Orlando nightclub shooting: How the attack unfolded

It was after 2.30am in Orlando, at least half an hour after the shooting began, when someone managed to post on the Facebook page of the Pulse nightclub, a haven for the vibrant LGBT community of central Florida.

Live Florida nightclub shooting: 50 killed and 53 injured in 'act of terror' – rolling updates

Casualty count rises after shooting attack on Pulse nightclub as police recount raid that killed suspect named by media as Omar Mateen

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Barely a day earlier, police chief John Mina had held a press conference about another shooting, in which a gunman murdered pop singer Christina Grimmie and then killed himself.

“We’ve never had an issue here that I’m aware of, especially anything of this magnitude,” Mina said on Saturday.

On Sunday his department was confronted with the deadliest mass shooting in American history: at least 50 dead, 53 wounded, many in grievous condition.

In New York, mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered all US flags at half-staff as a mark of respect for the victims, and City Hall will be lit in rainbow colors “to represent LGBT pride at sunset”. Police have set up around the historic Stonewall Inn, considered one of the birthplaces of the gay rights movement.

In Los Angeles, police have arrested a man with an assault rifle, other weapons and possible explosives – he said he was headed to the city’s pride parade, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The chief of Tampa Bay’s police has also offered support to Orlando, and asked for help from the public: “Our message is that one that we have repeated many times: if you see something, say something, and we will do something.”

Philadelphia police official Joe Sullivan has tweeted from the city’s gay pride parade, offering condolences and support.

Muhammad Ali, My Father and Me,Photographic reminder of Muhammad Ali’s kindness to my father

My father, Jack Achilles, was the head chef at Isow’s restaurant in Brewer Street, Soho, when Jack Solomons, a regular customer, promoted the fight in 1963 between Henry Cooper and Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay. Ali stayed in Piccadilly and frequently went to eat at Isow’s.

Knowing as much about food as Ali knew about boxing, my father got on well with his most appreciative diner. Ali trusted that he would feed him whenever he was in London, and especially before his fights. From then on a telegram from Ali would arrive to let my father know when to get the Aberdeen Angus steaks ready.

He would go to choose the meat and supervise the butchering, to make sure it was fit for a king. In turn, he was singled out by Ali in the press conferences and generously included in many of the photocalls that were routinely held at Isow’s. One afternoon, in 1963, our entire family went, at Ali’s invitation, to the East End to watch him sparring before the fight with Cooper. My father was also given tickets to the fights. In simply acknowledging the important part my father played in feeding him so well, Ali was a giant among men.

“When we decided to put Ali on this month’s cover, we wanted to show him in safari costume carrying an elephant gun, perhaps the only foolproof weapon against George Foreman. Ali turned down the gun on religious grounds — as a Muslim minister, he says, he is forbidden to carry arms — but was happy to pose as a great white hunter.

“Once he climbed into the safari outfit — provided for Sport by Abercrombie & Fitch — Ali assumed the role completely. ‘Look out, George,’ he hollered, ‘I’m coming to get you, and I’m the baddest hunter in the whole world.’

“After he finished posing for Carl Fischer’s cover portrait, Ali calmed down for a family portrait with his three daughters and 2-year-old Muhammad Ali Jr.

“Then Ali playfully landed a few punches on the jaw of my 3-year-old daughter . Each time Ali hit her, she laughed.

“He’ll have to hit harder against George Foreman.”

I certainly was too young to grasp, at the time, the subversive brilliance of staging Ali in the costume of one of the most famous archetypes of white privilege and power, given his unapologetic identity as “a race man,” his potent pride in his blackness. I wish I could remember more about that day, but after more than 40 years, the memories have inevitably faded. I recall it now in a softly spectral way: I somehow knew, even if I wouldn’t have said it this way at the time, that I was in the presence of a great human, who was also very funny, and who took the time to play with children and seemed to enjoy it. I remember his physical presence, so vast compared with my toddler smallness. My mother once explained to me that the reason my legs are bare is that I’d been horsing around with Ali’s kids before the shoot, and tore up my nice woolen tights so badly she had to remove them.

EU Referendum campaign recap: David Cameron warns of 'risks' of Brexit

David Cameron has said the government might not be able to protect spending on pensions, the NHS and defence in the long term if the UK leaves the EU.

The prime minister said Brexit could cause a "black hole" in the public finances and threaten the "triple lock" guaranteeing state pension increases.

He told Andrew Marr "our economy would be smaller" if the UK left the single market leading to "difficult choices".

Vote Leave said it was "a frantic attempt to rescue a failing campaign".

With less than a fortnight to go before the referendum on the UK's EU membership on 23 June, other developments. 

The comments come after Mr Banks had told The Telegraph before the announcement that he would consider a legal challenge. 

Asked if he would seek now judicial review, Mr Banks told The Telegraph: “Definitely. We are going to see lawyers now. We think they haven’t applied the criteria they should have.”

When asked if the move was just “sour grapes” for failing to get the nomination, he responded: “It is not right. We have over a million supporters, [Vote Leave] have nobody but a few Tory politicians. ... This is a political stitch-up.”

On the impact of the decision on the EU referendum campaign, Mr Banks said: “It becomes an internal squabble in the Conservative Party, doesn’t it? Do we really think Gove and Boris are going to go at it with the Conservative Party? They are one and the same, it is a stitch-up. 

“The bottom line is we’re going to judicially review it and we will go at it 100 per cent. The net effect is that it will probably delay the referendum. 

“The process has been despicable. They have been saying they stitched it up with the Electoral Commission. We got nearly a million supporters.

Connie Britton

Britton made her feature film debut in the independent comedy-drama film The Brothers McMullen (1995), and the following year, she was cast as Nikki Faber on the ABC sitcom Spin City (1996–2000). She later starred in the short-lived sitcoms The Fighting Fitzgeralds (2001) and Lost at Home (2003), and appeared in several films, most notably the sports drama film Friday Night Lights (2004) and the thriller film The Last Winter (2006).

Britton received positive reviews from critics for her performance as Tami Taylor on the NBC/DirecTV drama series Friday Night Lights (2006–2011). For this role she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. In 2011, she starred as Vivien Harmon in the first season of FX horror-drama series American Horror Story, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Britton plays the leading role of country singer Rayna Jaymes in the ABC musical drama series Nashville (2012–present), for which she was nominated for a Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 2012. In 2014, Britton was named UNDP Goodwill Ambassador. Britton next starred in the comedy-drama film This Is Where I Leave You (2014), the drama film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) and the action comedy American Ultra (2015).

Britton uses her married name as her stage name. She met investment banker John Britton at Alpha Delta House at Dartmouth College. They moved to Manhattan together in 1989, married in 1991 and divorced in 1995.

In 1993, Britton joined the New York Junior League and was a member of the 1993 provisional class of volunteers where she listed her occupation as "Actress".

In November 2011, Britton adopted a son, Eyob "Yoby" Britton, from Ethiopia.

Britton studied Chinese in college. In a 2012 interview on NPR she said of the experience: "I always wanted to be an actor. But when I went to college, I had to fulfill a language requirement and so I thought it would be really cool to do it speaking Chinese. My Chinese these days is real, real shaky. Let's put it this way: These days, my singing is better than my Chinese."

Britton moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2012 when she signed to star in the ABC musical drama Nashville.

On April 2, 2014, Britton became the 10th Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Programme, the anti-poverty agency of the UN. She joins celebrities such as Antonio Banderas, Maria Sharapova, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo in this role. She will focus her advocacy efforts on eradicating extreme poverty, fighting exclusion and empowering women.

Connie Britton Confirms 'Nashville' Season 5 Return

Ever since CMT announced that the network had officially picked up Nashville for Season 5, fans have been speculating about which of the original cast members would be making the move with the show to the new network.

The network has yet to officially confirm which of the drama’s original cast members will be returning, though Connie Britton is now dropping serious hints that Rayna James will, in fact, be back for Season 5.

When asked by Entertainment Tonight if she has big plans to reprise her role in the upcoming season of Nashville, Britton replied, “Of course, of course!” suggesting that Connie will be signing on the dotted line to continue on with the show.

But while the Nashville actress appeared to hint at a return, she admitted in the new interview that the show’s producers are yet to confirm who will be returning and what out favourite country stars will be getting up to in the new season.

“I don’t know anything! Literally, I found out today like everybody else,” Britton confessed, “I have no information to tell you!”

Connie’s big Nashville confession follow recent claims by Lionsgate’s head of TV, Kevin Beggs, who admitted in a recent interview with Variety that Lionsgate actually have “long-term deals with the cast,” hinting that Connie and co-star Hayden Panettiere will more than likely be following the drama to CMT.

Entertainment Weekly also reported Nashville’s big return this week, claiming that the 5th season will be made up of 22 episodes but added that “the cast deals have not yet been struck.”

According to the reports, fans banded together and launched a social media campaign to revive "Nashville." Lionsgate began pitching for other networks and found a welcoming and warm embrace from CMT.

Although "Nashville" Season 5 is confirmed, there's a drawback. Sources told Rolling Stone that Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere may not join the rest of the "Nashville" cast in their move to CMT. However, some remain hopeful that one or both can still make it in the new home network.

"Nashville" Season 5 has new showrunners. Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, who are popular in their iconic series "thirtysomething" and "My So Called Life" just signed for the series before the last season ended.

"Nashville" Season 5 is expected to return this fall.

Are you happy that "Nashville" has found a new home? What do you expect from "Nashville" Season 5?

Dating sites

Online dating or Internet dating is a personal introductory system where individuals can find and contact each other over the Internet to arrange a date, usually with the objective of developing a personal, romantic, or sexual relationship. Online dating services usually provide unmoderated matchmaking over the Internet, through the use of personal computers or cell phones. Users of an online dating service would usually provide personal information, to enable them to search the service provider's database for other individuals. Members use criteria other members set, such as age range, gender and location.

Online dating sites use market metaphors to match people. Match metaphors are conceptual frameworks that allow individuals to make sense of new concepts by drawing upon familiar experiences and frame-works. This metaphor of the marketplace – a place where people go to “shop” for potential romantic partners and to “sell” themselves in hopes of creating a successful romantic relationship – is highlighted by the layout and functionality of online dating websites. The marketplace metaphor may also resonate with participants’ conceptual orientation towards the process of finding a romantic partner. Most sites allow members to upload photos or videos of themselves and browse the photos and videos of others. Sites may offer additional services, such as webcasts, online chat, telephone chat (VOIP), and message boards. Some sites provide free registration, but may offer services which require a monthly fee. Other sites depend on advertising for their revenue. Some sites such as OkCupid.com, POF.com and Badoo.com are free and offer additional paid services in a freemium revenue model.

Some sites are broad-based, with members coming from a variety of backgrounds looking for different types of relationships. Other sites are more specific, based on the type of members, interests, location, or relationship desired. A 2005 study of data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that individuals are more likely to use an online dating service if they use the internet for a greater amount of tasks and less likely to use such a service if they are trusting of others.

Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the East division of the National League (NL) in Major League Baseball (MLB). From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadium; since 2008 their home stadium has been Nationals Park on South Capitol Street in Southeast D.C., near the Anacostia River.

As the Major League Baseball team in the U.S. capital, the Nationals are the successors to the Washington Senators, whose nickname was the Nationals (or the Nats for short). There were actually three Washington Senators teams — one from 1891 to 1899 that was in the National League, one from 1901 to 1960 that became the Minnesota Twins, and one from 1961 to 1971 that became the Texas Rangers.

An expansion franchise, the club was founded in 1969 as the Montreal Expos, the first major league team in Canada. They were based in Montreal, Quebec, and played their home games at Jarry Park Stadium and later in Olympic Stadium. During the strike-shortened 1981 season, the Expos won a division championship and made their only post-season appearance as a Montreal franchise, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies, 3–2, in the National League Division Series, but losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3–2, in the National League Championship Series.

The club had its highest winning percentage in the strike-shortened season of 1994, when the team had the best record in baseball. The team's subsequent shedding of players caused fan interest to drop off, and after the 2001 season, MLB considered revoking the team's franchise, along with either the Minnesota Twins or the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After being purchased by MLB in 2002, the team was moved before the 2005 season to Washington, D.C. and renamed the Nationals, the first relocation since the third Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, and became the Texas Rangers in 1972.

The Nationals are one of two franchises, and the only one in the National League, that has never played in a World Series. (The American League's Seattle Mariners are the other).

Adirondack chair

The Adirondack chair is a simple chair made of wood or man made materials, generally used outdoors. Originally made with 11 flat wooden boards, it features a straight back and seat and wide armrests. The advent of various man made materials have allowed for this style of chair to be made from polymers and other hard impact plastics.

The first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee while vacationing in Westport, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains in 1903. Needing outdoor chairs for his summer home, he tested his early efforts on his family. After arriving at a final design for a "Westport plank chair," he offered it to a carpenter friend in Westport in need of a winter income, Harry Bunnell. Bunnell saw the commercial potential of such an item being offered to Westport's summer residents, and apparently without asking Lee's permission filed for and received U.S. patent #794,777 in 1905. Bunnell manufactured hemlock plank "Westport chairs" for the next twenty years, painted in green or medium dark brown, and individually signed by him.

Modern Adirondack chairs usually feature a rounded back and contoured seat, modifications made by Irving Wolpin, who received U.S. patent #109239 for his design in 1938.

Tissot Watches

Tissot was founded in 1853 by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile Tissot in the Swiss city of Le Locle, in the Neuchâtel area of th

e Jura Mountains.

Tissot introduced the first mass-produced pocket watch as well as the first pocket watch with two time zones in 1853 and the first anti-magnetic watch in 1929–30. Charles-Emile Tissot left for Russia in 1858 and succeeded in selling their savonnette pocket watches across the Russian Empire. The Tissot company was also the first to make watches out of plastic (IDEA 2001 in 1971), stone (the Alpine granite RockWatch in 1985), mother of pearl (the Pearl watch in 1987), and wood (the Wood watch in 1988).Tissot merged with the Omega watch making family in 1930 and Tissot-Omega watches from this era are sought after by collectors.

Tissot has been a member of The Swatch Group Ltd. since 1983, the largest watch producer and distributor in the world.  Still based in Le Locle, Switzerland and marketed in 160 countries around the world. Tissot watches are currently classified by Swatch Group as "mid-range market" products.

Tissot is an official timekeeper for the world championships in cycling, motorcycling, fencing and ice hockey, and was used for the Davis Cup in 1957 and Downhill Skiing in Switzerland in 1938. Tissot was also a key Sponsor for the Formula one teams Lotus, Renault and Sauber. Tissot's first engagement as an official timekeeper was in 1938 where they timed a series of Ski races in Villar, near the company's home town in the Jura mountains.

For early events, handheld stop watches were sufficient to provide official timings. Today Tissot works with various sporting bodies to develop systems to produce ever more accurate timings for specific events. In competitive cycling for instance, sensors are placed on the bikes and track which are then linked by computers to provide track timings and performance data.

Tissot introduced its first tactile watch, with "T-Touch," technology in 1999; watches containing this technology have a touch-sensitive sapphire crystals to control various functions like compasses, barometer, altimeter and thermometer. The latest models in the T-Touch series. The T-Touch Expert Solar and T-Touch Lady Solar holds 25 functions 

Tissot watches have been worn by Sarah Bernhardt, singer Carmen Miranda, Elvis Presley, Grace Kelly, Banassim Kassim and Nelson Mandela. James Stewart wore a Tissot watch in Rear Window. Indian actor Kamal Hassan wore a Tissot watch in the Tamil Movie "Dasavatharam". Deepika Padukone is brand ambassador in India since 2007. T-Touch watches have been worn by Angelina Jolie in the movies Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Making Love

Making Love is a 1982 American film. It tells the story of a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality and the love triangle that develops around him, his wife and another man. It stars Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean.

Making Love was the first mainstream Hollywood drama to address the subjects of homosexuality, coming out and the effect that being closeted and coming out has on a marriage.  The film contrasts two visions of the so-called "gay lifestyle". Zack wants to settle into a long-term relationship similar to a heterosexual marriage, while Bart represents the somewhat stereotypical view of gay men as being promiscuous and uninterested in forming commitments.

Issues of the tension many women felt over pursuing careers are also touched on in Claire's fears that she is being forced to choose between her career and having a baby. By the film's end, she does have a child, but it is unstated whether she is still working, so that issue ultimately remains unresolved.(Although its implied that she is a stay at home mom now.)

Making Love was one of several mainstream Hollywood films to be released in 1982 dealing with themes of homosexuality in a more tolerant and sympathetic light. Others included Personal Best, Victor Victoria, and Partners.

Gay film historian Vito Russo writes in the The Celluloid Closet that straight critics found the film boring while gay critics, glad for any attention paid to the subject, praised it. Making Love opened strong at the box office its first week, but poor word of mouth led to a large drop-off in box office receipts the following week.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote “Claire and Zack of Arthur Hiller’s 'Making Love', are a lot like Jenny and Oliver of Mr. Hiller’s 'Love Story'” 

Cultural critic Camille Paglia calls Making Love "intelligent" and states that "it remains my favorite film to date about gay men."

Treadmill

A treadmill is a device generally for walking or running while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines, to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of mill that was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a treadwheel to grind grain. In later times, treadmills were used as punishment devices for people sentenced to hard labour in prisons. The terms treadmill and treadwheel were used interchangeably for the power and punishment mechanisms.

More recently, treadmills are not used to harness power, but as exercise machines for running or walking in one place. Rather than the user powering the mill, the machine provides a moving platform with a wide conveyor belt driven by an electric motor or a flywheel. The belt moves to the rear, requiring the user to walk or run at a speed matching that of the belt. The rate at which the belt moves is the rate of walking or running. Thus, the speed of running may be controlled and measured. The more expensive, heavy-duty versions are motor-driven (usually by an electric motor). The simpler, lighter, and less expensive versions passively resist the motion, moving only when walkers push the belt with their feet. The latter are known as manual treadmills.

The first consumer treadmill for home use was developed by William Staub, a mechanical engineer.Staub developed his treadmill after reading the 1968 book, Aerobics, by Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper. Cooper's book noted that individuals who ran for eight minutes four-to-five times a week would be in better physical condition. Staub noticed that there were no affordable household treadmills at the time and decided to develop a treadmill for his own use during the late 1960s. He called his first treadmill the PaceMaster 600. Once finished, Staub sent his prototype treadmill to Cooper, who found the machine's first customers, which included sellers of fitness equipment.

Staub began producing the first home treadmills at his plant in Clifton, New Jersey, before moving production to Little Falls, New Jersey.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G LTE

The Samsung Galaxy S 4G LTE also known as the Droid Charge (Verizon), Galaxy S Aviator (U.S. Cellular) and Galaxy S Lightray 4G (MetroPCS, includes DyleTV), is an Android smartphone manufactured by Samsung. It has a 1 GHz "Hummingbird" processor, front and rear cameras, and CDMA and 4G LTE radios. It was announced at CES 2011 under the name Samsung Galaxy S 4G LTE device. It is available from Verizon Wireless.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4G LTE uses Swype technology as well as the standard QWERTY input methods. The Galaxy S 4G LTE incorporates a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera as well as a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. In early June 2011, the EE4 update was released to fix some minor bugs within the device. In early December 2011, 2.3.6 Gingerbread was beginning to be pushed out to devices with the "EP4" update. Subsequent updates were codenamed "FP5" and "FP8". Gingerbread was the last Android version to appear on the Galaxy S 4G LTE ; Samsung never released 4.0+, stating that an update (with TouchWiz) would not fit on the Galaxy S 4G LTE 's ROM.

Khloé Kardashian

Khloé Kardashian Odom (born Khloé Alexandra Kardashian; June 27, 1984) is an American entrepreneur and television personality. Since 2007, she and her family have starred in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Its success has led to the creation of spin-offs including Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami and Khloé & Lamar. In September 2009, Kardashian married basketball player Lamar Odom one month after they first met.

With sisters Kourtney and Kim, Kardashian is involved in the retail and fashion industries. They have launched several clothing collections and fragrances, and additionally released the book Kardashian Konfidential in 2010. In 2012, she co-hosted the second season of the US version of The X Factor with Mario Lopez.

In 2001, Kardashian suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in which she went through the windscreen and suffered a severe concussion, causing long-term memory loss.

On September 27, 2009, Kardashian married NBA basketball player Lamar Odom, who was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers at the time. The couple were married exactly one month after they met at a party for Odom's teammate Metta World Peace. Following her marriage, Kardashian removed her middle name to include her married surname, becoming Khloé Kardashian Odom. Kardashian adopted a pet boxer named Bernard "BHops" Hopkins, after the famous boxer.

On December 13, 2013, after months of speculated separation, Kardashian filed for divorce from Odom and for legal restoration of her last name. Divorce papers were signed by both parties in July 2015; however, the divorce had yet to receive final approval from a judge. In October 2015, Odom was hospitalized after being found unconscious in a Nevada brothel, and was in a coma for four days; as he lay in a hospital, Kardashian withdrew her pending divorce petition.In an interview with People Magazine, Kardashian confirmed that they had not reconciled and the divorce had been withdrawn so that she might make medical decisions on Odom's behalf.

On March 4, 2007, Kardashian was arrested for driving under the influence.[60] On July 18, 2008, Kardashian turned herself in and reported to jail to serve time for violation of probation. She faced a sentence of up to 30 days and enrollment in an alcohol treatment program within three weeks of her release from jail. She was released from jail fewer than three hours later due to overcrowding.

In December 2011, Kardashian was sued by a transsexual woman who claimed Kardashian and 10 other people assaulted her outside a nightclub in December 2009.

In March 2012, Kardashian and her sisters Kourtney and Kim were named in a $5 million class action lawsuit against QuickTrim, the weight loss supplement they endorse.The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses the Kardashians (along with QuickTrim's manufacturer, Windmill Health Products; the retailer GNC; and others in the sales and marketing chain) of false and deceptive marketing of the diet aid. The plaintiffs, hailing from several states, brought claims under their respective states' consumer protection laws.

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Carl Lennard Pistorius OIB, born 22 November 1986) is a South African sprint runner and convicted murderer. Both of Pistorius' legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old. He was the first athlete to compete at the Paralympic games and Olympic games, competing in sprint events for below-knee amputees in Paralympic events, and in able-bodied sprint events.

After becoming a Paralympic champion, Pistorius attempted to enter able-bodied international competition, over persistent objections of the IAAF and charges that his artificial limbs gave an unfair advantage. Pistorius eventually prevailed in this legal dispute. At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Pistorius became the first amputee to win an able-bodied world track medal. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Pistorius became the first double leg amputee to participate in the Olympics when he entered the men's 400 metres and 4 × 400 metres relay races. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Pistorius won gold medals in the men's 400-metre race and in the 4 × 100 metres relay, setting world records in both events. He also took silver in the 200-metre race, having set a world record in the semifinal.

On Valentine's Day 2013, Pistorius fatally shot his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria home. He said he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder hiding in the bathroom, but he was arrested and charged with murder. At his trial the following year, Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide. He received a five-year prison sentence for culpable homicide and a concurrent three-year suspended prison sentence for a separate reckless endangerment conviction. In November, prosecutors asked the sentencing judge for permission to appeal the verdict. Permission was granted in December, and the case was presented to a five-person panel at the Supreme Court of Appeal. His release from prison to house arrest was announced for 21 August 2015, but this was placed "on hold" on 19 August. On 15 October 2015 it was confirmed that Pistorius was to be released from prison on 20 October; however, he was released on 19 October. On 3 December 2015 the Appeal Court overturned the culpable homicide verdict and convicted him of murder. On 8 December 2015 Pistorius was bailed to house arrest pending an appeal to the South African Constitutional Court. His appeal was denied on 3 March 2016. Pistorius is next due in court on 13 June 2016 to be sentenced for the murder conviction; the hearing will last 5 days concluding on 17 June 2016.

Pistorius competes in T44 (single below-knee amputees) events though he is actually classified in T43 (double below knee amputee). Sometimes referred to as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs", Pistorius took part in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens and came third overall in the T44 (one leg amputated below the knee) 100-metre event. Despite falling in the preliminary round for the 200 metres, he qualified for the final.He went on to win the final in a world record time of 21.97 seconds, beating a pair of American runners both possessing a single amputation, Marlon Shirley and Brian Frasure.

In 2005, Pistorius finished sixth in the able-bodied South African Championships over 400 metres with a world-record time of 47.34 seconds, and at the Paralympic World Cup in the same year, he won gold in the 100 metres and 200 metres, beating his previous 200-metre world record. At the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships, Pistorius won gold in the 100-, 200- and 400-metre events, breaking the world record over 200 metres. On 17 March 2007, he set a disability sports world record for the 400 metres (46.56 seconds) at the South African Senior Athletics Championships in Durban; and at the Nedbank Championships for the Physically Disabled held in Johannesburg in April 2007, he became the world record holder of the 100- and 200-metre events with times of 10.91 and 21.58 seconds respectively.

Pistorius was invited by the IAAF to take part in what would have been his first international able-bodied event, the 400-metre race at the IAAF Grand Prix in Helsinki, Finland, in July 2005. He was unable to attend, however, because of school commitments. On 13 July 2007, Pistorius ran in the 400-metre race at Rome's Golden Gala and finished second in run B with a time of 46.90 seconds, behind Stefano Braciola who ran 46.72 seconds. This was a warm-up for his appearance at the 400 metres at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield on 15 July 2007. As American Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner stumbled at the start of the race and stopped running, Pistorius took seventh place in a field of eight in wet conditions with a time of 47.65 seconds. However, he was later disqualified for running outside his lane. The race was won by American Angelo Taylor with a time of 45.25 seconds.Pistorius had ambitions of competing in other able-bodied events. In particular, he had set his sights on competing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, but was ultimately not selected by the South African Olympic Committee