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Russia is massing its naval forces in the Mediterranean ahead of an expected assault by the Assad regime on the last major rebel stronghold in Syria.
At least ten Russian warships and two submarines have been deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in the largest naval build up since Moscow’s intervention in Syria began in 2015, according to Russian media.
The gathering of Russian ships comes as Syrian regime forces turn their attention towards Idlib, a holdout rebel-held province on the border with Turkey.
Most of the Russian warships are armed with long-range Kalibr missiles, which could be used to attack ground targets in support of an Assad regime assault on Idlib.
The naval build up may also be intended to deter the US and its allies from intervening if Assad’s forces use chemical weapons in Idlib.

John Bolton, the US national security advisor, warned last week that the US would respond “very strongly” if the Syrian regime used chemical weapons again.
Days later, Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had evidence that jihadists in Idlib were planning to stage a chemical weapons attack in order to trick the Western into carrying out strikes against the regime.
The Russian build up in the Mediterranean comes as Russia announced plans to hold its biggest war games in four decades next month.
Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, said the East-2018 exercise will take place in central and eastern Russia in September and will involve almost 300,000 troops, over 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia's naval fleets, and all its airborne units.
The defence ministry said the exercise would be the biggest since the Soviet Union’s West-81 exercise in 1981. The Chinese and Mongolian militaries would also participate in the games, the ministry said.
Capturing Idlib would mark a crucial final stage in Bashar al-Assad’s ambitions to put down the rebellion which broke out against him in 2011.
But attacking the province, which is now home to 2.5 million civilians, many of them displaced from other areas, is likely to be more complex than previous assaults.
Russia is concerned about preserving its partnership with Turkey, which is deeply worried that an attack on Idlib will send millions of refugees heading towards its border.
The Russian defence ministry said Tuesday it was in contact with rebel groups in Idlib to discuss the possibility of a negotiated surrender.

At last, Amazon has made a collaborative wish lists and shopping lists available to everyone. That means that now you can pool together your vacation gear needs or requests for party gifts into one list multiple people can edit.

At the end of July, Amazon announced that the feature was slowly rolling out, but the company hadn’t said when everyone would get the feature. In the past, users had to share their lists with people if they wanted to let people know what they were asking for. No more doing that!

Collaborators can now make the following; add or remove products, comment on selections, make suggestions, or buy it themselves. You also can have entire conversations on the list, get notifications, and see the history of the list. Amazon says that this could help people avoid requesting the same item on different lists and ending up receiving duplicate gifts.

The feature is now live and you can find it under “Accounts and Lists” on desktop or “Your Lists” on mobile. Once you create a list, you can invite others, as long as they have Amazon accounts, to collaborate. You can send out link invites or send out emails.

So what do you say about this new Feature? Leave a comment!

 
Technology

Wow, the word "Technology" makes us crazy. Come to think of it, Tech has made our lives a lot much better than the way early humans lived. Just imagine having to wash all those clothes yourself without the help of a washing machine, that's going to be something you don't want to imagine. There is a lot of good things tech has brought, but when it is used too much, it tends to go bad..... We will be focusing on the bad side of Tech, you know, there is a saying, everything has two sides: Either "Front and Back" or "Good and Bad"

Let's Talk about Social Media
You can't walk into a store or anywhere without seeing anyone focusing his/her eyes on his phone. Everyone wants to follow the trend, wants to hook up with new peeps on social media. Do you know that you can have thousands of friends on social media and anytime you are bored you can just login just because you wanna do away with the boredom, but believe me, as soon as you logout, it returns. #You are lonely!


Social Media has found a way to take what is natural and replace it the artificial. Do you remember when you were a kid? How did you grow? You remember making real genuine friends in schools, parks, subways and others. You remember how you would go out with friends, have quality time. Wow, that was natural! But now, most childhoods are filled with the artificial. Kids no longer care about all that, rather, they prefer to hook up with friends on the internet all the time, spending more time on their iPads rather than on their books, chatting online rather than chatting orally.

Things really have changed a lot, but we can amend it if only we take out time to think about the natural things we have missed all along. Do you really think that you could have met that person who changed your life if only you were steering at your phone when he/she passed by? There is a lot we have missed just because we steered at phones and gadgets too much.... Watch the video above and learn something. It is best we take less time off our phones and enjoy life the best way we possibly can.

With good food habits and daily physical activity you will be well on your way to a healthy life.  Easy to say, but sometimes not so easy to do! (Easier said than done)

Our busy lifestyles can be hard on our family’s health. Rushing to and from school and work can make it hard to find time to be physically active. We can also slip into the habit of choosing unhealthy snacks and take-away foods or spending our free time watching TV or in front of the computer. View our Healthy Eating Tips to know how to select a healthier diet.

However, these choices can be dangerous for our health and our children’s health – both now and in the long-term. That’s why it’s so important to stop, take stock and make a conscious decision to follow a healthy lifestyle.

How to lead a healthy lifestyle

1. Get active each day

• Regular physical activity is important for the healthy growth, development and well-being of children and young people.
• They should get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day, including vigorous activities that make them ‘huff and puff’.
• Include activities that strengthen muscles and bones on at least 3 days of the week.
• Parents should be good role models and have a positive attitude to being active.

2. Choose water as a drink

• Water is the best way to quench your thirst – and it doesn’t come with the added sugar found in fruit juices, soft drinks and other sweetened drinks.
• Reduced fat milk for children over two is a nutritious drink and a great source of calcium.
• Give kids whole fruit to eat, rather than offering fruit juices that have a lot of sugar.

3. Eat more fruit and vegetables

• Eating fruit and vegetables every day helps children grow and develop, boosts their vitality and can reduce the risk of many chronic diseases.
• Aim to eat two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day.
• Have fresh fruit available as a convenient snack and try to include fruit and vegetables in every meal.

4. Switch off the TV and get active

• Sedentary or ‘still’ time spent watching TV, surfing online or playing computer games is linked to kids becoming overweight or obese.
• Children and young people should spend no more than two hours a day on ‘small screen’ entertainment. Break up long periods of use as often as possible.
• Plan a range of active indoor and outdoor games or activities for your children, as alternatives to watching TV or playing on the computer.

5. Eat fewer snacks and select healthier alternatives

• Healthy snacks help children and young people meet their daily nutritional needs.
• Snacks based on fruit and vegetables, reduced fat dairy products and whole grains are the healthiest choices.
• Avoid snacks that are high in sugar or saturated fats – such as chips, cakes and chocolate – which can cause children to put on excess weight.
• Practicing this is the start of the road to becoming more healthy than before. You can also view this article on Healthy Eating to balance everything.

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Google's update on the help page for its Location History feature to acknowledge the fact that the company still tracks users through use of its services like Google Maps, weather updates, and browser searches, according to a report from Associate Press.

As noted by the AP, the help page for the Location History setting has been updated to clarify that “This setting does not affect other location services on your device,” and that also “some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search and Maps.”

 
  AP had previously reported that Google was still tracking users who had disabled the Location History feature earlier this week, noting that while the company had originally claimed that “With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored,” in reality all that was happening was that Google was no longer adding user’s locations and movements to its Timeline feature — but that the company was still tracking users through other means. Nothing has changed, except for the updated language on the help page that now accurately reflects what’s happening.

How Users can Disable it
 But while the Location History toggle won’t actually stop Google from tracking you, users can turn that off by disabling the “Web and App Activity” option (which is enabled by default). Turn it off, and Google won’t be able to store and track your Maps data and browser searches for location anymore.