View full sizeBeth Nakamura/The OregonianKaine Horman, the father of Kyron Horman, said today during an interview with The Oregonian that "the pieces are going to fall into place at some point" in the effort to find his missing son.
said Thursday that his marriage to the boy's stepmom began to grow rocky after she gave birth to their little girl 19 months ago.
"I thought the marriage was doing pretty well,"
said during a one-on-one interview with The Oregonian, "until we had our daughter, Kiara."
fractured within six months after she gave birth in November 2008, the result of postpartum depression.
Terri Horman was put on medication for the depression, and her doctor told Kaine to keep an eye on her to make sure she was OK, he said. But she wasn't OK.
"She's had a lot of emotional outbursts," he said. "I think it's still with her. I don't know if it's postpartum or something else."
The 36-year-old software engineer said he believes what he wrote in a June 28 restraining order against his estranged wife: She tried to hire someone to kill him.
During a car ride Thursday a few miles from the elementary school where his 7-year-old son vanished on June 4, Horman said he agrees with detectives who have told him that the investigation into Kyron's disappearance will be a marathon rather than a sprint.
He hopes a few key pieces of information -- from tips or leads or something detectives track down -- will eventually break the case.
"I think we're certain that the pieces are going to fall into place at some point," he said.
Kaine and Kiara Horman moved out of their rural Multnomah County home on June 26. A couple of days later, Kaine filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order that forbids his wife from coming near him or their daughter.
A Multnomah County judge unsealed the restraining order Thursday, and Kaine's attorney filed a motion to amend it so that the court will force Terri Horman to vacate the home.
"I believe respondent is involved in the disappearance of my son Kyron," Kaine Horman wrote. "I also recently learned that respondent attempted to hire someone to murder me. The police have provided me with probable cause to believe the above two statements to be true."
Horman wrote that the attempted murder-for-hire plot occurred at the end of 2009.
Horman also has asked the court to hold an expedited hearing that would force his wife out of the house he bought on Northwest Sheltered Nook Road in January 2007, three months before he and Terri Horman got married in Hawaii.
In Thursday's interview, Horman said one reason he wants to move back into his house is to return his daughter to her normal surroundings. He and his daughter have been living in an undisclosed location.
"Part two is, we find Kyron, what are they gonna do, ship him off to our undisclosed location?" Horman said. "I mean, how homey is that gonna be for him when we find him?"
Circuit Judge Keith Meisenheimer set a hearing for July 22 in which Terri Horman will be ordered to show good reason why the court shouldn't make her move out of the house.
Terri Horman's lawyer, Stephen Houze, said this week that neither he nor Terri would comment on the murder-for-hire allegations, restraining order, divorce proceedings or ongoing investigation.
The restraining order unsealed Thursday requires Terri Horman to stay more than 500 feet from her husband or daughter, and not have any parenting time. She's also not to go to the Skyline School, Kaine's Intel office or his gym, The Edge in Beaverton. She's also restricted from entering her daughter's current or future day-care provider's location or school.
The judge also ordered Terri Horman not to possess any firearms.
Kyron Horman disappeared after spending time at a science fair at Skyline School in rural northwest Multnomah County. His stepmom was the last known person to have seen him. She told authorities that she brought Kyron to school that morning with his science fair exhibit and watched him walk toward his classroom about 8:45 a.m. before she left the school.
Although the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office has not identified a suspect or a person of interest in the boy's disappearance, investigators have clearly focused on Terri Horman in recent weeks.
On June 18, they began circulating fliers with her photo and a picture of the white truck she drove to and from the school on the day Kyron vanished.
About that time, investigators tracked down a landscaper who told authorities that Terri Horman had tried to pay him to kill her husband. Then on June 26, detectives sent the landscaper back to the Horman home to get taped corroboration of the alleged murder-for-hire plot.
The landscaper, fitted with a body wire, told Terri Horman he would tell police about her plan if she didn't pay him $10,000. But she cut off the conversation and called 9-1-1 to report "threats," records show.
The revelation of the alleged plot to kill Kaine Horman has helped widen the increasing split between Kyron's parents and Terri Horman.
held a news conference at a Beaverton hotel.
During the news conference, Young said she has long suspected that Terri Horman has been involved in Kyron's disappearance.
Asked about her body language at the family's first public appearance June 11 -- at the time, she appeared stiff and closed her eyes tight when Terri Horman put her arm around Young's shoulder -- Young said she thought then that Horman was involved.
"Mothers have instincts," Young said, "and unfortunately I had feelings about this when I got the phone call."
She and Kaine Horman also said that Terri Horman has failed two polygraph tests and went on to make it clear they are upset with her.
"I'm so angry I don't even have words," Young told reporters. "I just really want her to do the right thing and I can't say it enough that Kyron is still out there and he needs to be home. It's extremely frustrating that she's not cooperating."
When asked how Terri Horman wasn't cooperating with investigators, Young said she wasn't "taking an active role in finding Kyron and telling the truth.
"I've known her a long time," Young said. "I know she's lying."
Kaine Horman added that he was upset about Terri occupying the family home, keeping him and his daughter out of it.
"Displacing a child for the comfort of an adult. I think we all have our opinions on how appropriate that is," he said.
Kyron's parents did not comment on the specifics of the investigation, but noticeably paused when asked if they thought someone else might be involved.
"We would like to speculate, but we really can't," Young said.
Investigators in the missing-child case are at a crossroads, focusing on Terri Horman while urging the public to keep an eye out for Kyron and pass them any tips that might help locate the boy.
But where does that leave Kaine Horman?
"It still puts me looking for my boy," he said. "It's our kids first, and everything else comes after. So Kyron, he's missing, he's in danger -- he's No. 1 priority. And after that, Kiara is No. 2 priority. And based on what I filed (in) the restraining order, we feel that she's possibly in danger. So we've got two children that are in bad places."
Horman, standing on a wooded road in Adidas running shoes, was stoic when considering his troubles.
"It's gotta happen to somebody," he said.
As a software engineer at Intel, Horman has been trained to break things down into pieces, compartmentalize and prioritize them.
"It's one piece at a time," he said. "If we address every piece emotionally, we'd go insane right now."
Horman, a former high school sprinter, said he holds things together by running a couple of miles a day, playing with his daughter and seeing a counselor once a week to talk about his situation.
He said he and Kyron's mother and stepfather have asked detectives not to give them any false hope as they investigate his disappearance.
"It was kind of something we all talked about together," he said. "Obviously, we're hopeful that this will come to a conclusion sometime soon."
Asked whether he has made any plans if detectives come to him with bad news, Horman pursed his lips and shook his head.


Make and sustain a significant service commitment as part of your Stanford experience.
Making a Cardinal Commitment means engaging with a community to address a problem or need for at least three quarters while you’re at Stanford. You’ll develop a personal mission statement describing your commitment, receive advice and guidance from a mentor or supervisor, and spend some time documenting and reflecting on your service experience.
Though Cardinal Commitment supports and recognizes the sustained service of individual students, we know that much of the public service work done at Stanford is through student groups, campus programs, and community partners. Cardinal Commitment also provides resources to support these efforts including funding, transportation, and advising.
Declare your mission, Engage in your service work, and Certify completion of your Cardinal Commitment.
Explore opportunties for sustained service in a wide range of interest areas.
Cardinal Commitment organizations have access to advising and help with transportation, events, funding, and more.
The Haas Center's Education Partnerships program offers students opportunities to promote educational equity in our local communities through tutoring and youth-mentoring relationships.


Remember when Kia was used as a foil to modernize Yugo jokes? With the Forte, the Forte Koup, Soul, Sorento and 2011 Kia Sportage, the brand's becoming relevant, at least in looks. Don't think so? Check out the current Sportage.


The Libertyville High School Wildcats will have a new artificial turf field for their home football games when the season begins in the fall.
The Wildcats abandoned natural grass for turf in 2005, a year after winning the Class 7A state title. The playing surface being installed this month replaces that turf.
Although artificial turf is more durable than natural grass, the field was worn down after 12 years of use.
"The fibers have split over the years and started curling up," Libertyville High Athletic Director Briant Kelly said. "The surface has actually become much harder and is not as safe."
The surface had a life expectancy of about 10 years, Kelly said.
Replacing the turf will cost an estimated $518,000. Funding was included in the school district's annual budget.
That wasn't the case for the original turf field, which cost an estimated $650,000 and was funded with private donations.
The other Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 campus, Vernon Hills High, got an artificial turf football field in 2012. That $800,000 project was privately funded, too.
The large field at the Brainerd athletic compound in Libertyville has artificial turf as well. In fact, it's the same Field Turf product that's being installed at Libertyville High.
"Our players and coaches have found it to be a great playing surface," Kelly said.
The new field should be more durable and safer for athletes than the old one, he said.
The old turf has been removed. On Tuesday, workers used heavy machines to level the crushed stone layer atop which the new playing surface will be laid. That could happen next week.
Mundelein, Stevenson, Lake Zurich, Wauconda and Carmel Catholic are among the other Lake County high schools with artificial turf fields.


Burglars have targeted retail stores and businesses such as insurance offices and mortgage companies, he said.
Molly Lake said she discovered a breakin at Farmers Insurance in Gardnerville on Sunday when she went to clean the office for her mother-in-law, Mary Jane Lake.
Lake said all that was missing was a March of Dimes container which contained $20-25 in change. She contacted sheriff’s deputies who told her there had been three breakins that weekend alone.


I have been unable to access the TV guide the last few weeks. I have reset the Tivo Box; made sure it is plugged into the internet.
Call in and report the fault. 150 from a Virgin landline mobile.


Salsa is a popular form of social dance that originated in the Caribbean. The movements of salsa have origins in Cuban Son, Cha-cha-cha, Mambo and Puertorican Bomba and Plena and other dance forms.
Why: While it makes for a fun night out with friends, it can also be a great way to get healthy and fit. And the best part of it is, the exercise doesn’t feel like exercise at all because you’re having so much fun doing it.
How it works: In many styles of salsa dancing, as a dancer shifts their weight by stepping, the upper body remains level and nearly unaffected by the weight changes. Weight shifts cause the hips to move. Arm and shoulder movements are also incorporated.
Benefits: Salsa dancing provides the benefits of an aerobic exercise while also allowing you to engage in a social activity.
It builds endurance and stamina and helps with weight loss, as dancing can burn more calories an hour than riding a bike or swimming.
Classed as a close and passionate dance, it can strengthen a relationship.
Salsa Northwest: Sundays: Beginners 6.30pm until 7.30pm and Bachata 7.30pm until 10.30pm at Bamber Bridge Catholic Club, Brownedge Road. Classes and social £5. Social dance only £3.
The Lonsdale Club, Fulwood Hall Lane, Fulwood: Mondays 7.30pm until 10.30pm and Thursdays 7.30pm until 10.30pm. Classes and social £5. Social dance only £3.
Sweet Salsa: Wednesdays at Fulwood Tennis Club, Highgate Avenue: 7pm to 7.45pm - Complete Beginner Class; 8pm to 8.45pm - Beginner Class or Improver Class; 9.15pm to 10.pm - Improver Class or Intermediate Class; 10pm to 11pm - Practice. Entry is £5.
Samlesbury War Memorial Hall, Cuerden Lane, Walton-le-dale: 7pm to 7.45pm - Beginner Class; 8pm to 8.45pm - Beginner Class or Improver Class; 9.15pm to 10.pm - Improver Class or Intermediate Class; 10pm to 11pm - Practice. Entry is £5.


US President Barack Obama has announced fresh sanctions against Iran, Syria and those who help them use technology to perpetrate human rights abuses.
He announced the new sanctions against "digital guns for hire" in a speech at the US Holocaust Museum.
Mr Obama has also asked US intelligence groups to include assessments of the likelihood of mass killings in its co-ordinated reports.
He said: "National sovereignty is never a licence to slaughter your people."
The executive order creates sanctions against the government of Syria and Iran "and those who abet them, for using technologies to monitor, target and track its citizens for violence".
"These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them," said Mr Obama.
On Monday, the US Treasury announced the specific targets of the sanctions, including Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Syria's General Security Directorate and its chief Ali Mamluk, as well as the state-controlled mobile phone company, Syriatel.
Six of the seven targets were already subject to US sanctions, with the addition of Datak Telecom, an Iranian internet provider.
Mr Obama signed the executive order for the sanctions on Sunday.
Correspondents say that while mobile and social technology has been credited with helping bring about political and regime changes in other Middle East countries, some regimes have used technology to track dissidents or block internet access.
Iran has provided the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with programs that jam mobile phones.
Social networking sites that the Syrian opposition would use to organise demonstrations have been blocked or monitored using similar technologies.
Before the speech, Mr Obama toured the museum for the first time as president, with writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
The US president lit a candle in the Buchenwald section of the museum's Hall of Remembrance. Mr Obama's great-uncle helped liberate the camp at the end of World War II.


Today: Sunny and windy. High near 80�F (27�C). Wind northeast 20-30 mph (13-19 kmh).
Tonight: Clear and breezy. Low near 60�F (16�C).
Thursday: Mostly sunny. High in the lower 80s (27-29�C).
Friday: Fair. Low around 50-60�F (10-16�C). High in the 70s to near 80s (25-27�C).
Saturday: Partly cloudy. Low near 50�F (10�C). High near 70�F (21�C).


Taking to the stage in his first keynote since resigning from his role as chief executive after 35 years, Oracle CTO Larry Ellison used his keynote to position Oracle’s importance in the cloud market and make fun of competitors.
The company added countless numbers of services to its cloud stack, in hopes to continue to gain market share, despite being seen as late to the game by some industry experts.
The main update was to Oracle’s cloud platform, while additional cloud services include a big data cloud, a mobile cloud, an integration cloud and an analytics cloud.
Ellison said the Oracle cloud platform had been “much updated” with a “complete set of platform services”.
He went on to list competitors – including Ariba, SuccessFactors and Concur (all recently acquired by SAP) – which run on Oracle.
“Salesforce runs on Oracle. SAP Hana powers the cloud? I’m going to try and be nice, but it’s so hard,” he said. “Whose cloud are they talking about? I have no idea what runs and how, but it ain’t their cloud – it runs on Oracle.
“It’s rude, but it’s the truth. It’s kind of funny,” said Ellison, as he attempted to justify that Oracle powers the cloud.


Eleven Saudis who were released from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists are now believed to have fled the country and joined terrorist groups abroad, Saudi officials said Tuesday.
The 11 former detainees include two who were already identified last month as members of a Yemeni terrorist group. Their names were on a list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects made public Tuesday by the Saudi Interior Ministry.
The announcement further underscored the difficulties faced by the Obama administration as it prepares to close the Guantanamo detention center. All told, 14 Saudis now appear to have rejoined terrorist groups after their return from Guantanamo, including the 11 living abroad and three who were rearrested in Saudi Arabia after their return.
Any perceived weaknesses in the Saudi program - widely viewed as a successful model - could pose problems for the return of the remaining Guantanamo detainees. Almost half of those are Yemeni, and their return depends in part on Yemen's creation of a rehabilitation program based on the Saudis'.
It is not clear whether any of the 11 former detainees being sought by Saudi Arabia have taken part in terrorist attacks. Last month, U.S. counterterrorism officials confirmed that Said Ali al-Shihri, a Saudi who was released from Guantanamo in November 2007, had become the deputy leader of the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda, and that he was suspected of being involved in a deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, last year. Shortly afterward, al-Shihri appeared in a propaganda video alongside another former Guantanamo detainee, identified as Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi.
Saudi officials have issued lists of wanted militants before, but the list of 85 - all but two of them Saudi - was the largest so far. As in the past, the authorities appealed for the men to return and turn themselves in.
"They will, of course, be interviewed and investigated and prosecuted for any crimes they may have committed," said Gen. Mansour al-Turki, the chief spokesman of the Interior Ministry. "But by turning themselves in before committing any crime, they will have a better chance to be returned to their families."
Although the Saudi authorities have mounted a fierce campaign against domestic terrorists in recent years, there is strong public sympathy for those who go abroad to fight in Muslim countries believed to be under occupation by foreigners. Accordingly, the government is more careful in dealing with them.
It is not clear why the Saudi authorities chose to identify the 11 former Guantanamo detainees or how long they have known about them. Muhammad bin Nayef, the Saudi minister who oversees the counterterrorism program, traveled to Yemen after the video showing the two Saudi jihadists appeared. Nayef has strong relationships with American and British intelligence officials, and he may have decided that more transparency would be helpful, said Bernard Haykel, a professor at Princeton and an expert on Saudi Arabia.
In addition to releasing the list of 85 terrorism suspects, Saudi officials made a striking accusation: One of the men on it, Abdullah al-Qarawi, is a Saudi who has been operating from Iran for three years.
Al-Qarawi, 35, is believed to be behind some of the terrorist attacks that have taken place in recent years inside Saudi Arabia, said a Saudi security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to discuss the matter in public.
Saudi Arabia and the United States have accused Iran in the past of harboring al Qaeda members, and Iran has denied it. Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the leader of the Muslim world, views Iran's revolutionary Shiite regime with hostility, especially in light of its nuclear ambitions.
The list of 85 suspects also included Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda, which recently announced that it was merging with the Saudi branch. Over the past year or so, the Yemeni group appears to have expanded and brought in a number of Saudis, experts say. Its leaders claim they will use Yemen, which shares a border with Saudi Arabia, as a base to launch ambitious attacks throughout the region, including in Saudi Arabia and East Africa.
Yemen, long viewed as a haven for jihadists, began cooperating with the United States on counterterrorism in 2001, and it has had some notable successes. But its tribal structure, weak state and mountainous terrain have proved to be obstacles. Yemen's unusually flexible policies - in which convicted terrorists are sometimes paroled in exchange for pledges of passivity and help in negotiating with other militants - have also drawn criticism from American officials.


Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition which can be closely linked to metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and high blood levels of triglycerides can together contribute to NAFLD.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can occur at any age. It is most common among people in their 40s and 50s. NAFLD is an umbrella term which is used to describe a range of liver conditions that affect people who drink too much alcohol. The disease is a result of inflammation in the liver, which may progress to scarring and damage that cannot be treated. In severe cases non-alcoholic fatty liver disease can lead to liver failure and liver cirrhosis.
Heavy alcohol drinkers are at high risk of fatty liver disease. NAFLD is a condition which can be closely linked to metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and high blood levels of triglycerides can together contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
If your child is obese or overweight, it may have a negative impact on his or her liver, a new study suggests.
Newborns whose mothers were obese at the start of pregnancy, are twice as likely to develop non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as adolescents.
The most effective way to deal with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is maintain a healthy lifestyle. Ideally, you should eat foods that reduce inflammation and make it easier for your body to use insulin and can help in reversing the condition.
1. Leafy greens: Including leafy greens can prevent fatty liver and also treat it. Studies have shown that including broccoli in your diet can prevent build up of fat in the liver. Other leafy greens like kale, spinach and Brussel sprouts can help in keeping fatty liver at bay.
2. Include the right kind of fats in your diet: Glucose, a kind of sugar, is used by cells for energy. Insulin is a hormone which helps in getting glucose from digested food into cells. People with fatty liver disease are often insulin resistant - a condition in which insulin doesn't work well. Some fats can help in improving insulin sensitivity. These include the good kinds of fats like omega 3 fatty acids (fish, vegetable oil, flaxseeds and walnuts), and monounsaturated fats like avocados, olive oil and nuts. Saturated fats like the ones in deep fried and processed foods must be avoided to prevent fatty liver disease.
3. Garlic: Thanks to it's weight loss and blood pressure reducing properties, garlic can be helpful in preventing fatty liver disease as well. Including garlic in your diet can reduce fat in people with NAFLD.
4. Eat the right kind of carbs: Refined carbs should be avoided. Sugary foods, desserts, aerated drinks, packed fruit juices, sauces, pasta, etc must be avoided to prevent fatty liver. You can opt for more complex or fibre rich carbs like whole wheat, beans and lentils.
5. Green tea: Green tea has antioxidants that can help you lose weight and also keep fatty liver at bay. From promoting weight loss to lowering cholesterol, there are many benefits of green tea that you cannot miss. Read here to know them all.
6. Keep a check on your nutrient intake: Low levels of Vitamin D may result in more severe form of fatty liver disease. Apart from spending around 10 minutes under the sunlight, you can also include dairy products in your diet for some Vitamin D. Low levels of potassium can also lead to NAFLD. Fish like sardine, salmon and cod, banana, sweet potato, and avocado are good sources of potassium.
7. Avoid alcohol: The best way to keep fatty liver at bay is to avoid consumption of alcohol. Alcohol is harmful for the body. Its consumption must be avoided under all circumstances.


KARACHI: Power production increased 10% to hit an all-time high of 13,751 gigawatt hours (GWh) in July with additional production coming mainly from newly-established plants on imported gas and coal.
Power production stood at 12,497 GWh in the same month last year, reported the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).
“(This is) an all-time high power generation during July 2018,” Arif Habib Limited’s analyst Rao Aamir Ali said in a note to clients.
A major boost in production came from the recently setup plants on imported gas (Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas or RLNG) and coal. The new plants have added over 5,000 megawatt hours in the system. The cumulative production, however, did not exhibit the same growth due to plugs being pulled on several oil-based plants at the same time.
Production from imported gas (RLNG or Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas) and the one produced locally surged to 39% (5,416 GWh) in total generation during the month. Production from the two gases stood at 3,660 GWh (26%) in the same month last year, according to Nepra.
“The share of RLNG has increased by 12 percentage points year-on-year to 24.5% in July 2018 compared to 12.1% in July 2017,” the analyst said.
The RLNG-based production grew 6.3% month-on-month (in July). “Pertinently, load factor of the following power plants clocked-in at Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power (Private) Limited: 83%, Haveli Bahadur Shah: 85%, Baloki: 35% and combined load factor was 66%,” he said.
Production from imported coal-fired plants surged to 1,737 GWh (13%) compared to 368 GWh (3%) in the same month of last year, according to Nepra.
At the same time, production from hydel projects remained notably high at 3,892 GWh (or 28%) in the total generation in the month compared to 3,848 GWh (or 31%) in July 2017, as availability of water restored to normal in recent weeks.
On the other hand, production from furnace oil-based plants dropped to 1,284 GWh (or 9.34%) in the total production in the month compared to 3,198.5 GWh (26%) in the same month last year. High speed diesel-based production declined to 11 GWh (0.08%) compared to 336 GWh (3%) in July 2017.
The fuel cost in power generation increased 13.3% on year-on-year basis to Rs5.32/kilowatt hour (kWh) compared to Rs4.69/kWh in July 2017.
“The increase in fuel cost on coal-based generation was on account of 30% increase in coal prices. Whereas, FO-based fuel cost ticked higher amid 73% increase in FO prices,” Ali said.
Breakup suggests the cost of production on furnace oil increased 46% to Rs13.55/kWh, 29% on coal-based generation to Rs6.03/kWh and 15% on RLNG-fired production to Rs9.72/kWh.


Judges at the international criminal court have rejected a request by the court’s top prosecutor to open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, a decision described as a “devastating blow for victims”.
In a lengthy written ruling, judges said any investigation and prosecution was unlikely to be successful because the expectation is that those targeted, including the United States, Afghan authorities and the Taliban, would not cooperate.
The decision could go some way towards easing the tension between the ICC and the Trump administration, which reacted with fury to chief ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request to investigate potential war crimes by US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Last month the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said Washington would revoke or deny visas to ICC staff seeking to investigate alleged war crimes and other abuses committed by US forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere. Bensouda said on 5 April that her US visa had been revoked.
Bensouda’s office implied it was not disappointed with the ruling, saying it would “further analyse the [court’s] decision and its implications, and consider all available legal remedies”.
But the ICC judges concluded that her “request establishes a reasonable basis to consider that crimes within the ICC jurisdiction have been committed in Afghanistan and that potential cases would be admissible before the court”.
Human Rights Watch said the decision was “a devastating blow for victims who have suffered grave crimes without redress”.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “It is outrageous that victims of war crimes are far less likely to get justice for well-documented atrocities because of the Trump administration’s authoritarian efforts to sabotage an investigation before it could even get started.
Katie Taylor, deputy director of the human rights organisation Reprieve, said: “Today’s decision will be a grave disappointment for survivors of war-on-terror era torture who have waited nearly two decades for justice.
“As yet another avenue for accountability closes, we must remember that in July 2018 the UK government pledged to announce within 60 days whether it would launch a judge-led inquiry with scope to investigate these abuses and others like them.


PlaySimple, which calls itself a gaming studio, has a 22 people-strong workforce developing easy-to-learn games for all age groups.
New Delhi: Mobile gaming portal PlaySimple has raised $4 million in a series A round led by SAIF Partners and IDG Ventures India, the company said in a statement.
The Bengaluru-based company—which has two indigenously-developed games in its portfolio—will use the funds to develop new titles, expand its teams and market its brand.
It raised $500,000 in 2015 in seed funding from IDG Ventures.
PlaySimple, which calls itself a gaming studio, has a 22 people-strong workforce developing easy-to-learn games for all age groups. These games have an average session time of 15 minutes and are targeted at the global audience.
The company focuses on categories such as trivia, word and puzzle games and garners its revenue from advertising and in-application purchases.
PlaySimple has achieved break-even and aims to increase sales 10 times by the end of FY18, said co-founder Siddharth Jain. It is targeting English speakers in developed economies in North America and Europe besides Asian countries like Japan, China and Korea.
Typically, all or most of its revenue goes into marketing and meeting working capital requirements.
Started in 2014 by former executives from Zynga, a US-based social gaming company, PlaySimple focused on a global user base and mobile as its sole platform when others at that time were creating desktop-based online games for Indian users, according to Jain.
Playsimple games are designed to be played when one is travelling or waiting. The company is banking on government’s smartphone- and Internet-proliferation initiatives for its growth in India.
According to Jain, out of the $100 billion global games market, the market for mobile games is worth $40 billion.


Hah. We use Konika Minoltas at work. Contract with the printerer company was due for renewal, my Boss and myself looked around for something better than those Minoltas,and found it. Think it was Toshiba, where your print jobs can follow you wherever you are, and a great central console management function.
Until new Minoltas got wheeled into the building... Started to ask what was going on, seemed the CFO renewed the contract without informing IT of that.
More expenses just to get the minoltas to do what we want. Aint life great?


Paris, February 11, 2019: Cyber Group Studios, a leading animated entertainment company, and Outright Games, a global family videogames publisher, today announced a major partnership to create the first video game inspired by Gigantosaurus, the new animated television series airing on Disney Channel US since January 18th. The new video game will be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Based on the bestselling book by world-renowned author Jonny Duddle, Gigantosaurus, the full-CGI comedy-action series produced by Cyber Group Studios, brings preschoolers along on the adventures of four young dinosaur friends as they explore their prehistoric world and the mystery of Gigantosaurus, the biggest, fiercest dinosaur of them all.
The new series that roared to life on Disney Channel US will be broadcast on Disney Junior worldwide (excluding India, China and Taiwan). Gigantosaurus is also set to premiere on major broadcast networks, including France Televisions, Germany's Super RTL, RAI (Italy), SRC (Canada), as well as on Netflix in the majority of territories worldwide.
The Gigantosaurus video game, created by Outright Games in partnership with Cyber Group Studios, will feature the four dinosaur heroes, Rocky, Bill, Tiny and Mazu, in a new action-packed story. Geared towards kids and families, the debut game brings players directly into the world of Gigantosaurus, as they zoom through the stunning series-inspired locations and engage with the storylines.
Established by industry veteran Terry Malham in 2016, Outright Games brings a wealth of experience in creating and publishing high-quality interactive family entertainment, including with licenses such as How to Train Your Dragon, Paw Patrol and Adventure Time.
Terry Malham, CEO of Outright Games, says, "We are thrilled to partner with Cyber Group Studios on this exciting new IP. Their commitment to producing stories that delight and help children across the world grow is second to none. We look forward to combining our expertise in producing high-quality family entertainment to create a fun game for the whole family to enjoy and play together."
Pierre Sissmann, Chairman and CEO of Cyber Group Studios, adds, "Cyber Group Studios is excited to build on the television series and expand the franchise to video games with Outright Games. With their considerable expertise in the family market, we know they will deliver a game that will bring Gigantosaurus to life in a whole new way and further captivate fans around the globe."


The study, published online March 30 in the Early Edition of the journal PNAS, is the first record of disturbance and recovery of seafloor ecosystem biodiversity in response to abrupt climate change.
The work, led by Sarah Moffitt, a scientist from UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, shows that while climate change and the deoxygenation of seawater can alter ocean ecology very quickly, recovery can be on a 1,000-year scale, not the 100-year scale previously thought.
Moffitt analyzed more than 5,400 invertebrate fossils, from sea urchins to clams, within a sediment core from offshore Santa Barbara. The core, essentially a tube of sediment that covers a period between 3,400 and 16,100 years ago, provides a before-and-after snapshot of what happened during the last major deglaciation.
The deglaciation was a time of abrupt climate warming, melting polar ice caps, and expansion of low oxygen zones in the ocean. This new study documents how long it took for recovery of ecosystems to begin, after a dramatic episode of climate change.
Previous studies reconstructing Earth’s climatic history through marine sediments primarily relied upon single-celled organisms called foraminifera, and less so multicellular life, like invertebrates. Moffitt, whose background is in marine ecology, wondered what the invertebrate fossils within the sediments could tell her about the structure of the ocean ecosystem during past periods of climate change.
The history lesson told by the sediment core is one of initially abundant, diverse and well-oxygenated seafloor ecosystems, then a period of warming and oxygen loss in the oceans, followed by a rapid loss of diversity. The fossils nearly disappeared from the record during those times of low oxygen.
The study found that oceanic oxygen levels fell by between 0.5 and 1.5 mL/L over a period of less than 100 years, showing that relatively minor changes in oxygen levels could result in dramatic changes and reorganizations for seafloor communities.
The results suggest that future global climate change may result in similar ecosystem-level effects with millennial-scale recovery periods.
The study’s co-authors include UC Davis professor Tessa Hill from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Bodega Marine Laboratory, Peter Roopnarine, curator of Invertebrate Zoology and Geology from the California Academy of Sciences, and professor James Kennett from UC Santa Barbara Department of Earth Science.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, as well as the UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives, UC Davis REACH IGERT, Mia Tegner Historical Ecology Grant, the EPA STAR Fellowship, and Switzer Environmental Fellowship.
Watch video about this research.


The fast approaching Vancouver Olympics has been deprived of one of its main stars. Alpine racing great Hermann Maier has left the slopes indefinitely, blaming health problems for his decision.
The two-time Olympic champion had his right knee operated on during the off-season and decided not to risk his health and retire with immediate effect.
“I gave it a lot of thought, but decided spontaneously that now is the best time for retirement,” the 36-year-old said at a news conference.
“For me it's very important to be healthy when finishing. After a great career and regarding to all advantages and disadvantages, for me it is absolutely correct to make an end right now. I'm sorry for my stumbling, but it was very emotional, thanks to all, good-bye,” the “Herminator” added.
Apart from winning two Olympic golds in 1998 and silver and bronze in Turin, the legendary Austrian is a three-time world champ and boasts four overall world cup titles in his trophy cabinet.


If the company goes through bankruptcy, there could be a time that you can't access the account. Your account is not an asset of the corporation, but the bankruptcy court may have to issue the official order removing the 401K plan from the bankruptcy. This did occur with one of my previous employers. It has been awhile, and maybe the process has been streamlined.


The study is being published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and constitutes an important and long-awaited platform for continued research. This is a major international collaboration and an entirely academic study, with no funding from drug companies. It’s important for both patients and their physicians to evaluate treatment alternatives, says Britt Skogseid, professor of tumour endocrinology at Uppsala University, who directed the study and has received many favourable reactions to the Swedish initiative from all over the world.
The chance of surviving advanced adrenal gland cancer is low, less than 15 per cent. Because the disease is uncommon, 0.7-2 cases per million, it is impossible for a single country to amass a sufficiently large patient base. In this phase-III study researchers compared the outcome of the two most widely used chemotherapy treatments, both in combination with mitotan.
With 12 countries working in collaboration, a robust study has now been carried out, covering 304 patients with metastasized adrenocortical cancer. The NIH in the US also provided patients for the study. One group was given mitotan in combination with etoposide, doxorubicin and cisplatin every fourth week, while the other group was given mitotan in combination with streptozotocin every third week. In cases of treatment failure, patients were given the alternative treatment.
The results show that the former combination had an effect on the tumour in 23.2 per cent of cases, while the latter combination was effective in 9.2 per cent of cases. The former drug combination also led to a longer period of zero tumour growth. On the other hand, there was no difference in mortality. In most patients the tumour continued to grow, and the survival rate was only 24 per cent at the end of the study.
Until now we physicians have had to deal with this serious disease without being able to lean on the findings of controlled studies. There is still no good treatment, but at least we now have something to relate to, and we have a network of researchers all over the world for future studies, says Britt Skogseid.
For more information, please contact Britt Skogeid, mobile: +46 (0)18 611 37 68, britt.skogseid@medsci.


Late last week, North Carolina Board of Elections voted unanimously to do something with no modern American precedent: board members from both parties ordered a do-over election in the state’s 9th congressional district. The move was deemed necessary in the face of evidence that local Republicans engaged in a systemic and illegal election-fraud scheme, intended to send Mark Harris (R) to Congress.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Harris, tainted by scandal, would be the GOP’s candidate for the next election. Yesterday, the former far-right pastor answered the question: Harris isn’t running.
I’ve heard from some Democrats who saw the announcement as bittersweet: they were glad to see him walk away, but they also hoped he would run in the do-over race because it would likely help Dan McCready (D) win. Harris’ replacement is less likely to have played a role in the local mess.
As recently as Saturday, Rushing had decried the state board of elections’ fraud hearings…. In earlier posts, Rushing seems to suggest that fraud didn’t occur at all, and that NCSBE’s investigation was politically motivated.
Rushing is expected to be part of a multi-candidate primary, the date for which has not yet been set.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans have had very little to say about the local GOP scheme to commit election fraud, though as Vox noted, the Senate’s top Republican weighed in on the subject yesterday.
During a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made a remarkably cynical effort to use election fraud in North Carolina as a political cudgel to attack Democrats.
McConnell tried to pin blame for absentee ballot fraud that allegedly helped Republican Mark Harris narrowly prevail in last November’s election in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District on Democrats, because Democrats don’t support voter ID laws. But what McConnell didn’t acknowledge is that voter ID laws like the one already on the books in North Carolina are powerless to stop the sort of election fraud in question.
Republican silence over the North Carolina scandal has been frustrating, but it’s far preferable to Mitch McConnell trying to blame Democrats in a way that didn’t make any sense.


At the close: Can't stop the FTSE 100 as oil price bounce sends London into the green | City A.M.
It was on the back foot all day, but the FTSE 100 finally landed some punches in the final rounds of the day to power through the 6,400 barrier and close up 0.08 per cent - setting a new 2016 high in the process.
After starting on the ropes following a predictably downbeat open this morning, it looked like talk of the FTSE fightback was premature. But when the sun came out, that feel-good factor returned, sellers changed tact and London's miners basked in the glow, sending the benchmark index up to 6,410 - a small improvement on yesterday's highest close of the year.
In truth, investors have their American cousins to thank for the final hour rally, as US oil stocks came in lower than expected. That sent the price of oil up after plunging this morning on news that the Kuwait oil strike was being drawn to an end.
Brent Crude stood at $44.52 a barrel, up 1.18 per cent, as gold, silver, copper and platinum all continued yesterday's rally.
Miners reached for multi-month highs on the back of the news. Anglo American fought its way to the top spot for a second day running, up 5.25 per cent to 792p - its highest level since August last year.
Rio Tinto climbed 3.88 per cent to 2,423p - the first time it closed north of 2,400p since October. Fresnillo put on 3.1 per cent to hit 1,096 - adding further to gains which leave the commodities giant at its highest valuation since September 2013.


Tarkwa (W/R), Nov 04, GNA- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday called on mining companies operating in the country to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
He said this would boost the country's capitalization and strengthen the economy further to the mutual benefit of the nation and the companies.
"It could also strengthen their partnership with the government to create an even more vibrant mining industry", he said.
President Kufuor made the call when unveiling a plaque to inaugurate an 85 million-dollar Carbon-In-Leach (CIL) processing plant for Goldfields Ghana Limited (GGL) at Tarkwa in the Western Region.
President Kufuor said another area that should engage the attention of the mining companies was human resource development and its utilization in the sector.
He said with the establishment of the Western University College at Tarkwa, the government was progressively equipping and empowering it to become a world-class Centre of Excellence for training professional and technical mining personnel.
In addition, it would also be used for the development of mining-related industries.
President Kufuor said mining companies were therefore, expected to patronize the University and employ some of its graduates. He asked the mining companies to adopt conscious policies to use some of the few local companies that provide management support services for the mining sector to help build their capacity and provide employment opportunities for their staff.
Mr Brendan Walker, Managing Director of the Company said the Board of Directors' commitment to invest further 160 million dollars in the Company was due to Ghana's political stability.
He said this was in addition to a working legislative environment that assisted both foreign and local companies to operate effectively.
Mr Walker said the Company had established a Goldfields Foundation to provide social amenities to the communities within its catchments area.
He said this year the Company would spend 9 billion cedis on social responsibility programmes. Part of the fund would be used to build a ward at the Tarkwa Government Hospital, the oldest Government Hospital in the country.
He said the Company paid dividend in excess of six million dollars (55 Billion Cedis) to the Government.
GGL at Tarkwa had paid dividends totalling four million dollars since the takeover from the State Gold Mining Company in 1993 and its sister Company paid the highest dividends of 2.5 million dollars to the Government in August this year.
Goldfields limited with 71.1 percent shares of GGL, 18.9 percent by IAMGOLD Corporation, a Canadian company and the Ghana Government 10 per cent.
It acquired the Tarkwa underground mine from the State Gold Mining Company on July 1, 1993 for three million US dollars and a commitment to complete a feasibility study on the open cast potential of the leases. A further condition of the deal was that GGL would continue to operate the small, inefficient underground mine for five years but with the establishment of the CIL plant its life span has been increased for the next 20 years.


Turns out the best show on MPT was off camera.
The young upstart breathing life back into the labor movement is 61, the age at which his nemeses in management are pushed into retirement.
BankAmerica and NationsBank decided not to merge because they are complementary and could not lay off enough workers to justify the exercise.
That Commie Fidel looked around a hostile New York for friends and found the Fortune 500.


LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman denied Wednesday that he had any idea that his money would be used for a campaign that spread disinformation during last year’s special election for the Alabama Senate seat.
Hoffman was linked to the campaign, which used fake news in order to try to split Roy Moore’s support, by the New York Times last week in an extensive look at New Knowledge, a cyber security firm that created fake Facebook accounts to divide Republicans by endorsing a write-in candidate.
Hoffman said he didn’t directly fund New Knowledge, but rather an organization called American Engagement Technologies, which aimed to fight fake news and bots. American Engagement Technologies, then, funded New Knowledge.
“I categorically disavow the use of misinformation to sway an election,” Hoffman wrote on Medium.
Over the weekend, Facebook shut down five accounts linked to the project.
“We've recently removed five accounts run by multiple individuals for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook around the Alabama special election, and our investigation is ongoing. We take a strong stand against people or organizations that create networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are or what they’re doing,” a Facebook spokesperson confirmed to the Daily News.
Democrat Doug Jones, who narrowly defeated Moore, said he was “outraged” by the campaign and called for the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department to investigate.
“We have focused so much on Russia that we haven’t focused on the fact that people in this country could take the same playbook and do the same damn thing,” he told the Times.
Hoffman backed Jones’ call for an investigation.
“We cannot permit dishonest campaign tactics to go unchecked in our democracy — no matter which side they purportedly help,” he wrote.
Moore, who faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct leading up to the election, lost the race by about 20,000 votes.


When Rob Kutner and Mike Shapiro set out to create the pilot "Family Values," they had a vision for a family sitcom that would resonate in today's polarized political climate.
The pilot stars "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" correspondent Rob Riggle as an ultra-conservative pundit whose life is turned upside down when his wife leaves him and he is forced to raise his children on his own with the help of a left-leaning single mother who lives next door. Kutner ("Daily Show," "Dennis Miller Live") wrote the pilot, but he wasn't sure the series would emerge with his original vision intact if it went the traditional route for TV production.
Enter the New York Television Festival, the third annual celebration of the burgeoning independent TV scene, where "Values" will be screened in front of networks, producers and agents who could give it a shot. "Values" is one of 28 independently produced pilots that will compete for prizes and the chance to be picked up by networks and studios during the four-day festival, which starts Wednesday and runs through Sept. 9 at New World Stages in New York.
"The festival is just a few years old but it's a very unique opportunity," said Shapiro, who directed "Values." "We're both familiar with the independent-filmmaking model of production and we applied that to the idea of 'Family Values.'"
Giving a boost to a new generation of TV producers, much the way the Sundance Film Festival has given a leg up to those on the movie side, is just what Terence Gray had in mind when he created the festival in 2005. The event, which started modestly with backing from such agencies as WMA and CAA as well as such networks as NBC and Fox, has grown to the point where it's a destination of choice for the hundreds of people for whom the digital revolution has put within reach the creation of their own TV series.
Selling those shows, especially if you're just starting out and have no connections in Hollywood, isn't so easy — something that Gray, a TV writer and producer himself, knew all too well.
"There was a real need in Hollywood and the movie landscape to bring back great storytelling, and they (Sundance) along with other festivals were able to achieve that," Gray said. "It's our hope to introduce a number of new ideas and storytellers and producers to the industry and infuse a great deal of creativity."
The festival follows a dual track, uniting up-and-coming writer-producers, agents and networks while at the same time celebrating the best of TV. Beyond screenings of the indie pilots in competition, the networks will unveil some of the season's highly anticipated new series including ABC's "Pushing Daisies," NBC's "Chuck" and Fox's "New Amsterdam" (filmed in New York). The producers and stars of the series will be on hand to answer questions afterward.
But the main point of the festival is to bolster independent TV, and launch the careers of the next generation of TV writer-producers. There have been three success stories so far. A sitcom titled "Split the Difference" won two awards last year and was bought by NBC Universal Television Studios. A&E picked up for development "Criss-Cross" during the festival's first year, while reality program "Off the Hook" appeared on Comcast-owned cable channel Versus.
Twenty-eight pilots were selected among 2,000 submissions this year; another 180 minipilots are being considered for a special Microsoft Xbox Live competition for the next big thing in gaming. The finalists — a wide-ranging field of sitcoms, dramas and reality series, mostly from New York but also hailing from Boston, Orlando and as far away as Bangalore, India, and New South Wales, Australia — will be screened at the festival and shown on the Web beginning this week thanks to co-sponsor MSN.
Jon Rosen, an East Coast TV agent at WMA, has been involved with the NYTVF since the beginning. He believes it has grown into a viable place to do business.
"The product that came out of the festival was very good," Rosen said. "We started to sell some of those projects to cable and network executives and it immediately became legitimate for networks to look for the new talent in our business, the emerging talent, here."
CAA's Adam Berkowitz, who also has been involved from the start, agreed. He is passionately committed to bringing new creative voices to the screen, and said the NYTVF helps to do that.
"It means a lot to be involved with helping to bring young raw talent to people's eyes who can help them get where they deserve to be," Berkowitz said. "It's so hard for people to succeed without credits. This is a forum that gets people's attention."
It has certainly been the case for Mary Egan Callahan and Joe Narciso, who produced "Split." The first-time producers — Callahan was a longtime casting director and Narciso a writer and commercial actor — have found themselves in demand, with each producing another pilot as well as being involved in other projects.
"The festival was invaluable," Narciso said. "It's really opened doors for both of us as a team and individually."
Callahan heard about the festival last year and pushed hard for "Split," which like "Values" was filmed in New York, to be included. This year he and Narciso served as mentors for friends who saw their success and wanted to try, too. Eight of their friends submitted pilots and six made the cut.
New at the festival this year is a mentor program, where four aspiring writer-producers will be paired with one of four accomplished industry veterans — "Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz, "Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal, "Oz" creator Tom Fontana and top reality producer Michael Davies — who will work with them for the next year on their projects and help them along.
"It's a phenomenal opportunity for young talent to work with such successful people," CAA's Berkowitz said.
Also new this year is the involvement of Procter & Gamble Prods., which picked three sketch comedy troupes from across the country and will record a pilot for the P&G Productions Players at this year's festival. Brian Cahill, who heads P&G Prods.' agency Televest, said the comedy troupes are part of an initiative to broaden its base beyond soap operas like "As The World Turns" and "Guiding Light" and "The People's Choice Awards." And pairing it with the festival, he said, is a great way to keep TV production vital in New York.
Even as this year's festival gets under way, organizers are looking to the future. Not only is it getting easier and cheaper to create TV, but the festival isn't just about TV. Co-sponsor MSN is one of a number of companies looking to the festival as a way to find new talent for original Web series, mobisodes and other platforms. Beyond MSN's $10,000 award that will be handed out at the festival, Reed Price, editor-in-chief of MSN Entertainment and Video, said it's a valuable opportunity for the company to help discover what's the next big thing in broadband.
"It's definitely crossing over," WMA's Rosen said.
For Kutner and Shapiro, they hope the festival will help them launch the pilot in what promises to be a good year for a smart, timely comedy mostly about family, but with some politics thrown in with the presidential elections just around the corner.
"The festival is a phenomenal way to do that (be seen). … It's a one-of-a-kind opportunity for new producers of television like Rob and me to have an idea, let it bloom in full form and have an audience," Shapiro said.


The 54-year-old labourer from St. Paul’s Bay who is not being named to protect the identities of his alleged victims appeared before magistrate Charmaine Galea this afternoon.
Inspector Josef Gauci accused the man of slightly injuring his partner, using psychological or moral violence to isolate her or limit her access to finance, carrying a knife without a police permit, insulting and threatening five police officers, attacking them, disobeying legitimate police orders, using obscene language in public, breaching the peace, taking up arms against other people and insulting or threatening his 13-year-old daughter. He was also accused of relapsing.
The inspector explained that he had threatened to kill his partner and had beaten her in the past. He then threatened the police whilst in a drunken state.
Lawyer Joseph Ellis, legal aid, entered a not guilty plea and requested bail. The accused was concerned about the welfare of his dogs, the court was told. He would live in separate accommodation to his estranged family, Ellis said.
But inspector Gauci pointed out that the man had said during interrogation that if he’s let free he would do something crazy.
Bail was denied in view of the serious nature of the accusations and due to the man’s utterances during questioning. A provisional protection order was issued for the woman and the accused’s daughter.
“You are going to be remanded in custody until she testifies,” explained the court, telling the prosecution to bring all its witnesses as soon as possible.


District boundaries: All of Brevard and Indian River counties, as well as part of east Orange County.
More: Posey: Democratic opponent a "puppet of Nancy Pelosi"
Political/government/civic experience: While I’m not a career politician, I have become involved in local politics over the last few years to restore balance to our community and our country. I was elected as a delegate from our district to the Democratic National Convention in 2016 and was then elected state committeeman of the Brevard Democratic Party. In that role, I helped to lead, reform and rebuild the BrevardDems as a vibrant, active, participatory organization that is reflective of the values of local people. I have also worked on several grass-roots campaigns to elect candidates to local office, to support the Save Our Lagoon referendum, to raise funds for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and to protect the water at Standing Rock.
What should Congress do to help in the efforts to clean up the Indian River Lagoon?
The Indian River Lagoon is the center of our economy and way of life. Congress must protect and enforce the Clean Water Act, support Brevard’s Save Our Lagoon Plan with matching funds, expand the National Estuary Program, and increase research into the algal blooms plaguing our lagoon and Florida’s coastline.
How would you proceed on immigration reform?
Comprehensive immigration reform should protect America and honor what it means to be American. From the treatment of Dreamers to family separations, our immigration system is out of step with our values. Let’s build safe pathways to legal status for asylum-seekers and the immigrants on whom our economy relies.
What specific changes would you make in the federal health care policies?
We must make health care a right for every American by supporting Medicare for All. This is sound health-care policy, but also makes sense on economic grounds. Switching to a single-payer model increases efficiency and lowers costs by reducing overhead and improving our ability to negotiate drug prices.
Political/government/civic experience: Kiwanis Club (president and Legion of Honor); School Academic and Vocational Committees; Quarterback Club (12th Man Award); Civic Association president; Civilian-Military Relations Council; American Cancer Society (director); Methodist Church trustee; youth fellowship leader; Miss Softball and Little League (coach); financial sponsor of more than 100 teams, leagues or other youth programs.
In short, stop putting bad stuff into our lagoon and remove bad stuff already there. A holistic approach between local, state and federal governments, which I have been an active partner, is needed. As co-chair of the Congressional Estuary Caucus, I will continue to ensure Congress is part of the solution.
We must achieve operational control over our southern border. Eliminate the visa lottery. Eliminate chain immigration. Mandate E-verify to make sure guest workers go home afterward. Those already here illegally can apply for renewable permits (if no crimes and no welfare) while they get in line for citizenship.
Increase real competition. I have voted to repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which allows insurance companies to avoid antitrust laws. Also voted to allow insurance companies to write policies across state lines, so they don’t need the added non-value expense of having legions of lawyers and lobbyists in every state.


Managing the files on our computers is relatively easy, but on our phones it’s a little different due to the difference in design of the OS and the way we interact with our devices, which is why file manager apps can come in handy. Last month Google announced Files Go, a file manager app for Android, and the good news is that the app is now available for download.
In an announcement by Google on its blog, they have announced that Files Go is now available to all users on Android. Prior to that, Google released the app in beta mode which meant that it wasn’t available to all users, plus there are probably some users out there who might not be so keen to beta test software.
Files Go, for those unfamiliar, isn’t just a files manager app. The app will help users manage their files, but it will also help them to free up space in which the app can make personalized suggestions as to what users can delete to free up space, like duplicates, unused apps, and so on.
It can also help users to backup their files to the cloud using services like Google Drive, and it can also allow users to transfer files to another user in person without it consuming mobile data. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, head on over to the Google Play Store for the download.
Filed in Cellphones. Read more about Android, Apps and Google.


MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) - Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort is preparing to welcoming training squadron VMFAT-501 in support of the installation’s yet-to-arrive F-35B Joint Strike Fighter jets.
Spokesman Capt. Jordan Cochran says Friday’s event is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the air station.
The unit is making a transition from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where it was activated in April 2010 to prepare infrastructure improvements and training needed for the advanced jet program.
The Pentagon has grounded the entire F-35 fleet following a June 23 fire that severely damaged a Lockheed Martin F-35 at Eglin. The Marine Corps is preparing to fly one of the three variants of the new aircraft. Others are designed for the Air Force and Navy.
The jets are to arrive some time later this year.


US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman expressed concern Tuesday over Italy's continued business relations with Iran, saying he hoped Rome would support further sanctions against the country. However, relations between Italy and the United States will remain sound no matter how international efforts to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment turn out, he said. "Even though we'd be concerned by commercial relations between Italy and Iran, we will remain friends whatever the outcome," Bodman told a news conference in Rome after meeting with Italian Industry Minister Pierluigi Bersani.


In early February, Bruce Katz touted his vision for America’s next economy, chiefly driven by an increase in exports. Fueling innovation and building on an emerging green economy are also tenets of the plan, which can help the country maintain prosperity in a global economy.
It is great to be in California with a group of individuals who are at the cutting edge of economic transformation, our topic for the day.
The “Great Recession” has been a wake up call for the nation.
It unveiled an economy dangerously out of whack: frenzied with consumption, wasteful in its use of energy, more adept at increasing inequity than sharing prosperity, more successful at exacerbating rather than easing divisions between Wall Street and Main Street.
It is time to get back on track and lay the foundation for a radically different kind of growth in our country.
First, as Larry Summers and other respected economists have intoned, the shape of the next American economy must be export-oriented, low carbon, and innovation fueled. This is a vision where we export more and waste less, innovate in what matters, produce and deploy more of what we invent. This is the kind of productive and sustainable economy which must emerge from the rubble of this recession.
Second, the next economy will be led by metropolitan areas. They are the hubs of trade, commerce, and migration and the centers for talent, capital, and innovation. They contain the infrastructure to move people, goods, ideas, and energy efficiently and the institutions to educate and train the workforce of the future. Metropolitan areas are the engines of national prosperity.
Finally, to build the next economy, the United States must connect the macro vision to metro reality, the macro to the metro. We need to leverage the market energy and creativity found in our metros with smart, game-changing federal and state actions. And we need a full court press on delivering an educated and skilled workforce, which can drive the next economy and must benefit from it. The next economy must be opportunity rich as well as export oriented, low carbon, and innovation fueled.
All this will not be easy.
We compete in a fiercely competitive world where established nations like Germany and rising nations like China, India, and Brazil are moving forward. These and other countries are making seismic and ultimately transformative investments in renewable energy, in modern ports, in high speed rail, in metropolitan transit.
And America? We seem stuck in political polarization and hyper-partisanship.
Our challenge is to convert the dynamism in this metropolis… and others like it… into solutions that are pragmatic, far reaching and critical to this moment. We must move as quickly as possible to change the mental map of our nation from a constitutional union of 50 states to an economic network of highly connected, hyper-linked, and seamlessly integrated metropolitan areas.
The most important action we take in the aftermath of this recession is to build for the future. The stakes could not be higher.


A MYSTERY buyer has become the Lord of Bowland after snapping up the title at auction.
The new Lord of the Ribble Valley area gets a range of ancient rights.
But sadly, the Lord of Bowland does not receive the hunting forest, eight manors, five townships and four parishes that used to be include with the honour.
However the Manorial Society, which represents Britain's 1,900 lords of the manor and feudal barons, has revealed the 'lost' title has been revived.
It is not known how much the title sold for, but on average cost several thousand pounds.
Though anonymous for the time being, the new lord may reveal his identity to use his role ceremonially.
He is said to be in his forties, British and from a family connected with the area.
With the title, he has been granted the rights to appoint a Master Forester and Bowbearers. Bowbearers at one time accompanied the King on hunts but later officiated in the Lord's forest court.
However, the ancient court in Bowland is today known as the Inn at Whitewell.
The gastro-pub's landlord Charles Bowman said the news was a complete surprise: "I've never heard of the title, though I knew the Inn was an ancient court and that the Master Forester lived here in the 1400s.
"If the lord wants to visit, he will be made extremely welcome! The history of the area and the inn isn't very well known, however that might change with the Lord of Bowland."
Experts, as well as the Townley family themselves, had previously thought the lordship belonged to the crown.
In 1938, the Duchy of Lancaster acquired 6,000 acres of the Forest of Bowland, now known as the Whitewell Estate which would have made the Queen the present Lord of Bowland.
However the 1938 purchase specifically excluded the Lordship of Bowland itself, which been retained by an extinct Towneley family trust.
Last year, Charles Towneley, the fourth Lord O'Hagan, stepped forward to claim the title which has now been sold on.


Washington: The fight against international terrorism cannot be successful by doing deals with terror groups for short term gains, India has said, as it asked for a comprehensive global movement against the menace.
“You cannot have a fight against international terrorism which is compartmentalised. The snakes that bite us wherever come from the same pit," Indian ambassador to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri told CNN, wherein he along with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts to the world body had a rare combined appearance on a TV show.
“You cannot do Faustian deals with terrorist groups, so I think you need a comprehensive international movement against the terrorists, and I hope that all of us who are involved in this will carry this fight through until the end so that all of us are victors in this," Puri argued.
Pakistani Ambassador to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon along with the Afghan ambassador to the world body, Zahir Tanin were present on the occasion.
Responding to a question, Puri said that there is no suggestion ever that a diversion of Pakistani military assets from one border to the other to fight the people who really need to be fought would result in any Indian adventurism.
“I don’t think that’s the kind of ambience that we are presently in," he said, when asked about the apprehensions expressed by Pakistan in this regard.
Observing that India is for a joint fight against terrorism, Puri said: “All that we would like to see if all of us taking the actions required against the perpetrators of these crimes."
Responding to the same question, the Pakistani Ambassador, Haroon, said: “I think that the Indian Ambassador is absolutely right. For quite a while now, we are aware that India is not—at one stage, there were a few exercises taking place. We sort of merely asked-is this something more than that?, and they moved away."
“I think there is a very definite indication that there is no hostility meant. And I think the meetings between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani, and now one that will happen most probably in the Commonwealth conference, is indicative of the fact that they are talking to each other and they had many offers of senior ranks for talking to each other, as well," he said.
The Afghan ambassador Tanin said that Kabul, Islamabad and New Delhi, now all share the same goal on terrorism.
“What is happening, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, they share one goal, how to fight terrorism, how to have a stable region. We also are facing a shared common challenge that is terrorism and extremism, as you say it. And we know that, three of us. We work here together. And I’m sure that is the same understanding amongst all the leaders in Kabul, Islamabad and Delhi," he said.


The Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation has offered "strong support" for a bill that will help local farmers by transferring oversight of meat and poultry slaughtering facilities from the state Department of Public Health to the Department of Agricultural Resources.
The bill, which was filed in February by state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, was discussed Thursday before the Joint Committee of Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture.
More than 90 years old, the bureau has 6,200 members from 3,500 farms.
As the demand for poultry and red meat grows, Brad Mitchell, director of government affairs for the Marlborough-based bureau, said it is "difficult for growers to take advantage of this market because of a shortage of slaughter and processing facilities" in the state.
In a statement to the joint committee, the bureau wrote there are just two U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved red meat slaughter facilities in the Bay State and no such facilities for slaughtering poultry.
The shortage of slaughter facilities makes transporting animals across the state or to other sites so costly it cuts into profits and makes it harder to produce certain cuts of meat, particularly for high-end markets.
While the DPH does a good job ensuring meat is safe, the bureau believes it has imposed "regulatory barriers" to creating more meat processing facilities.
Mitchell said the Department of Agricultural Resources has a "long and successful history" of working with farmers and assisting their economic development.
He said four New England states have adopted similar legislation, including Maine where the number of slaughterhouses doubled within a few years.
Mitchell said, "We need to tailor some of the rules so small farms can prosper."


A police officer stands guard at a crime scene where two men were found hanging from a bridge in Atizapan de Zaragoza, near Mexico City, March 30, 2013.
Bodies were found hanging from bridges in Baja California Sur several days before Christmas, along with banners known as "narcomantas."
Such displays were common during previous times of inter-cartel fighting, but it's the first time one has appeared in Baja California Sur.
Violence has risen precipitously through Mexico over the past three years.
During the early morning hours of December 20, the bodies of six men were found hanging from bridges in the northwestern Mexican state of Baja California Sur, a popular tourist hub where deadly violence has risen precipitously in recent years.
Around 4:30 a.m., two bodies were found hanging from a bridge near the international airport in the municipality of Los Cabos, at the southern end of the state. Around 5 a.m., two more bodies were found in Cabo San Lucas, hanging from a bridge over a highway connecting that city to San Jose del Cabo.
Around 6 a.m., another two bodies were found hanging from a highway bridge near the international airport in the capital, La Paz, which is north of Los Cabos.
There has been a sharp increase in violence - much of it attributed to fighting between organized-crime groups - in Baja California Sur over the past three years.
The 650 homicide victims in the state between January and November this year was a 223% increase and a 284% increase over the same periods in 2016 and 2015, respectively.
But the December 20 incidents were reportedly the first time bodies had been found hung from bridges in the state.
Narcomantas - public announcements by criminals that often accompany corpses - were left with the bodies.
They were attributed to the "Guzmanes y Tegoripeños" gang, and one reportedly said, in part, "This is what will happen to anyone who does not fall into line with us. It has been made more than clear that we hold all the power and that Baja north and south are ours."
Several such signs have been attributed to the gang over the past two months, threatening government officials and boasting of "a cleansing" in the area.
A sign attributed to the group also appeared in the days after Baja California Sur's human-rights ombudsman and his son were gunned down in late November.
The gang's name appears to refer to Tegoripa, a small town in Sinaloa state's Badiraguato municipality, which is where Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was born. Guzman's surname appears to be the basis for the other half of the gang's name.
Bodies hung from bridges or other structures with narcomantas appeared frequently elsewhere in Mexico during the major cartel clashes of the 2000s and early 2010s.
Several such displays were found around Tijuana in late 2016, and a body was hung from a bridge in nearby Nayarit state a few days before the incident in Baja California Sur, part of a wave of killings in the state suspected of being organized-crime related. Narcomantas were found at the scene of several of those crimes, including at the bridge.
A man walks by a banner hung by suspected hit men from the Zetas gang at a pedestrian bridge in Monterrey, November 6, 2010. The banner, mainly in slang, celebrates the death of a leader of the Gulf cartel, a Zetas rival.
Tourist hubs like Los Cabos have long avoided the kind of bloodshed seen elsewhere in the country during the last decade of its drug war.
But those areas have seen increasing violence in recent months.
Amid the dizzying increase in homicides through Baja California, the Los Cabos municipality, home to Cabo San Lucas, has also seen a spike: from 49 homicide cases (which can contain more than one victim) through all of 2016 to 286 through the first 11 months of this year - a 483% increase.
Mexican soldiers inside Plaza Las Americas mall following reports of gunfire in Cancun, Mexico, January 17, 2017.
As of the end of the summer, increasing violence in those places, which has largely taken place outside tourist areas, hadn't appreciably affected tourist activity (though feelings of insecurity among residents have risen).
From June to August, Los Cabos saw a 6% increase in hotel occupancy compared to the previous year, as well as a 17% increase in passenger arrivals during the first nine months of the year.
Nevertheless, violence in those tourist areas did prompt the US State Department to issue a travel warning for Baja California Sur at the end of August. Quintana Roo, home to Cancun and Play del Carmen, was also included.
Many areas of Mexican have been listed for some time, but the August notice was the first time those two states had been included.
At the time, Mexican officials admitted there were areas of concern in the country, but they also said the timing of the notice could have been a sign of political maneuvers by Washington in relation to ongoing NAFTA talks.


Tim Costello and Brigid Beaubien opened 8 Degrees Plato Beer in Detroit after finishing the Goldman Sachs small business program.
Small businesses interested in applying for the Goldman Sachs program can do so here.
Tim Costello lost his day job like thousands of others in 2008, and his side job as a stand-up comedian wasn’t going well. Knowing how much he and his wife loved beer, the couple hatched a plan.
Costello would complete his entrepreneurship degree program at Eastern Michigan University and then he and his wife, Brigid Beaubien, a former Detroit Public Schools teacher and professor at EMU, would open their own craft beer store.
In 2011, their dream came true. They opened 8 Degrees Plato Beer Co. in Ferndale and eventually hired two part-time employees. Business wasn’t bad; so they wanted to grow and open a store in Detroit.
That’s when Costello and Beaubien applied for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative, one many programs in the state helping second-stage entrepreneurs expand their businesses.
In Southeast Michigan, governmental organizations, such as the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Small Business Administration and Michigan Works! agencies; venture capital firms like the Detroit Development Fund and Invest Detroit; business accelerators, such as Automation Alley, TechTown Detroit and Spark; nonprofits like the Kresge Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; as well as colleges and universities all are working toward the success of small businesses.
“Every company starts as a small business and then takes off, and 60-80 percent of jobs come from small businesses,” said Anthony Racka, professor of business administration at Oakland Community College. “Goldman Sachs is making a commitment through the philanthropic arm to help 10,000 businesses across American because they realize that’s where the jobs are created.
Launched in 2014, Goldman Sachs committed $500 million to 16 small business programs across the country; of that, $20 million was dedicated to a five-year program in the Detroit area.
A consortium of schools, including Oakland Community College, Macomb Community College, Wayne State University and Babson College in Massachusetts, operates the program for stage-two businesses poised for growth that have revenue of more than $100,000, have been in business for two years and have at least two employees. Business owners are united for 11 full-day sessions and four three-hour clinics over four months.
“I have seats for 40 businesses and run three cohorts a year,” said Camille Walker Banks, executive director of Detroit’s 10,000 Small Businesses initiative, which has so far served 250 businesses. “The beauty of the program is the diversity of size, community, age of the business owner and age of the business,” she said, also noting the gender and racial diversity of the business owners, who come from across Michigan.
The instructor is a facilitator, allowing participants to receive peer-to-peer instruction.
“That’s really where the magic happens. The business owner gets the opportunity to think strategically about challenges and triumphs, and they can be free and open because they aren’t sitting in the room with a bunch of competitors,” Walker Banks said.
The training is practical, Walker Banks said, allowing entrepreneurs to take what they learn on Friday, implement it on Monday and see results. Participants gain access to business support, resources and capital partners, such as Detroit Development Fund and Invest Detroit, and learn about various funding resources and establish relationships with people who run those resources.
Most importantly, though, is the confidence the business owners gain. “The economic downturn really did a job on the psyche of business owners, but we turn that around and focus on the positive,” she said. The first two sessions are focused on empowerment.
For two consecutive years, the Southeast Michigan program, held at Wayne State University, has had the highest percentage of business owners in the country increasing revenue and adding jobs within the first six months of graduating, Walker Banks said.
As a result, 82 percent of the business owners either start doing business with or buying products from one another, Walker Banks said.
By the time Costello and Beaubien completed Goldman Sachs program in 2015, they had opened 8 Degrees Plato Beer in Detroit.
The beer company now employs four full-time people and 11 to 16 part-timers. “We really thought through if this is our end product, what are the systems we need to have in place? How are we going to hire people that reflect our business values?


Halloumi is a firm, white, brined cheese traditionally made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk. (Though today, cow’s milk is often used.) Like other low-fat cheeses, it is perfect for grilling. It sears and colors quickly when it hits the hot grill. The interior softens, but the cheese doesn’t melt; it just warms up invitingly.
Featured in: Grilled Halloumi For A Light Summer Meal.
Prepare a hot grill. Cut halloumi into 8 to 12 slabs, about 1/3- to 1/2-inch thick. Cut peppers into wide pieces, slicing from top to bottom along the natural indentations. Discard seeds. Cut pieces in half crosswise. Slice the zucchini and eggplant on the diagonal, into 1/4- to 1/3-inch-thick rounds.
Season all vegetables with salt and pepper. Brush vegetables and halloumi with olive oil.
Grill vegetables until tender and nicely charred, turning occasionally. If you'd like, use an outdoor grill pan to keep them from slipping through the grate. Scallions will be ready after 3 to 4 minutes. Peppers, zucchini and eggplant take about 10 minutes. Arrange on a platter.
Grill halloumi, turning occasionally, for 2 to 6 minutes, until grill marks appear. When you press on the cheese, it should give but it should not be runny.
Remove cheese to the platter with vegetables and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle cheese and vegetables with herbs and sumac, if you'd like, and serve.
You can make this inside using a ridged grill pan. The vegetables will require more cooking time.


UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- After the Ukraine meeting of the UN Security Council on April 13, Inner City Press asked Ukraine's long-time Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev about the reported visit to Kyiv of US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Brennan.
Sergeyev replied, "It happened only in some comments from Moscow." Video here.
Well, not anymore. At the US State Department briefing on April 14, spokesperson Jen Psaki confirmed that CIA's Brennan was in "Kiev this weekend." She also said that Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Ukraine's acting prime minister Yatsenyuk earlier in April 14 that there was not yet any read-out.
Also on April 14 Oleksandr Turchynov, acting president of Ukraine, in a telephone call with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, suggested a joint "counter-terrorism" operation in Eastern Ukraine with UN peacekeepers.
This and much reporting on it ignored that all UN peacekeeping operations require authorization from the Security Council, in which Russia (and China) have veto rights.
Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric to confirm Turchynov's peacekeeping suggestion -- Dujarric declined -- and whether any deployment would require a UN Security Council vote. On the latter, Dujarric said yes, such a vote would be required.
Turchynov's suggestion and most of the reporting on it also ignored how the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has lost any semblance of impartiality under Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head DPKO.
On the latter Sergeyev pulled out a sheet of paper from the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and cited 4000 displaced people, using the word genocide. As the last question, Inner City Press asked about the CIA's John Brennan. "It happened only in some comments from Moscow," Sergeyev said. And then he was gone, less than two hours before the deadline. Video here. Watch this site.


Valley Stream South 73, Freeport 64: Corey Powell scored 19 points to lead Valley Stream South (6-2) in the Hempstead Invitational played at Hempstead High School. Emil Williams added 18 points. Elijah Johnson tallied 11 points and 13 rebounds. Tailique Jackson recorded 24 points for Freeport.


Canada offers almost every conceivable type of vacation tour to fit a traveler’s budget, whether it’s hiking in British Columbia, indulging in the nightlife of Montreal, taking historic walking tours of Toronto or savoring the grandeur of Niagara Falls. Transportation options for rental cars, train travel or coach tours are plentiful and are conceived for the cost-conscious tourist. U.S. citizens are now required to have a passport or passport card for entering or leaving Canada.
Coach tours and guided walking tours are available on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Visitors can also drive their cars to the natural attraction and enjoy the Maid of the Mist boat ride and visit the Cave of the Winds. Before planning a trip to Niagara Falls in the winter, visitors should determine whether these tours are operating. However, a skating rink, Rink at the Brink near Horseshoe Falls, is open during the winter. Many hotels, like the Hilton and Marriott and Embassy Suites, offer special-rate packages throughout the year.
Some tour companies, such as PersonalTours, offer guided walking tours of historic sites in Toronto, Ontario. Toronto was originally named York, after Fort York. Toronto's Fort York today is a museum and a Canada National Historic Site. The venue features historic buildings, including blockhouses, gunpowder magazine storage houses and officers' and enlisted men’s quarters. Buildings throughout Toronto, including Osgoode Hall, an 1832 office building for Toronto’s Law Society and the city’s first post office, also are on featured on tours.
Perhaps the most efficient and economical way to see the great expanse of Canada is to take a train tour. Tours range from two to 22 days on such iconic Canadian railway services as VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer. Dozens of tour packages are available. Prices vary, but as of 2010 a five-day, four-night train tour of the Rocky Mountains starts at about $1,500 for two people. Prices can climb to nearly $3,000 per couple depending on the region, railway and length of tour. Some tours also include off-rail side trips on a luxury motor coach with driver and guide.
Luxury bus or coach tours are available from virtually every Canadian urban center to many of the country’s most beautiful lakes, mountains and remote towns. Bus tours, for example, as of 2010 average about $880 for two people for a five-day, four-night trip from Edmonton to Calgary through the Rocky Mountains. Packages can include partial rail travel, self-drive side trips and additional hotel nights at an extra charge. Some companies, such as Brewster's Canadian Coach Tours, allow tourists to design their own budget, itinerary and schedule.
Wagner, Rob. "Canadian Tours." Travel Tips - USA Today, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/canadian-tours-1088.html. Accessed 21 April 2019.


Service oriented architecture is a principle that allows businesses to manage their IT and business transformation in order to give themselves a competitive edge. It offers benefits including insight into the running of the entire business, seamless integration of systems and the cloud, and linking of front and back office systems.
However it’s defined, a key principle of SOA is that it should be independent of products, vendors and technologies. Each service is a discrete unit that can operate independently, but uses metadata to describe how it handles and exchanges information. The idea behind this is that a number of services can be combined together to form a larger, more complex application. SOA therefore needs to be built into the design to ensure that all of the service modules will work together.
First defined by Sun in the late 1990s to define a service (Jini) for discovering services over a network, SOA id still a relatively new concept.
In 2009 a group of industry experts published an SOA Manifesto which sets out its guiding principles and core values. In implementing SOA this specifies that enterprises should prioritise: business value over technical strategy, strategic goals over project-specific benefits, intrinsic interoperability over custom integration, shared services over specific-purpose implementations, flexibility over optimisation and evolutionary refinement over the pursuit of initial perfection.
The manifesto is, to date, the closest to an industry standard for SOA, though it doesn’t set out exactly what an SOA should look like. In most practical applications there are a number of layers which make up the SOA framework. These include consumer interfaces, business processes, services and operational components.
Because service oriented architecture splits functions into individual service units, these need to be made available over a network so that they’re accessible to users and can be combined to make up applications. This has much in common with other modular and object oriented development architectures where elements are separate and interchangeable, and with distributed computing architectures.
However, where these concentrate on the program code, SOA involves the delivery of the service and the business goals that it supports. A service is a building block that performs a particular task, it’s inner workings though are hidden from the outside, but it presents a straightforward interface to allow it to work with other services and the wider system.
This of course requires a common set of standards to be in use. Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is commonly used to describe services themselves. In addition Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is used to define the communications protocols used to exchange information between them.
Because it’s heavily dependent on metadata, SOA needs this to be tightly defined too. The metadata needs to allow services to be defined and discovered and also maintain their integrity. It also needs to be in a format that can be easily managed by designers and developers.
Perhaps the most widely implemented example of SOA right now is in web services. These are the systems to allow machines to operate together over a network. They provide a common approach for publishing and using services over a local network or the internet. This is usually implemented using APIs to allow the various services to talk to each other.
This also satisfies software orient architecture’s principle of independence, as web services are designed to work together even if they’re running on a range of different software platforms and varied hardware architectures. The Java programming language is often used for web services due to its platform independence.
This has much in common with what is commonly called Web 2.0, making tools available for individuals and businesses to share data and collaborate over the internet. Indeed John deVadoss, director of architecture strategy at Microsoft has expressed the view that his company would like to bridge the gap between Web 2.0 and SOA, and the idea of a merger of the two concepts is also popular in the development community.
In practical terms, SOA can give businesses a more holistic view of their operation and therefore allow them to exercise greater control. It can also allow systems to respond more rapidly to changing demands because the architecture allows for the reuse of existing services in different combinations.
As well as greater flexibility, SOA offers the potential for reduced costs, particularly when integrating new services. It allows in-house developers to collaborate with platform suppliers and third-party software vendors to produce more effective solutions.
The biggest challenge in managing SOA implementations is ensuring the integrity of metadata. This is essential if multiple services are to work successfully together. This throws up issues with testing too, as services are separate and may be running on very different platforms it can be hard to apply a unified testing framework. There may be a vast number of possible combinations in which services could interact, and the addition of new features and services may make it hard to define a fixed datum point for tests.
SOA is also about much more than just software. It may involve enterprises having to look not just at their development processes, but also at their business processes. This may even extend to reviewing the whole supplier and customer relationship in order to make the most of SOA’s advantages.
Taken to its logical conclusion, SOA could lead to a worldwide pool of services, all available publicly for integration into business systems on what CBDI describes as a ‘service bus’. This will lead to greater agility as well as making it easier for businesses to collaborate by sharing common platforms. It will also help them comply with government and industry regulations.
Major suppliers including Microsoft, Oracle and IBM are already seeing SOA as a delivery framework for the future.


Cup final man of the match James Hitchcock insisted Bridlington Town’s win at the KCom Stadium was a team effort.
The goalkeeper made a stunning save in each half to deny North Ferriby frontman Wayne Brooksby, as the underdogs won 1-0 in the East Riding Senior Cup final.
“The first one was a decent save, the second one was a free kick which bounced right in front of me and I thought I did well to keep that one out,” Hitchcock said.
“The whole team played well and Jenks and Ryan (defenders Chris Jenkinson and Ryan Nicholls) did a great job in front of me, like they have done all season.
Hitchcock was part of last year’s winning team, when Bridlington beat Hull United 4-1, but he said Wednesday night’s success was a bigger achievement.
“Last night topped last year,” he said. “The opposition were better and the game was closer. From the first minute to the last minute, we had to be on our toes and I don’t think there ws a single lapse in concentration from anybody.
With two East Riding Senior Cup winners medals in his collection, the keeper is keen to go one step further in 2017.
“With the squad we have, we can push for the league title next season,” Hitchcock added.