South African law. Barry and June Steenkamp, Reva’s parents, want a face-to-face meeting with Pistorius, as is their right under South Africa’s victim-offender dialogue policy....

Col. J.G. Vermeulen said he believed Pistorius was on his stumps when he swung his bat at the brown cubicle door. The defense, on cross-examination of the policeman, insisted instead that Pistorius was wearing his prosthetic legs when hitting the door in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day last year — and the marks from the bat on the door were lower down because the athlete swung with a bent back....

Steenkamp then fell back onto a magazine holder in the cubicle and was struck in the right arm and head by the last two shots fired by Pistorius with his 9 mm pistol through the door. Pistorius' girlfriend crossed her arms over her head to protect herself, Capt. Christiaan Mangena said, when she was hit in the arm and head. He testified that he believed the second bullet shot missed Steenkamp and ricocheted off a wall inside the cubicle and broke into fragments, which caused bruising on her back....

But Osorio says he’s still loving the job, and one of the reasons for the joy is Mexico’s close relationship with the United States. Osorio was educated and coached in the United States earlier in his career and now coaches a team that plays most of its friendlies in the U.S. That’s thanks to the enormous fan base of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who live in the country and are eager to spend their dollars to see the team....

“Let me make this very clear. This is a really important. We need to set the tone in Georgia, and I hope folks are paying attention. It is time for Senators Perdue and Loeffler to begin requiring masks at their campaign events,” Ossoff told CNN on Monday morning. “They need to lead by example. They need to comply with CDC public health guidelines. I am calling on them to make the commitment today that they will require masks at their political events and that they will cease crowding people into these indoor spaces where there’s this high risk of COVID being spread,” he added....

The Merseyside outfit secured the services of Tosun and Walcott from Besiktas and Arsenal respectively in the January transfer window. Both players made their Goodison Park bow in the 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday where the Senegal international rescued a point for the hosts 57 seconds after his introduction in the 69th minute. “I am here – and every time they call on me and I get on the pitch I am going to give my best,” Niasse told EvertonTV....

In the United States over the past 25 years, local and state jurisdictions have increased the amounts of fines and fees for citations and convictions. As a sociologist, for the past 13 years I have researched monetary sanctions across the United States. My work argues that this national trend of relying on fines and fees to fund justice arose in response to the rising costs associated with mass conviction and incarceration....

As a society, we are now completing a basic economics course that has lasted about three decades. During that time. we made some colossal blunders, have slowly (and often painfully) learned from them and are now reaping some reward from our self-education. The largest blunders were allowing inflation to get out of hand and mismanaging some of our major corporations. And the benefits of correcting these problems may now explain why, journalistically speaking, the economy is so boring....

While its current scale may fall short, one key takeaway from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan is that it contains many strong illustrations of equity-based planning, putting the needs of underserved and disadvantaged communities at the fore. This is how all federal policy should be fashioned going forward. As we look to bring our infrastructure up to speed with the 21st Century, equitably distributed investments are how we begin to remedy the wrongs of a structurally racist transportation and housing system, reconstruct a more just urban environment, and improve the health and economic wellbeing of those who have been systemically disadvantaged by our past and current investments and programs....

Across the country, NBA teams have moved to or are seeking new facilities that – with luxury boxes, waiter service and giant scoreboards – enable them to compete in a megabucks league. “If Chicago, Portland, Seattle and Cleveland are out building new facilities and getting revenues from seats and suites, we need to be doing that too,” says Denver Nuggets president Tim Leiweke. In 1997 the Nuggets will abandon the city’s McNichols Arena for its own $132 million arena just a few miles away....

Transverse myelitis is an inflammation of the spinal cord that can be caused by an infection or an autoimmune disease that affects the spinal cord. The impairments caused by this disease process are quite variable. The location of the lesion in the spinal cord, the acuity of the disease, and the management of the disease after diagnosis can all have an effect on the impairments seen and the functional mobility limitations that are encountered as a result of transverse myelitis....

Half of the 84 participants in last Wednesday’s expedition in La Croix-Aux-Bois in the Ardennes region were members of a local hunting club. There has been consternation in both the Belgian and French media over the high death toll. President of the Fédération de chasse des Ardennes (“Ardennes Hunting Federation”), Jean-Pol Gambier told French newspaper L’Ardennais he “strongly condemned” the number of animals killed, saying it “significantly damages the image of hunting....

In a press release issued over this past weekend, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said that the incident occurred on Tuesday, February 15, at the Pharr International Bridge. The bridge is located near the U.S.-Mexico border. According to data from CBP, throughout the month of January, the agency seized over 48,000 pounds of alleged narcotics, across more than 6,000 drug seizure events. From October to January, the data shows that over 234,000 pounds of alleged narcotics have been seized....

In a Facebook post on January 28, Currituck County Government said officers had rescued 47 adult dogs and 14 puppies from unsanitary and inhuman conditions at the Bentwood Labradors site in Moyock, North Carolina. Images accompanying the social media post showed the dogs being taken in by staff involved in the rescue. Currituck County Government said that they had partnered with Currituck Animal Shelter for the operation. Several of the rescued dogs were found in such a poorly state that urgent medical attention was required....

According to a map from PowerOutage.US, among 2,214,744 customers tracked in Louisiana, there are currently 986,676 customers without power, as of publication time. The map shows that Jefferson County currently has the most reported power outages, with 199,318 customers without power. The counties of New Orleans and St. Tammany also have over 100,000 residents without power. While hundreds of thousands are still without power in Louisiana, the number of power outages reported on Wednesday indicates a decrease from earlier this week....

Violence erupted near Tahrir Square between the demonstrators and security forces in the early evening. The security forces fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse the crowd while demonstrators hurled stones and bricks at police, Iraqi security officials told AP. A security official said one protester was shot and died in a hospital. For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations....

Between March 19 and June 16, the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics (HSE) carried out six online polls, each time asking between 1,200 and 11,000 adults what they thought about the coronavirus. Their findings, which have been reported by Russian media outlets, show a changing attitude towards the disease that has sickened nearly 600,000 people in the country. The overall figures found that 33.6 percent of respondents did not believe in the “existence of the pandemic....

To get the new season underway, OTE teams are hosting some of the most talented young high school players in the country for a slate of exhibition showcase games where fans will get to see the likes of Bronny James, Jared McCain, the Boozer twins, and many more. With top NBA prospects like Amen and Ausar Thompson and young high school stars like Naasir Cunningham, Bryson Tiller, Tyler Smith and Jazian Gortman, OTE has plenty of players you’ll want to catch throughout the season....

Knowing when you ovulate can help you get pregnant or avoid pregnancy. You are most likely to get pregnant if you have unprotected sex up to three days before, or within a day after, you ovulate. That’s because sperm can survive in the reproductive tract for days, but once an egg is released, there’s only a small amount of time that it can be fertilized in the fallopian tubes....

The trial at England’s Oxford University that starts this month comes amid concerns about how effective the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is against new variants, one of which has appeared in three U.S. states this week. The Oxford shot is one three to have been approved for use in adults in the U.K.—along with those from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna—and will be administered to 300 volunteers in the cities of Oxford, Bristol, Southampton and London....