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Geopolitics
South Africa

Paralympic Track Icon Oscar Pistorius Charged With Killing Girlfriend

GeopoliticsSourcesWORLDCRUNCHSouth AfricaCountries

AFP, EYE WITNESS NEWS, NEWS24 (South Africa), REUTERS

Worldcrunch

PRETORIA- Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee who broke barriers for the disabled by competing in the London Olympics, has been charged on suspicion of killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home early Thursday.

South African police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale said: “We have opened a case of murder. Paramedics declared the woman dead on the scene and police proceeded with their investigation. The woman sustained wounds to her head and upper body," South African News24 reports.

Johannesburg’s Eye Witness News had reported earlier that Pistorius, who became globally recognizable for running on two state-of-the art blades, told police he'd mistaken Steenkamp for a burglar. Pistorius is reportedly fully cooperating with police, and is said to be traumatized by losing a person he said he was very close to.

“The SA Police Service were surprised this morning to hear on the radio that allegations had been made that the deceased had been perceived to be a burglar," South African police source Denise Beukes said according to News24. "We were very surprised and those allegations did not come from us."

Beukes also said there had "previously been allegations of a domestic nature at Mr Pistorius's home."

A statement from the International Paralympic Committee said: "Following the news of the alleged shooting incident involving South African athlete Oscar Pistorius this morning, the International Paralympic Committee will not be passing any comment on the case at this time...The IPC would like to offer its deepest sympathy and condolences to all families involved in this case."

South Africa has some of the world's highest rates of violent crime and many home owners have weapons to defend themselves against intruders says Reuters. In 2004, Springbok rugby player Rudi Visagie shot dead his 19-year-old daughter after he mistakenly thought she was a robber trying to steal his car in the middle of the night.

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Jim Thurston

Pistorius was named by Time Magazine last year as one of the world's 100 most influential people. After being denied the chance to compete in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he broke historical barriers in London last year by competing the 400 meters and 4X400-meter relay.

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Society
Parenting

What's Spoiling The Kids: The Big Tech v. Bad Parenting Debate

Without an extended family network, modern parents have sought to raise happy kids in a "hostile" world. It's a tall order, when youngsters absorb the fears (and devices) around them like a sponge.

Image of a kid wearing a blue striped sweater, using an ipad.

Children exposed to technology at a very young age are prominent today.

Kelly Sikkema
SocietyEL ESPECTADORSourcesfeatured-postColombiaCountries
Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — A 2021 report from the United States (the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) found that 42% of the country's high-school students persistently felt sad and 22% had thought about suicide. In other words, almost half of the country's young people are living in despair and a fifth of them have thought about killing themselves.

Such chilling figures are unprecedented in history. Many have suggested that this might be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, we can see depression has deeper causes, and the pandemic merely illustrated its complexity.

I have written before on possible links between severe depression and the time young people spend on social media. But this is just one aspect of the problem. Today, young people suffer frequent and intense emotional crises, and not just for all the hours spent staring at a screen. Another, possibly more important cause may lie in changes to the family composition and authority patterns at home.

Firstly: Families today have fewer members, who communicate less among themselves.

Young people marry at a later age, have fewer children and many opt for personal projects and pets instead of having children. Families are more diverse and flexible. In many countries, the number of children per woman is close to or less than one (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong among others).

In Colombia, women have on average 1.9 children, compared to 7.6 in 1970. Worldwide, women aged 15 to 49 years have on average 2.4 children, or half the average figure for 1970. The changes are much more pronounced in cities and among middle and upper-income groups.

Of further concern today is the decline in communication time at home, notably between parents and children. This is difficult to quantify, but reasons may include fewer household members, pervasive use of screens, mothers going to work, microwave ovens that have eliminated family cooking and meals and, thanks to new technologies, an increase in time spent on work, even at home. Our society is addicted to work and devotes little time to minors.

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