Crash at Daytona Exposes Risks to Fans

The risks of racing extend beyond the drivers.

Fans can wind up in the danger zone, too.

A horrifying crash on the last lap of a race at Daytona International Speedway injured at least 30 fans Saturday and provided another stark reminder of what can happen when a car going nearly 200 mph is suddenly launched toward the spectator areas.

The victims were sprayed with large chunks of debris — including a tire — after rookie Kyle Larson's machine careened into the fencing that is designed to protect the massive grandstands lining NASCAR's most famous track.

"I love the sport," said Shannan Devine, who witnessed the carnage from her 19th-row seat, about 250 feet away. "But no one wants to get hurt over it."

The fencing served its primary purpose, catapulting what was left of Larson's car back onto the track. But it didn't keep potentially lethal shards from flying into the stands.

"There was absolute shock," Devine said. "People were saying, 'I can't believe it, I can't believe it. I've never seen this happen, I've never seen this happen. Did the car through the fence?' It was just shock and awe. Grown men were reaching out and grabbing someone, saying, 'Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!' It was just disbelief, absolute disbelief."

From Daytona to Le Mans to a rural road in Ireland, auto racing spectators have long been too close to the action when parts start flying. The crash in the second-tier Nationwide race follows a long list of accidents that have left fans dead or injured.

The most tragic incident occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, when two cars collided near the main stands. The wreck sent debris hurtling into the crowd, while one of the cars flipped upside down and exploded in a giant fireball.

Eighty-three spectators and driver Pierre Levegh were killed, and 120 fans were injured.

The Daytona crash began as the field approached the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski. That triggered a chain reaction, and rookie Kyle Larson hit the cars in front of him and went airborne into the fence.

The entire front end was sheared off Larson's car, and his burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence. Chunks of debris from the car were thrown into the stands, including a tire that cleared the top of the fence and landed midway up the spectator section closest to the track.

"I thought the car went through the fence," Devine said. "I didn't know if there was a car on top of people. I didn't know what to think. I'm an emotional person. I immediately started to cry. It was very scary, absolutely scary. I love the speed of the sport. But it's so dangerous."

The fencing used to protect seating areas and prevent cars from hurtling out of tracks has long been part of the debate over how to improve safety.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti lost close friend Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas in the 2011 IndyCar season finale, when Wheldon's car catapulted into the fencing and his head struck a support post. Since his death, IndyCar drivers have called for studies on how to improve the safety barriers.

Franchitti renewed the pleas on Twitter after the Daytona crash, writing "it's time (at)Indycar (at)nascar other sanctioning bodies & promoters work on an alternative to catch fencing. There has to be a better solution."

Another fan who witnessed the crash said he's long worried that sizable gaps in the fencing increase the chances of debris getting through to the stands.

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Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

A new market for second-hand digital downloads could let us hold virtual yard sales of our ever-growing piles of intangible possessions

WHY buy second-hand? For physical goods, the appeal is in the price – you don't mind the creases in a book or rust spots on a car if it's a bargain. Although digital objects never lose their good-as-new lustre, their very nature means there is still uncertainty about whether we actually own them in the first place, making it tricky to set up a second-hand market. Now an Amazon patent for a system to support reselling digital purchases could change that.

Amazon's move comes after last year's European Union ruling that software vendors cannot stop customers from reselling their products. But without technical support, the ruling has had no impact. In Amazon's system, customers will keep their digital purchases – such as e-books or music – in a personal data store in the cloud that only they can access, allowing them to stream or download the content.

This part is like any cloud-based digital locker except that the customer can resell previous purchases by passing the access rights to another person. Once the transaction is complete, the seller will lose access to the content. Any system for reselling an e-book, for example, would have to ensure that it is not duplicated in the transaction. That means deleting any copies the seller may have lying around on hard drives, e-book readers, and other cloud services, since that would violate copyright.

Amazon may be the biggest company to consider a second-hand market, but it is not the first. ReDigi, based in Boston, has been running a resale market for digital goods since 2011. After downloading an app, users can buy a song on ReDigi for as little as 49 cents that would costs 99 cents new on iTunes.

When users want to sell an item, they upload it to ReDigi's servers via a mechanism that ensures no copy is made during the transfer. Software checks that the seller does not retain a copy. Once transferred, the item can be bought and downloaded by another customer. ReDigi is set to launch in Europe in a few months.

Digital items on ReDigi are cheaper because they are one-offs. If your hard drive crashes and you lose your iTunes collection you can download it again. But you can only download an item from ReDigi once – there is no other copy. That is the trade-off that makes a second-hand digital market work: the risk justifies the price. The idea has ruffled a few feathers – last year EMI sued ReDigi for infringement of copyright. A judge denied the claim, but the case continues.

Used digital goods can also come with added charm. ReDigi tracks the history of the items traded so when you buy something, you can see who has owned it and when. ReDigi's second-hand marketplace has grown into a social network. According to ReDigi founder John Ossenmacher, customers like seeing who has previously listened to a song. "It's got soul like an old guitar," he says. "We've introduced this whole feeling of connectedness."

It could be good for business too if the original vendors, such as iTunes, were to support resale and take a cut of the resell price. Nevertheless, Amazon's move bucks the industry trend. Microsoft's new Xbox, for example, is expected not to work with second-hand games.

But the market could change rapidly now that Amazon's weight is behind this, says Ossenmacher. "The industry is waking up."

This article appeared in print under the headline "Old MP3, one careful owner"

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Huawei's MWC 2013 news: Join us Sunday (live blog)

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, holds the Ascend Mate, a 6.1-inch phablet that the company debuted in January.

(Credit:
screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

BARCELONA, Spain--On Sunday, we'll find out how well Huawei is doing meeting its ambition to become a top-tier smartphone manufacturer.

That's when the up-and-coming company plans to debut a brand-new phone at a Mobile World Congress at a press conference. CNET will be there to provide all the details about that phone -- you can expect a premium
Android model -- and likely other news as well.

CNET UK's Luke Westaway, photographer Sarah Tew, and I will supply news updates, photos, and commentary from the event. It starts at 3 a.m. PT, which is 2 p.m. local time in Barcelona.

You can tune into the live blog here:

Huawei's Mobile World Congress press conference

Huawei got its start with networking equipment, but it's working hard, along with fellow Chinese handset maker ZTE, to become a consumer brand, too.

It hasn't had much success cracking into the top tier of the U.S. handset market, but it's pumping out a steady stream of new devices running Google's Android operating system. At
CES, Huawei debuted the Ascend Mate a phablet with a whopping 6.1-inch screen, and the Ascend D2, which looks small in comparison with a 5-inch screen.

That work has raised Huawei's profile in the last year. But Huawei gets unwanted extra attention, too, as it faces Chinese espionage scrutiny from the U.S. government.

As usual, we'll use ScribbleLive to for blow-by-blow coverage starting about 15 minutes before the press conference begins.

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Elderly Abandoned at World's Largest Religious Festival

Every 12 years, the northern Indian city of Allahabad plays host to a vast gathering of Hindu pilgrims called the Maha Kumbh Mela. This year, Allahabad is expected to host an estimated 80 million pilgrims between January and March. (See Kumbh Mela: Pictures From the Hindu Holy Festival)

People come to Allahabad to wash away their sins in the sacred River Ganges. For many it's the realization of their life's goal, and they emerge feeling joyful and rejuvenated. But there is also a darker side to the world's largest religious gathering, as some take advantage of the swirling crowds to abandon elderly relatives.

"They wait for this Maha Kumbh because many people are there so nobody will know," said one human rights activist who has helped people in this predicament and who wished to remain anonymous. "Old people have become useless, they don't want to look after them, so they leave them and go."

Anshu Malviya, an Allahabad-based social worker, confirmed that both men and women have been abandoned during the religious event, though it has happened more often to elderly widows. Numbers are hard to come by, since many people genuinely become separated from their groups in the crowd, and those who have been abandoned may not admit it. But Malviya estimates that dozens of people are deliberately abandoned during a Maha Kumbh Mela, at a very rough guess.

To a foreigner, it seems puzzling that these people are not capable of finding their own way home. Malviya smiles. "If you were Indian," he said, "you wouldn't be puzzled. Often they have never left their homes. They are not educated, they don't work. A lot of the time they don't even know which district their village is in."

Once the crowd disperses and the volunteer-run lost-and-found camps that provide temporary respite have packed away their tents, the abandoned elderly may have the option of entering a government-run shelter. Conditions are notoriously bad in these homes, however, and many prefer to remain on the streets, begging. Some gravitate to other holy cities such as Varanasi or Vrindavan where, if they're lucky, they are taken in by temples or charity-funded shelters.

In these cities, they join a much larger population, predominantly women, whose families no longer wish to support them, and who have been brought there because, in the Hindu religion, to die in these holy cities is to achieve moksha or Nirvana. Mohini Giri, a Delhi-based campaigner for women's rights and former chair of India's National Commission for Women, estimates that there are 10,000 such women in Varanasi and 16,000 in Vrindavan.

But even these women are just the tip of the iceberg, says economist Jean Drèze of the University of Allahabad, who has campaigned on social issues in India since 1979. "For one woman who has been explicitly parked in Vrindavan or Varanasi, there are a thousand or ten thousand who are living next door to their sons and are as good as abandoned, literally kept on a starvation diet," he said.

According to the Hindu ideal, a woman should be looked after until the end of her life by her male relatives—with responsibility for her shifting from her father to her husband to her son. But Martha Chen, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University who published a study of widows in India in 2001, found that the reality was often very different.

Chen's survey of 562 widows of different ages revealed that about half of them were supporting themselves in households that did not include an adult male—either living alone, or with young children or other single women. Many of those who did live with their families reported harassment or even violence.

According to Drèze, the situation hasn't changed since Chen's study, despite the economic growth that has taken place in India, because widows remain vulnerable due to their lack of education and employment. In 2010, the World Bank reported that only 29 percent of the Indian workforce was female. Moreover, despite changes in the law designed to protect women's rights to property, in practice sons predominantly inherit from their parents—leaving women eternally dependent on men. In a country where 37 percent of the population still lives below the poverty line, elderly dependent relatives fall low on many people's lists of priorities.

This bleak picture is all too familiar to Devshran Singh, who oversees the Durga Kund old people's home in Varanasi. People don't pay toward the upkeep of their relatives, he said, and they rarely visit. In one case, a doctor brought an old woman to Durga Kund claiming she had been abandoned. After he had gone, the woman revealed that the doctor was her son. "In modern life," said Singh, "people don't have time for their elderly."

Drèze is currently campaigning for pensions for the elderly, including widows. Giri is working to make more women aware of their rights. And most experts agree that education, which is increasingly accessible to girls in India, will help improve women's plight. "Education is a big force of social change," said Drèze. "There's no doubt about that."

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Pistorius Family: 'Law Must Run Its Course'

South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius is spending time his family today after the athlete was freed on $113,000 bail Friday.

"We realise that the law must run its course, and we would not have it any other way," the Olympian's uncle, Arnold Pistorius said in a statement on Saturday.

The Pistorius family expressed their gratitude that the former Olympian was allowed out of jail before the trial.

"This constitutes a moment of relief under these otherwise very grave circumstances" said Arnold Pistorius."We are extremely thankful that Oscar is now home."

Pistorius, 26, is charged with premeditated murder in the Valentine's Day shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

While the prosecution argued that the world-renowned athlete was a flight risk and had a history of violence, South African Magistrate Desmond Nair, who presided over the case, disagreed.

FULL COVERAGE: Oscar Pistorius

"He regards South Africa as his permanent place of abode, he has no intention to relocate to any other country" Nair said during his two hour ruling, before concluding with, "the accused has made the case to be released on bail."

'Blade Runner' Murder Charges: Oscar Pistorius Out on Bail Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail in Murder Case Watch Video

Pistoriuis will have to adhere to strict conditions to stay out of jail before the trial. He must give up all his guns, he cannot drink alcohol or return to the home where the shooting occurred, and he must check in with a police department twice a week.

Oscar Pistorius is believed to be staying at an uncle's house as he awaits trial.

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius Case: Key Elements to the Murder Investigation

During the hearing, the prosecution argued that Pistorius shot Steenkamp after an argument, while the defense laid out an alternate version of events saying Pistorius mistook his girlfriend for an intruder.

Nair took issue with the head detective originally in charge of the case, who he said "blundered" in gathering evidence and was removed from the case after it was revealed he is facing attempted murder charges.

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius Case: Lead Det. Hilton Botha to Be Booted From Investigation Team

After the magistrate's decision, cheers erupted in the courtroom from the Pistorius camp. Pistorius' trial is expected to start in six to eight months, with his next pre-trial court date in June.

Reeva Steenkamp Family Reaction

Steenkamp's father, Barry Steenkamp told the South African Beeld newspaper that the 26-year-old athlete will "suffer" if he is lying about accidentally shooting 29-year-old model.

PHOTOS: Oscar Pistorius Charged with Murder

Barry Steenkamp went on to say that the Pistorius will have to "live with his conscience" if he intentionally shot Reeva.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Desperate data about desperate children

Shaoni Bhattacharya, consultant

A 13-year-old girl, Aissata Konate, a few days after getting married to 32-year-old Ely Barry in Gbon, Ivory Coast (Image: Carol Guzy/The Washington Post/Getty)

If governments could pass a simple law that would save the lives of millions of infants, they’d do it, right? And if a policy or constitution could transform the lives of women by sparing them the poor health or despair that they inevitably pass on to their children through sickness, disability, and even death, surely they would get working?

But no.

A new book, the first of its kind, together with the extensive report underpinning it, shows just how far the world has to go - even (or perhaps, especially) rich countries like the US.

Children’s Chances: How countries can move from surviving to thriving by Jody Heymann with Kristen McNeill was launched (with the accompanying report) in London last week. It aims to provide an armoury of deeply disturbing data with which to hold to account the world’s passive politicians.

It is a culmination of years of work led by Heymann, who is director of the World Policy Analysis Center and dean of the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health.

She and her colleagues have sifted through (quite literally sometimes) boxes piled with paper and reams of information from organisations like UNESCO to provide the first global comparison of laws and public policies in 191 countries covering poverty, discrimination, education, health, child labour, child marriage and parental care options.

Laws really matter, found Heymann and her colleagues. Laws covering what look to be family or cultural decisions such as early child marriage or education are important because these issues determine whether a child survives or thrives.

When girls marry young, for example, they tend to drop out of school earlier and have poorer health, and, in turn, their children have poorer health.

At the book’s launch at the Royal Society in London Heymann said that sometimes just having a law can help: “What surprised me is that many people had said, 'What if policies are not fully implemented?' In fact many of these policies are so powerful that it is enough [to make a difference].”

The book, report and website aim to make the crucial information Heymann and her colleagues have gathered accessible to ordinary citizens, non-governmental organisations and policy-makers.

It’s readable, and given the Herculean task the authors had bringing it all together, makes clear sense of what they found with online maps providing a wealth of revealing information never before available, at a keystroke.

But I can’t help feeling that they are missing a trick. The tone of the book may be assertive, but it is not as forceful as its material - just too polite.

Why beat about the bush when children’s lives, health and future are at risk? Name and shame, I say. This book has the moral high ground, and scientific rigour, to do so. And it should.

At the launch, the US was rightly described as a “laggard”, but it is only by trawling through the maps that it becomes clear just how far behind it is for a rich nation.

What, for example, does the US have in common with Papua New Guinea, Liberia and Tonga?

These are three of only eight countries in the world with no guaranteed paid maternity leave. As for paternity leave, paid parental leave for sick children - forget it.

And there isn’t even protection against early child marriage. The US is right up there with Sudan and Iran, with no legal minimum age for marriage for girls or boys.

This was shocking, but the authors don’t go into surprises like this. Surely we should be told what the lack of such a law does to a developed nation like the US? Does anyone actually get married very young? If so, how young, and how common is it?

But we do know that lack of maternity leave makes a huge difference. Globally every 10-week increase in paid maternity is associated with a 10 per cent drop of newborn deaths, infant deaths and under-5 mortality rates. Staggering.

The reasons are simple. Off work, mothers are more likely to breastfeed and take their babies to be vaccinated.

Even in the US, infant mortality rates are not good for a developed nation. And recent studies show the country’s health generally is not as robust as it could be.

There are plenty of other surprises.

What does Laos do for its children that the UK doesn’t? Astonishingly, it is one of five countries in the world with father-specific paid paternity leave of over four weeks. The others are Iceland, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden.

Luxury? No. Paternity leave matters and when it's specifically allocated to men, dads are more likely to take it. Studies show that fathers who take paternity leave when it is available are much more involved with care of their children, even after a pre-existing commitment to mother and child is controlled for.

And where fathers are involved, new mothers are less likely to get depressed - and maternal depression has strong knock-on effects on children.

Then again, what makes one of the poorest African nations a better place to be a child than its neighbours? Madagascar has policies for children and families that are more progressive than many western nations, and this has paid off because its infant and child mortality rates are among the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sadly, the most powerful of the emerging economies - India and China - fare worse than many very poor countries in terms of children’s chances and healthcare.

The authors want this to be a call for action. But they need to shout louder. While they do quote the numbers of countries opting out of child-friendly policies or laws in their report, they should name the countries - and give them a report card. And likewise hail the countries (especially the poor ones) doing right by their kids.

The book does try quite hard in some ways, detailing heart-rending case studies of kids so hungry that they fall asleep at school, 9-year-olds rising at 4 am to help their parents set up street vegetable stalls before going to school, or parents who can’t take seriously ill kids to the doctor because they risk losing their jobs if they take time off…

The good news is that governments can move mountains if they find the will: saving the lives of millions of children worldwide is surely easy compared with finding a cure for AIDS or cancer?

Heymann and colleagues should be commended for their meticulous and arduous work. Let’s hope citizens, NGOs and movers and shakers pick up this report and wield it forcefully in the faces of governments.

Book information:
Children’s Chances: How countries can move from surviving to thriving by Jody Heymann
with Kristen McNeill
Harvard University Press
$45/£33.95

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India sets rules for new bank permits in rural push

MUMBAI : India on Friday unveiled rules for issuing new bank licences in a push to expand financial services into the country's rural hinterland where hundreds of thousands of villages have no banking outlets.

Ninety percent of India's 600,000 villages do not have banking facilities, the Reserve Bank of India says, while fewer than half of the country's 1.2 billion people have a bank account.

Private companies, public-sector groups and non-banking financial firms will be eligible to apply for licences for new banks by setting up financial holding companies, the central bank said in a statement.

Groups seeking to set up a bank "should have a past record of sound credentials and integrity, be financially sound with a successful track record of 10 years", the Reserve Bank said.

The minimum capital needed to set up a bank will five billion rupees (US$91 million).

Also, the new banks will have to open at least a quarter of their branches in rural areas with no such facilities, and foreign shareholdings in any new bank should not exceed 49 percent in the first five years.

The need to set up more banks, especially in rural areas, has become increasingly urgent as the government seeks to pay cash directly to India's poor to ensure more efficient distribution.

Indian conglomerates like the Tata Group and the Anil Ambani Reliance group, which already own financial businesses, have voiced interest in setting up banks.

The Reserve Bank is seeking to follow a path of "financial inclusion", embracing swathes of rural India which have little access to banking services, the bank's governor Duvvuri Subbarao said.

No new Indian bank has been set up since the private Yes Bank in 2004. Yes Bank now is a leading industry player.

India currently has just 26 state-run, 20 private and 40 foreign banks.

Another 2,200 rural and co-operative banks cover other parts of the country.

The Finance Ministry said it hopes the Reserve Bank will be able to start issuing licences for new banks by the end of the next financial year, which runs to March 2014.

"With all going well, with all clearances, by end of the (next) financial year we will see some success," Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru told reporters in New Delhi.

- AFP/ch

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iPhone Mini launch this summer makes sense, analyst says

Apple's iPhone 5.

(Credit:
CNET)

A low-priced iPhone makes a lot of sense, Morgan Stanley says, and it even could hit the market this summer. Katy Huberty, an analyst with the banking firm, noted that after her meetings with Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, she's convinced that innovation remains a top priority for the Cupertino, Calif., electronics giant. She also believes that Apple will increase cash return to shareholders and expand carriers, distribution, and possibly price points to drive iPhone growth.

She noted that a lower priced iPhone makes sense for several reasons:

1. "iPad Mini is expanding Apple's customer base with 50 [percent] of purchases in China/Brazil representing new customers to the ecosystem."


2. "Chinese consumers show a desire to purchase the latest version of iPhone (instead of discounted older generations)."


3. "iPhone 4 demand surprised to the upside in the December quarter."

Huberty added that while an iPhone Mini would have lower gross margins and cannibalize other iPhone sales, it would boost revenue and profits.

She noted that new iPhones, including a lower-priced iPhone for emerging markets, could launch this summer, while the
iPad will likely be refreshed by mid-year. Many reports in recent weeks have pegged an iPhone Mini launch to the summer timeframe.

Huberty also expects new carrier partnerships including NTT Docomo, T-Mobile, and China Mobile in the second half of the year or 2014.

Speculation has been building that Apple will soon release a cheaper iPhone. While it continues to sell many models of its newest iPhone, many customers have been opting for the older, discounted generations. And as smartphones sales growth slows in the U.S. and other mature markets (because almost everyone has a phone), emerging markets will become even more key to future sales. A lower priced phone would help Apple sell more devices in places like China, where few people can afford to buy its priciest gadgets.

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Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail in Murder Case

Oscar Pistorius was granted bail today in a South African court, meaning he can be released from jail for the six to eight months before his trial for the allegedly premeditated killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Magistrate Desmond Nair, in reading his lengthy decision, said, "The issue before me is whether this accused, being who is and the assets he has [here], would seek to duck and dive all over the world."
His conclusion:
"I cannot find that he is a flight risk."

Nair said, "The accused has made a case to be released on bail."

PHOTOS: Paralympics Champion Charged in Killing

The judge also said he had to weigh whether Pistorius would be a danger to others. He noted that Pistorius has been accused of using foul language against people in arguments and once threatened to break someone's legs, but he said that was different from someone with an arrest record of violence.

"I appreciate that a person is dead, but I don't think that is enough," he said.

Nair also said he could not be influenced by the public's "shock and outrage" if Pistorius is released.

A member of Pistorius' defense team told ABC News, "he is going to be released today."

Despite the ruling, prosecutors displayed confidence, with one of them emerging from the courthouse today to say, "We still believe we have the evidence to convict Oscar Pistorius."

The court set bail at about $113,000 (1 million rand) and June 4 as the date for Pistorius' next court appearance.

The other bail conditions are: Pistorius cannot leave the country; he must hand over his passports; he cannot return to his home as long as it's an active crime scene; he needs permission to leave the Pretoria area; he must visit a police station on a daily basis and be available to a probation officer at all times via cellphone; he is not allowed any communication with prosecution witnesses; he cannot drink alcohol; and he must relinquish his firearms.

"Do you understand?" the magistrate asked him.

"Yes, sir," Pistorius replied.

Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

'Blade Runner' Shocker: Lead Detective Replaced Watch Video

Speaking for the family, Arnold Pistorius, the Olympian's uncle, said, "Although we are obviously relieved that Oscar has been granted bail, this is still a very sad time for the family of Reeva and for us.

"We are grateful that the Magistrate recognized the validity and strength of our application. As the family, we are convinced that Oscar's version of what happened on that terrible night will prove to be true."

The judge's ruling came on the fourth and final day of the bail hearing for Pistorius, the Olympian accused of murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day.

Pistorius, who gained global acclaim for racing at the 2012 London Olympics, shot his model-girlfriend through a closed bathroom. He says he killed Reeva Steenkamp accidentally, but prosecutors alleged that he took a moment to put on his prosthetic legs, indicating that he thought out and planned to kill Steenkamp when he shot her three times through the bathroom door.

Pistorius sobbed today in court. Barry Roux, his defense attorney, said the prosecution misinterpreted the assigning of intent, meaning that the runner's intent to shoot at a supposed intruder in his home cannot be transferred to someone else who was shot -- in this case, Steenkamp.

"He did not want to kill Reeva," Roux told the court.

FULL COVERAGE: Oscar Pistorius Case

When Magistrate Nair, who overheard the bail hearing, asked Roux what the charges should be if Pistorius intended to kill an intruder, the defense attorney responded that he should be charged with culpable homicide.

Culpable homicide is defined in South Africa as "the unlawful negligent killing of a human being."

Roux also made light of the prosecution's argument that Pistorius is a flight risk, saying that every time the double-amputee goes through airport security, it causes a commotion. He said that Pistorius' legs need constant maintenance and he needs medical attention for his stumps.

The prosecution argued today that the onus was on Pistorius to provide his version of events, and his version was improbable.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel also spoke of Pistorius' fame and his disability, even relating him to Wikipedia founder Julian Assange, who is now confined to Ecuador's London Embassy, where he has been granted political asylum.
"[Assange's] facial features are as well known as Mr. Pistorius' prostheses," Nel said.

Nel argued that Pistorius' prostheses do not set him apart, stating that it's no different to any other feature, and the court cannot be seen to treat people with disabilities accused of a crime, or famous people accused of crime, any differently.

Pistorius has said that in the early hours of Feb. 14 he was closing his balcony doors when he heard a noise from the bathroom. Fearing an intruder, and without his prosthetic legs on, he grabbed a gun from under his bed and fired through the closed bathroom door, he told the court.

But prosecutors say that's implausible, that the gun's holster was found under the side of the bed where Steenkamp slept, and that Pistorius would have seen she wasn't there. Prosecutors also say the angle at which the shots were fired shows Pistorius was already wearing his prosthetics when he fired.

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First space tourist plans independent Mars mission

Jacob Aron, reporter

(Image: Sipa/Rex)

An organisation led by Dennis Tito, the first ever space tourist, has announced its intention to launch a mission to Mars in 2018 - though just who or what will be on board remains to be seen.

Tito paid $20 million to be the first paying guest of the International Space Station in 2001, marking the start of the space tourism industry. Now he has formed the Inspiration Mars Foundation, which plans to launch "an historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days", according to an announcement in advance of a press conference next Wednesday.

The announcement does not give many more details of the mission, but other speakers lined up for the press conference give some clues. Jonathan Clark of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston, Texas, a former NASA crew surgeon and recent advisor on Felix Baumgartner's supersonic skydive from near the edge of space, will probably speak about the health risks of a long-term space mission, which hints at the possibility of a crewed mission.

Also speaking are Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum of Paragon Space Development, a company with expertise in life support in extreme environments. The pair were both members of the Biosphere 2 mission, a controversial attempt at simulating a space colony two decades ago, and have previously proposed landing a greenhouse on the moon to grow flowers there.

Speculation ahead of the announcement is rife. Wired reckons the mission will aim to be crewed. NBC
is more cautious, suggesting that the plan might be to put plants or animals on board
instead, as pulling a crewed mission together in five years would be
expensive and risky. The 2018 date is particularly favourable because the
orbits of Earth and
Mars will be closely aligned, but NASA recently scrubbed a launch that
year in favour of a 2020 sequel to its successful Curiosity rover. Bottom line: it's hard to get to Mars in a hurry.

We
also don't know whether the mission is meant to land on Mars or
merely orbit the planet. Space Adventures, which booked Tito's ISS
trip, has been selling moon fly-bys since 2005, though none has taken place so far. But even an uncrewed return mission to the surface of the Red Planet would make history if it brought Mars rocks back to Earth.

Also
to be announced is just how Tito plans to get to Mars. The obvious
answer is to use Space X's Red Dragon craft, a planned variant of the
Dragon capsule that has already serviced the ISS. Space X founder Elon Musk has promised to deliver humans to Mars within a decade, so five years might be slightly short notice. We'll find out more on 27 February.

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