R is good for statistics and nothing else. It is, however, really good at statistics.

Python in more general purpose. If you want to do things that are not statistics in the future, python makes more sense.

If you're going to get started with python, get started with python 3.

One thing to consider is that most data projects require a fair bit of manipulation or munging, and Python is particularly good at that kind of stuff.

Definitely 3, at this point. Most libraries are Python 3 ready, and it doesn't make sense to start with 2: http://py3readiness.org/.