Demi Lovato remains hospitalized after 'Overdose complications'

Demi Lovato remains in the hospital after suffering “complications” following last week’s apparent overdose.

“Demi wasn’t doing well over the weekend,” a source tells People. “She came down with a fever and showed signs of an infection. She is currently being treated for issues that are very common after a drug overdose. She will need to stay in the hospital for a few more days, but is expected to make a full recovery.”

A second insider adds, “It’s too soon to say what the next steps are in terms of entering treatment. … Right now everyone is focused on getting Demi physically healthy.”

Lovato is expected to make a full recovery, which she is doing with a very select group of people by her side. “It’s only family and very close, trusted friends she’s surrounding herself with right now,” a source close to the singer tells Yahoo Entertainment. One of those “trusted” friends includes ex-boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama.

“He has visited her a lot,” confirms the insider. “He was absolutely devastated when he heard what happened. He wants to be there to support her however he can.”
A second insider adds, “It’s too soon to say what the next steps are in terms of entering treatment. … Right now everyone is focused on getting Demi physically healthy.”

Lovato is expected to make a full recovery, which she is doing with a very select group of people by her side. “It’s only family and very close, trusted friends she’s surrounding herself with right now,” a source close to the singer tells Yahoo Entertainment. One of those “trusted” friends includes ex-boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama.

“He has visited her a lot,” confirms the insider. “He was absolutely devastated when he heard what happened. He wants to be there to support her however he can.”
Some people close to Lovato, though, have themselves been getting the opposite of support. Many of Lovato’s fans (dubbed Lovatics) have been on social media, bashing those they blame for her suspected OD.

Lovato’s backup dancer and close friend Dani Vitale has been the subject of many fans’ ire, as it was her birthday the “Sober” singer was out celebratning the Monday night before the incident. Vitale, who has been receiving death threats online, broke her silence Sunday, saying she was “not with Demi when the incident happened,” adding, “There is no need for any negativity towards the ones who care about Demi at this time.”

Another one of Lovato’s best friends, Dead Boys actor Matthew Scott Montgomery, also reacted over the weekend. “It’s been an incredibly difficult few days, and this year has easily been the hardest I’ve ever experienced,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories Sunday. “I couldn’t figure out what felt weirder — posting or not posting about this … I will miss hearing my best friend’s laugh, maybe my favorite sound in the world, in the audience for these final shows as she continues to recover.” He dedicated his final shows to Lovato, thanking his followers for their “love and support during this very hard time.”

The 25-year-old singer has not addressed the overdose report herself, but a rep for Lovato issued a statement Tuesday confirming the star was “awake,” noting that “some of the information being reported is incorrect and they respectfully ask for privacy and not speculation as her health and recovery is the most important thing right now.”

Despite initial reports claiming Lovato overdosed on heroin, a source close to the singer denied she was using that drug.

Prior to Lovato’s most recent medical emergency, the singer had been on “a bad path” for months, one source told Yahoo. Another insider added that those close to Lovato became especially concerned about her health in “recent weeks,” saying, “Anyone who was around six, seven years ago remembers the signs well. Things were going in a bad direction again. … We are all hoping this is the wake-up call she needed.”

The “Tell Me You Love Me” singer’s family and friends are hoping she checks into rehab, but ultimately the decision will be hers. It’s unclear when Lovato will be released from the hospital.

Health Risks of Poor Menstrual Hygiene Management

There are also health issues to consider apart from the above-mentioned social issues. Poor protection and inadequate washing facilities may increase susceptibility to infection, with the odour of menstrual blood putting girls at risk of being stigmatised (see also water sanitation and health. In communities where female genital cutting is practiced, multiple health risks exist. Where the vaginal aperture is inadequate for menstrual flow, a blockage and build-up of blood clots is created behind the infibulated area. This can be a cause for protracted and painful period, increased odour, discomfort and the potential for additional infections (KIRK & SOMMER 2006).

It is assumed that the risk of infection (including sexually transmitted infection) is higher than normal during menstruation because the blood coming out of the body creates a pathway for bacteria to travel back into the uterus. Certain practices are more likely to increase the risk of infection (see figure below). Using unclean rags for example, especially if they are inserted into the vagina, can introduce or support the growth of unwanted bacteria that could lead to infection.

As an example, findings from Bangladesh, where 80% of factory workers are women, show that 60% of them were using rags from the factory floor for menstrual cloths. These are highly chemically charged and often freshly dyed. Infections are common, leading to 73% of women missing work for on average six days a month. Women had no safe place either to purchase cloth or pads or to change/dispose of them. When women are paid by piece, those six days away present a huge economic damage to them but also to the business supply chain 

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Earthquake kills 14 on tourist island of Lombok in Indonesia

Fourteen people have died after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the popular tourist island of Lombok in Indonesia Sunday, damaging more than 1,000 homes and sending residents fleeing for safety.

The earthquake hit early in the morning, at about 5.45 a.m. local time (6:45 p.m. Saturday ET), the United States Geological Survey(USGS) said, at a shallow depth of just 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles).

Speaking to CNN, the owner of a hotel in West Lombok said Sunday's quake was the strongest he had experienced on the island.

An Indonesian man examines the remains of houses, after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck, in Lombok on July 29.

An Indonesian man examines the remains of houses, after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck, in Lombok on July 29.

According to Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency, at least 162 people have been injured by the tremors, which occurred about 140 miles east of Bali.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is trying to determine how many people are missing. Volunteers joined police and rescue teams to assist the wounded and look for survivors.

Tour de France 2018: Geraint Thomas wins to make sporting history

 Kristoff wins final stage in Paris
Sporting history was made on the Champs-Elysees Sunday as Geraint Thomas became the first Welshman to win cycling's Tour de France.

Arm-in-arm with 2017 champion and Team Sky teammate Chris Froome, the 32-year-old Thomas crossed the finishing line after the 21st and final stage in Paris in triumph.

His eventual victory had been a mere formality after Saturday's individual time trial stage which left him with a one minute 51 second advantage over second-placed Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands.

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey and third-placed Chris Froome, the 2017 champion cross the finish line of 21st and last stage of the 105th edition of the Tour de France.

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey and third-placed Chris Froome, the 2017 champion cross the finish line of 21st and last stage of the 105th edition of the Tour de France.

Four-time champion Froome completed the podium, having started the three-week Tour as race favorite.

Neglecting Hepatitis B leads to liver cancer

A Physician, Dr Ramon Moronkola, says neglecting Hepatitis B over a long period will lead to liver damage which can also lead to cancer of the liver.

Moronkola, who works at a Lagos-based private hospital, Optimal Care, made the assertion in an interview on Sunday.

Liver cancer, most times, the survival rate, when it sets in is within six months; it is that deadly.

“Hepatitis B is deadlier than HIV because of its infectivity; if Hepatitis B virus is on a surface, it can last on that surface for months.

“However, if it is HIV on a surface, in some hours and days it will die off, that means it cannot infect someone again.

“The danger of neglecting Hepatitis B is that the person runs the risk of having his liver damaged or having cancer of the liver,” he said.

He said that Hepatitis B was highly preventable through vaccination, screening, early detection and treatment.

According to him, Hepatitis B is one of the vaccines given to children and adults are encouraged to find out their status and if negative, they are encouraged to get vaccinated.

“When you are vaccinated, you are protected from the virus.

“Even for those who are positive, there are steps to take to protect the liver; one of them is to visit the hospital to see, especially, doctors who are trained in that field,” he said.

The physician warned that activities such as consuming excess alcohol, taking herbs indiscriminately could worsen the situation of someone who has Hepatitis B.

Moronkola said: “If someone has Hepatitis B, he has to now take extra care to desist from those things that can further damage the liver.

“However, the first thing to do is to visit a specialist.

“So, largely, what is being promoted is great awareness of the dangers of the condition and ensure that people vaccinate their children and go for screening,”

Pornhub star Mia Khalifa to have surgery on 'deflated boob' after being hit in chest by '80mph' ice hockey puck

Ex-porn star Mia Khalifa is to have surgery on her "deflated" boob after she was hit by an ice hockey puck.

The former x-rated actress suffered a ruptured breast implant after the six-ounce disk smashed into her chest at up to 80mph.

The 25-year-old was pictured clutching her boobs and holding the official game puck at a Stanley Cup Playoff game earlier this year.

The sports presenter said the impact burst her implant and left her feeling like "blood was going everywhere".

Wife's shock as husband, 26, is caught cheating with a 72-year-old lover at Premier Inn

newly-married man aged 26 was caught romping with a 72-year-old lover at a Premier Inn.

The lothario's wife, 24, from the Birmingham area, had called in private detectives after becoming suspicious about his behaviour.

Agents from Carter Harris Group Investigation tracked the unlikely couple and presented the evidence to their client, who asked not to be identified.

Hamilton wins in Hungary to build championship lead

Lewis Hamilton strengthened his push for a fifth world title by increasing his championship lead to 24 points on Sunday as he claimed a convincing victory for Mercedes in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The defending world champion came home 17.123 seconds ahead of title rival and fellow four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari after the German had survived a collision with Valtteri Bottas, in the second Mercedes.

That came on lap 65, of the 70, when Vettel finally passed Bottas, the Finn’s right front wing touching his rear left tyre under braking, wrecking Mercedes’ hopes of a one-two finish.
Kimi Raikkonen finished third, his fifth podium finish in a row, in the second Ferrari ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who surged from 12th on the grid to fourth for Red Bull ahead of Bottas, who finished fifth after a late pit stop.

It was Hamilton’s record sixth win in Hungary, his fifth this season and the 67th of his career.

"We came here knowing that the Ferrari would be really quick this weekend," said Hamilton. "But to come out with these points, we'll definitely take as a bonus. What a beautiful day and a great crowd – and a great job from the team."

Hamilton now has 213 points to Vettel’s 189 after the 12th of 21 races this year and before the championship takes a European summer break.

Frenchman Pierre Gasly came home sixth for Toro Rosso ahead of Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Fernando Alonso of McLaren, on his 37th birthday, fellow-Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso and Romain Grosjean in the second Haas.

"P2 is not what we really wanted, but the maximum we could get today," said Vettel.

The race, preceded by a minute’s silence for former Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne, began in sweltering conditions with a track temperature of 57 degrees Celsius and air at 34.

After Saturday’s rain-lashed qualifying, the teams had a free choice of tyres, which saw Ferrari split their strategy – Vettel, like Sainz, choosing softs, while Raikkonen and the rest started on ultra-softs.

- Verstappen forced out -

The Mercedes men made perfect getaways, Hamilton streaking clear and Bottas staying close to resist attacks as Vettel swept inside into third.

Verstappen, who had moved up to fifth, made an early exit, his Renault engine grumbling into retirement on lap six.

After one lap under Virtual Safety Car (VSC) conditions, Hamilton resumed his charge. He was 4.5 seconds clear of Bottas by lap 10 and 5.7 by lap 14 when Raikkonen pitted, followed immediately by Bottas, both switching to softs.

This left Vettel in pursuit of Hamilton, but despite some swift laps, he remained seven seconds adrift of Hamilton before the champion pitted after 25 laps. He rejoined second between the German and Bottas.

In clear air, Vettel pushed to extend his lead to more than 12 seconds by lap 36, with Bottas further adrift and, in turn, ahead of Raikkonen by just 1.2 seconds.

Held by traffic and still on his original worn softs, Vettel began to struggle and his lead tumbled to 9.5sec by lap 39 when he pitted. A slow stop cost him two seconds and he emerged third behind Bottas.

Raikkonen had pitted a lap earlier, falling to fifth behind Ricciardo, who had yet to stop. For Ferrari, it was not an encouraging position given their raw speed advantage in practice. The Australian pitted, finally, after 44 laps, switching to ultras.

By lap 45, Hamilton led Bottas by 10 seconds with Vettel a further three seconds adrift and making little impact, despite fresher tyres.

On lap 51, Stoffel Vandoorne slowed and retired from an encouraging ninth at Turn One. A VSC was deployed. On resumption, Vettel closed to within a second of Bottas, but despite tyres that were 24 laps younger, he was unable to find a pass as Raikkonen closed in.

For Hamilton, it was a dream scenario and, with 10 laps to go, he was 18 seconds clear of the unyielding Bottas, who had both Ferraris bottled up behind him, within a second, until Vettel lunged by with five laps to go.

PSG coach Tuchel: Arsenal can win Premier League title

PSG coach Thomas Tuchel believes Arsenal can win the Premier League title this season.

While he has been portrayed as being stroppy in the English press after PSG's thrashing by the Gunners in yesterday's International Champions Cup tie, Tuchel was actually full of praise for the London giants.

After the 5-1 defeat, Tuchel stated Arsenal could win the League thanks to not being involved in the Champions League.

"It could be a huge advantage for Arsenal next season," Tuchel declared. "Chelsea became England's national champion two years ago when it had very few international games."

On the result, he continued: "It is not the first time we see such strange results.

"When I was Mainz's trainer in Germany, I would like to play against the big teams as early as possible in the season after a European Championship or World Cup."

CCTV shows male nurse sneaking in to have sex and impregnate a woman who has been in coma for 4-months

trending stories on twitter  cctv  shows male nurse sneaking in to have sex and impregnate a woman who has been in coma for 4-months.
may God protect us all from unseen dangers

Supreme court rules that woman must remain in ‘unhappy marriage’

The UK Supreme court has ruled that a 68-year-old woman, Tini Owens must remain married to her 80-year-old husband, Hugh Owen as unhappiness in marriage is not sufficient reason to seek a divorce.

Five judges at the UK’s highest court unanimously upheld rulings by a family court and the court of appeal that the two must stay married at least until 2020.

Mrs Owens had filed for divorce three years ago. A move which was contested by her husband, even up to the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favour

The couple have been married for 40 years, have two grown-up children and enjoyed a successful business and extremely well-off lifestyle, reports 3m360

Dutch-born Tini was 28 when she married 40-year-old Hugh in the late Seventies.

Tini will have another chance to quit her marriage in two years time, on the grounds of having lived separately for five years.

South African cardiologist, Professor Bongani Mayosi commits suicide after battling depression for two years

The Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town, Professor Bongani Mayosi has died at the age of 51.
The University of Cape Town in s statement about his death said, “It is with great sadness that we‚ the Mayosi family‚ announce the passing of our husband‚ son‚ father‚ brother and uncle‚ Bongani Mayosi who died on the morning of 27 July 2018. In the last two years he has battled with depression and on that day took the desperate decision to end his life."
Mayosi was a cardiology professor who was awarded the county’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe in 2009.
Mayosi was an A-rated National Research Foundation researcher. His research interests included rheumatic fever, tuberculosis pericarditis and cardiomyopathy. Until his death, he was a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and a former President of the College of Physicians of South Africa.

Biker Awarded $8.8m After Man Slept With His Wife

A BMX stuntman has been awarded $8.8million in damages from a man who slept with his wife and allegedly destroyed their marriage.

Keith King successfully sued Francisco Huizar III over the 18 month fling with his wife Danielle using a North Carolina law that allows spouses to pursue ‘homewreckers’ for damages.

It stipulates that married individuals can sue a person for ‘criminal conversation’ if they have sex with their spouse and destroy the ‘genuine love and affection’ in a marriage.

The enormous payout is comprised of $2.2million in compensatory damages, as well as triple that in punitive damages, the Herald Sun reported.

He was awarded the sum despite Huizar’s lawyer claiming King was a controlling spouse in an already-troubled marriage when he met her

King is said to have controlled his wife’s access to money, made her watch porn, insisted she keep her hair blonde and that she wear bikinis as well as high heels.

Huizar and Danielle King met at a New York BMX show in August 2015, and began their affair after Keith King left her behind to attend a Colorado show.

Huizar, of San Antonio, Tx., is said to have rented a room closer to the Kings’ home in Durham, NC., that month, and met Danielle at least nine times over the following three months.

Keith King rumbled the affair in August 2015 after checking his wife’s phone bill, and asked Huizar to leave her alone.

But Huizar tagged along to a spa break King gave to his wife as a birthday gift the following February.

King’s attorney Joanne Foil told Durham Superior Court: ‘Guess who the heck tagged along?. Mr. Huizar.

‘He just conveniently popped up. There is no way that this marriage could have humanly been saved with the level of this man’s involvement.’

He is also said to have hired a property close to where the Kings were enjoying a beach vacation together in spring 2016.

Mother Confesses To Children On Death Bed That Their Grandfather Is Their REAL Dad

A ‘wicked’ pensioner has been jailed after admitting incest charges for abusing his own daughter and fathering her three children. 

Ashraf Khan, 81, from Bradford, was jailed for four-and-a-half years yesterday after his victim confessed to their children on her deathbed and they fought for justice for their mother. …

Remarkable pictures of blood moon sighted around the world

Remarkable pictures of blood moon sighted around the world

Here is a selection of remarkable pictures of the blood moon from all around the world.

One of the photos shows the orange-red moon in Thymari, near Athens, Greece.

The full moon, clearly with a red tinge, was also spotted near a lighthouse in the Sivrice village in Canakkale, Turkey.

And stargazers have also now seen the display in Lucerne, Switzerland.

excitement over blood moon

Twitter users all around the world shared their excitement over tonight’s blood moon.

One put out a shout out to see how many people would be ‘searching for a gap in the clouds’.

Photographs of the red moon were posted online from a range of countries including Kenya, Pakistan and Italy.

California fire 'tornado' kills two firefighters, thousands flee

A fast-growing northern California wildfire killed a second firefighter on Friday after high winds drove it into the city of Redding, prompting mass evacuations, destroying 500 structures and threatening thousands of other dwellings and businesses, officials said.

Flames raging in California's scenic Shasta-Trinity area erupted into a firestorm that jumped across the Sacramento River and swept into the western side of Redding, home to about 90,000 people, forcing residents to flee.

Firefighters and police "went into life-safety mode," hustling door to door to usher civilians out of harm's way, said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).

Streets in the Western town were all but deserted, with thick, sickly-brown smoke filling the air, and plumes of smoke rising to the west.

Gale-force winds on Thursday night created a fire "tornado" said CalFire Director Ken Pimlott.

"This fire was whipped up into a whirlwind of activity, uprooting trees, moving vehicles, moving parts of roadways," Pimlott told a news briefing.

Such highly erratic, storm-like wildfires have grown commonplace in the state, Pimlott said.

"These are extreme conditions, this is how fires are in California," he said. "We need to take heed and evacuate, evacuate, evacuate."

California has had its worst start to the fire season in a decade, with 289,727 acres burned through Friday morning, according to National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) data.

Governor Jerry Brown requested emergency federal assistance to prevent an "imminent catastrophe" as Shasta County tried to find supplies and water for 30,000 evacuated residents and care for horses and cattle rescued from ranches and farms.

CalFire reported 500 structures destroyed by the blaze.

CURTAIN OF SMOKE

The fire had scorched 48,300 acres (19,500 hectares) by Friday and was just 3 percent contained as ground crews, helicopters and airplanes battled the flames for a fifth day.

High temperatures and low humidity were expected for the next seven to ten days, said Pimlott.

"This fire is a long way from done," he said.

The blaze was one of nearly 90 large fires burning nationally, most of them in the West. One of those prompted the closure of much of California's Yosemite National Park.

Wildfires have blackened an estimated 4.15 million acres (1.68 million hectares) in the United States this year. That was well above average for the same period over the past 10 years but down from 5.27 million acres (2.13 million hectares) in the first seven months of 2017, NIFC reported.

The blaze in Redding, about 150 miles (240 km) north of Sacramento, on Thursday killed a bulldozer operator working with fire teams to clear brush around the fire. A member of the Redding Fire Department was also reported killed on Friday. A Redding hospital said it had treated eight people, including three firefighters.

THOUSANDS OF BUILDINGS IMPERILED

Rob Wright, 61, and his wife stayed to fight off flames with a high-powered water hose.

"We were fortunate enough that the wind changed hours ago, and it is pushing the fire back," said Wright on Friday. "We are just waiting it out ... crossing our fingers and hoping for the best."

Video and images posted on social media showed flames engulfing structures, as an orange glow lit up the sky.

A Red Cross employee told local ABC affiliate KRCR-TV some 500 people took shelter in an evacuation center at Shasta College. Motels were filled to capacity and livestock owners were told to take their animals to the town's rodeo ground.

The Carr Fire, the name given to the Redding blaze, was one of three fierce blazes threatening large populated areas.

Cal Fire said the Cranston Fire, about 110 miles (177 km) east of Los Angeles had blackened 12,300 acres and was 16 percent contained. The Ferguson Fire near Yosemite, which has charred 46,675 acres, was 29 percent contained.

A 32-year-old man was charged with setting the Cranston fire, along with eight other blazes, and faces a potential life sentence if convicted of the charges.

Disaster-hit Japan braces for powerful typhoon

- A powerful typhoon hurtled towards Japan Saturday, with western areas recently devastated by floods and landslides in the storm's cross-hairs.

Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) an hour, is forecast to make landfall on the country's main island on Saturday night or early Sunday, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency.

The storm, currently some 400 kilometres southeast of Tokyo, is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region Sunday, where record rainfall earlier this month unleashed flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people.
Authorities are warning of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urging people to consider early evacuation.

"We want people especially in the downpour-hit regions to pay close attention to evacuation advisories," meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told reporters.

More than 150 domestic flights have been cancelled so far because of Typhoon Jongdari, news reports said.

The flooding in the Chugoku region was Japan's worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes.

"We have not issued evacuation advisories, but we are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents," Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama prefecture in Chugoku, told AFP.

"We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is under way as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster."

Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly downpours because many people did not heed evacuation orders and became trapped. Some critics said the orders were issued too late.

Japan is now in typhoon season, and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn

How WhatsApp Helped Mozambique Become Biggest Heroin Export

As many as 40 tonnes of heroin could be passing through Mozambique every year, making it the country's second biggest export, in a trade that is boosted by the use of mobile phone apps, writes Mozambique analyst Joseph Hanlon.

Mozambique is now an important stop for heroin traders who are using circuitous routes for their product to reach Europe from Afghanistan, as tighter enforcement has closed off the more direct paths.

The heroin goes from Afghanistan to Pakistan's south-west coast, and from there it is taken by motorized 20m wooden dhows to close to northern Mozambique's coast.

The dhows anchor offshore and smaller boats take the heroin from the dhow to the beach, where it is collected and moved to warehouses. It is then packed onto small trucks and is driven 3,000 km (1,850 miles) by road to Johannesburg, and from there others ship it to Europe.

Each dhow carries a tonne of heroin, and one arrives every week except during in the monsoon season, which makes about 40 arrivals a year.

Heroin also comes in by container into the country's Nacala and Beira ports where it is hidden among other goods, such as washing machines.

Overall, this means that at least 40 tonnes of heroin pass through through the country each year, according to experts. I estimate that the drug is worth $20m (£15m) per tonne at this point in the trade, making it the country's second most valuable export, after coal.

Mozambique's biggest exports:

Coal - $687m (2016)

Heroin - $600-800m (est)

Electricity - $378m (2016)

Aluminium - $378m (2016)

Gas and oil - $307m (2016)

Source: Mozambique government; Joseph Hanlon

Out of the export's total value, about $100m is estimated to stay in Mozambique as profits, bribes, and payments to members of the governing Frelimo party.

Since 2000 the heroin trade has been carried out by established import businesses, which hide the drugs in legitimate consignments and use their own warehouses, staff and vehicles to facilitate their movement. At ports, workers are told not to scan containers of certain trading companies so the drugs are not discovered.

Political involvement

Senior Frelimo figures have an overview of the business, meaning that there has been no conflict between trading families and little heroin remains in Mozambique.

Police spokesman Inacio Dina said the authorities were investigating these findings. He said the police were doing their best to stop the drugs trade but admitted it was a huge challenge.

"We must understand that the country's geographical location, with a lengthy coastline, and long land borders, opens various scenarios."

On its part, the international community has largely chosen to ignore the heroin transit trade, because it wanted concessions and reforms in others areas, such as an ever larger role for the private sector.

But a second, less structured, arm of the drugs trade has also emerged, borrowing ideas from the "gig" economy, where freelance workers are contacted through mobile phone apps to see if they are available.

This has been facilitated by the improved mobile phone coverage in northern Mozambique, the growth of WhatsApp and its encrypted message system, and increasing corruption in Mozambique.

In the case of Mozambique's heroin trade, a driver or boat owner will receive a WhatsApp message telling them where to pick up and deliver a package of heroin, and how to be paid.

Secret network

No-one knows the identity of the person who sent the message or their location. For those people coordinating the trade, ordering the movement of 20kg (44lb) of heroin is as easy as ordering an Uber taxi, and totally secret.

Two decades ago, corrupt police officers would have accompanied drivers with shipments of heroin on the north-to-south-Mozambique leg of the journey, to ensure they were not stopped at the numerous police checkpoints.

Then as mobile telephone coverage improved, drivers were given a number to call if they were stopped. But the extent of the corruption has changed that and drivers are now given a pile of money to pay bribes at checkpoints. Whatever is left of this money when they arrive in Johannesburg is their pay for the trip.

No heroin is seized in Mozambique, but there are confiscations near the border in South Africa, because authorities there are worried about rising use of heroin in Cape Town and other big cities.

Those seizures show that heroin is often branded and sealed in 1kg packages in Afghanistan, apparently to prevent it from being adulterated along the long travel route. Among the brand names that have come to light are 555, Tokapi and Africa Demand.

In this new world of encrypted messaging apps, a buyer in Europe can place an order for 100kg of 555 with a distributor who may be anywhere.

The distributor puts together enough orders to make up one tonne on a dhow, and arranges collection in Mozambique and delivery to a warehouse, contacting local coordinators using WhatsApp or a similar app. In the warehouse, the tonne is broken up again into the different orders which are sent to Johannesburg.

Indeed, Mozambique's heroin trade looks like the trade in any other commodity - just another product moving through Mozambique and coordinated by multinational organisations.

 

Dom Pérignon Is Undergoing a Changing of the Guard

Like many other legacy brands these days, Dom Pérignon is undergoing a generational shift in leadership. But the roots for this change had been planted long ago.

Vincent Chaperon will take over as the new Chef de Cave, the French term for head winemaker, effective January 1, 2019, picking up the torch from his mentor Richard Geoffroy, who has served as the house’s cellar master for 28 years. The transition has the potential to go down as smoothly as the liquid gold they bottle given that the two have worked side-by-side since 2005.

Geoffroy’s departure coincides with the release of Dom Pérignon’s next vintage, the 2008, which Geoffroy described recently during an interview in New York City as an overcast year, quite similar to the house’s 1996 vintage. 2008, as Geoffroy explained, actually stood out with different weather patterns over the course of a decade, requiring the vintage more time to mature. (Thus, the 2009 was actually released first.)

Vintage champagnes are different from non-vintage champagnes—and your average white and red wines—in a number of ways, including how the grapes are sourced and for how long they are aged. One stipulation is that vintage Champagnes must be aged for at least three years in the bottle to achieve maturation. Vintages also come from grapes sourced during a single year—versus a blend of multiple years—meaning there is less produced, thus why they are typically more expensive.

Dom Pérignon’s vintage bottles serve as the prestige Champagne for Moët & Chandon, one of the world’s largest and most prominent winemakers as well as co-owners of luxury goods conglomerate LVHM.

During his tenure, Geoffroy, a native to the Champagne region, has overseen the production of at least 15 vintages.

Geoffroy also pushed the storied brand, which produced its first vintage in 1921, further into the 21st century with a number of branding and marketing partnerships under a glittery umbrella, dubbed “Drinking Stars.” The program conveniently coincided with the rise in popularity for celebrity chefs, seeing Dom Pérignon launch tasting menus with the likes of Michelin-starred chefs such as Alain Ducasse, Ferran Adrià, and Jean-François Piège.

Chaperon, who moved to Champagne from Bordeaux years ago, has already been with the house for nearly two decades, participating in 13 harvests and declared four vintages. Given how closely Chaperon and Geoffroy have worked together over the years, it’s inevitable that many of the same lessons and principles Geoffroy instilled will be applied by Chaperon as well.

The pair first met in 1999 after Chaperon had then recently graduated from the Montpellier oenology school, subsequently joining Moët & Chandon. Chaperon’s first assignment, which lasted a little over a year, was to manage the supply of natural cork stoppers for the entire Moët-Hennessy group.

“At the time I was really focused on the technical aspects of wine, and I found his request really inspiring, because it took my thinking to another level,” Chaperon says. “It gave me the luxury of dreaming and the energy to excel.”

Chaperon acknowledges that he and Geoffroy have different training and backgrounds, but he insists they share the same values: creating not just meaning, but also depth. Both of them, he continues, also value listening and respecting what the other person is saying.

I intend to continue along the path that Richard has marked out, the path that leads from the land to the champagne lover,” Chaperon says.

Nevertheless, Chaperon acknowledges the need to push the brand further into the next decade for the next generation of oenophiles, keeping customers simultaneously satiated and wanting more.

“We are on a constant quest for perfection,” Chaperon explains. “It’s a lot like art: when you look at a work of art you experience something. Looking at it again—or tasting a wine again—becomes a new experience each time.”

The Legacy Limited Edition bottle will be the first release of Dom Pérignon Vintage 2008, available in the United States on November 1 for $179.99. There will be another bottle release in 2019.

Great Apps You've Probably Never Heard Of

 

A few years ago there was an app called Meerkat with the main purpose to stream live videos just like Periscope. The app received $12 million in start-up funding, but unfortunately never took off mainly because Twitter bought Periscope which later went viral.

The owners of Meerkat app didn't let that discourage them and they immediately started developing a new app called Houseparty. You've probably never heard of it, but the app is now used by millions of people in the US alone.

Naturally, this made us wonder - how many other great apps are we missing out on? So we did the research and we came up with 5 incredibly useful apps we had no idea existed. In this article, we would like to share these apps with you so you could have as much fun as we did using them. So let's begin!

Hear

This app was previously known as H—R. Hear harmonizes the sounds around you to help you  reduce stress and be less distracted. It remixes surrounding sounds with your phones’ built-in microphone and lets you hear them throughout various filters like super hearing, sleep, relax and the list goes on. This makes for great white noise if you need to eliminate sounds around you. Besides that, it is also great for city bike rides or jogging because it lets you listen to music while at the same time providing you with the sounds that are surrounding you.

Price: Free

Available on: iOS

Foldpass 

Foldpass is a creative game where you can write haiku poems with your friends. It doesn’t get more creative than that, simply write a line of haiku and invite your friends to write the next lines. Intrigued? You should be. Once you finish your poem, you can create a cool poster so you can share it online with your friends. Be creative, witty, funny or serious, you choose.

Price: Free

Available on: iOS

PDF Converter Ultimate

This is a business one, but it is surprising how underrated these kinds of apps can be. With PDF Converter Ultimate you can convert PDFs to more than 20 popular file formats and vice versa. The app provides accurate and high-quality conversion results. You can convert documents directly from your device, Gmail or supported cloud services like Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox and the list goes on. So if you are dealing with a lot of PDFs on a regular basis, download this app right away!

Price: Free

Available on: iOS and Android

Facebook's Biggest Problem? A Crisis of Words.

The [executive] either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not.”

The quote is from Politics and the English Language and while George Orwell never made Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg his object of scorn—the original reads “writer” in place of “executive”—he would have been right to do so. More than any other company today, Facebook has a freakish inability to use words.

Facebook’s penchant for verbal nonsense is neither new nor particularly unique in a corporate world that loves self-interested spin. But today, that habit is driving a crisis of trust engulfing the Silicon Valley company. The failure of its executives, particularly co-founder Zuckerberg, to speak in plain, candid language during earnings calls and other appearances is a big reason that Facebook can’t escape the moral quagmire that led to an overnight plunge in its lofty stock price.

Want an example of Facebook’s failure with words? Begin with Zuckerberg’s bizarre insistence that he doesn’t run a media company. Facebook has long operated a global broadcast channel with more viewers than any television station on the planet, and has gobbled much of the advertising revenue once enjoyed by traditional media outlets. Yet in testifying before Congress in April, Zuckerberg again would not concede the obvious proposition that Facebook is a media company.

“I consider us to be a technology company,” he told lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Many observers interpreted the response as an attempt to shirk responsibility for Facebook’s role as a purveyor of news, video, and other media in the wake of Russian interference in U.S. elections.

Such prevarications are akin to the CEO of a large energy company declaring, when confronted with a massive spill: “We’re not an oil company.” In Facebook’s case, the company pumps its own pollution in the form of fake news, troll armies, and conspiracy theories. At Facebook’s scale, it amounts to a massive sludge of toxic media. If Zuckerberg truly hopes to clean it up, he can start by admitting he’s in the media business.

Another example of what Orwell called “debased language” is Facebook’s invocation of “the community” to justify behavior that is abhorrent and wrong. Most recently, executives muttered about “community standards” in a limp defense of why Facebook allows Holocaust deniers or the noxious conspiracy site InfoWars to flourish on its platform.

Zuckerberg himself has invoked “the community” over and over to explain Facebook’s foot-dragging. But as sociologist Zeynep Tufekci pointed out, Zuckerberg has failed to explain how the 2 billion people who use Facebook can possibly be defined as a community.

I called Facebook to learn more about what “community” means to the company, to little avail. A spokesperson said Facebook develops guidelines “with the community in mind” and on the basis of “safety, equity, and voice.” I asked the spokesperson to explain how a billion people can be “a community” and she simply referred me back to the guidelines.
The exchange underscored why New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo has concluded that Facebook’s stated policies make no sense. “All of this fails a basic test: It’s not even coherent. It is a hodgepodge of declarations and exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions,” Manjoo wrote while describing Zuckerberg’s verbal contortions about Holocaust deniers using the service.

The incoherence is frustrating but, worse, it’s disempowering. When Zuckerberg defends Facebook’s latest outrage in the name of the community, it puts all of us in that community—you and me and the trolls and the hate-mongers and yes, the Holocaust deniers. No decent person wants to be part of such a community. Most see a community as a group of people who share similar values and with whom they choose to identify. To Zuckerberg, the word app

Platforms like Facebook, which exist for the express purpose of ‘creating community,’ turn out to be in the business of exploiting the communities they’ve created for the benefit of those outside (the business community, the strategic communications community, the Moldovan hacker community),”explains writer Carina Chocanoa. “They invite members to ‘participate,’ but not, in the end, to make decisions together; the largest rewards, and the greatest powers, stay private.”

If Zuckerberg wants to cling to the word “community,” he will have to make some hard decisions about who is part of that community and who is not. Such a decision should be informed by law and ethics and philosophy—not a slapdash jumble of words compiled by his public relations team.

In a remarkable farewell letter this month, a longtime Facebook executive, Alex Stamos, made this very point. Using blunt and very understandable language, Stamos attributed the company’s current predicament to thousands of small decisions and called for a change. “We need to be willing to pick sides when there are clear moral or humanitarian issues,” Stamos wrote in the letter, first published by BuzzFeed. (Stamos served as chief information security officer at Facebook.)

That clarity—of words and thoughts and deeds—is what’s needed from Zuckerberg if he wants to lift his company out of the moral muck. One way to start would be for him to jettison what Orwell called “lump[s] of verbal refuse” and speak to Facebook users in clear English.

The White House Banned a CNN Reporter and Even Fox News Is Crying Foul

It’s no secret that President Trump and his administration are not fans of CNN.

But on Wednesday the distaste for the news channel reached new heights when a CNN reporter was barred from an event open to all press in the Rose Garden.

According to reports, after CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins asked about the tapes between Trump and former attorney Michael Cohen and Russian president Putin’s postponed visit to the U.S., she was told by White House communications staff that she would not be welcome to attend a subsequent joint event between Trump and European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

While Collins was for obvious reasons supported by her own network, she received an outpouring of support from others as well, including CNN rival Fox News

Fox News President Jay Wallace said in a statement that the network stands in “strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press.” Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier echoed this on his show Special Report, noting that the network is aligned with CNN on “this issue of access.”

While the solidarity between two adversaries is undoubtedly notable, Trump’s increasing hostility toward the press has increasingly brought the White House press corps together. AsCNN points out, Collins was the pool reporter on Wednesday, meaning that she was representing all of the major TV networks—a role that rotates from network to network each day. By barring the pool reporter, the White House’s action can be seen as an attack on all journalists, not just those perceived to be directly threatening to the administration.

This is not the first time that one network’s marginalization has drawn solidarity from the press corps at large. Under the Obama administration, the Treasury Department was criticized by journalists for attempting to exclude Fox News from a round of interviews. The network’s competitors refused to participate until Fox was permitted to join.

manny-pacquiao challenges floyd mayweather to boxing rematch

Will Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. subject the sports world to another “Fight of the Century?” Pacquiao called out Mayweather on Saturday night during an interview with reporters, challenging the retired boxer to a rematch. Pacquiao and Mayweather in May 2015 fought a much-hyped but ultimately underwhelming bout, which Mayweather won by unanimous decision. Three-plus years later, Pacquiao publicly floated the idea of another mega-fight between boxing legends. “Mayweather? If he decides to go back to boxing then that is the time we are going to call the shots,” Pacquiao said following his knockout win over Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “I have the belt, so it’s up to him. If he wants to come back in boxing let’s do a second one.” Mayweather and Pacquiao further enriched themselves in their first fight, with the former making over $220 million and the latter receiving over $100 million

New Charges Confirm That 'Infiltration' Was An Aspect Of Russian 2016 Attack

New charges against a woman who tried to build bridges between the Russian government and American political leaders via the National Rifle Association delivered a breakthrough in understanding one aspect of the attack on the 2016 election: "infiltration."

After months of questions and speculation as to how or whether the NRA connection might have worked, prosecutors have proffered an answer: the Russian woman, Maria Butina, was the intermediary between Russian government officials and Americans, both in the NRA and elsewhere in politics, according to court documents

The government charges that she was acting as a foreign agent without registering. Her attorney called the charges overblown, as NPR's Carrie Johnson reported.

Butina serves or served as the deputy to someone identified in court papers only as a "Russian official," who is probably Alexander Torshin, a now-sanctioned Kremlin official who also cultivated relationships with American political leaders and the NRA over several years

Woman Survives For 7 Days After Plunging Over 250-Foot Cliff In California

An Oregon woman survived for seven days after plunging over a cliff in central California.

Angela Hernandez, 23, suffered a brain hemorrhage and fractured ribs after a violent crash on July 6.

She says she swerved to avoid an animal and plunged to the bottom of a rocky 250-foot cliff.

New Drexel Program Helped Man Lose 140 Pounds 

She managed to get out of her car and swam to a beach where she waited for help.

She says she used a hose from her car’s engine to drink water dripping off rocks.

She was found by some hikers who called for help.