When authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes feel threatened by their public, they often shut down the internet. But such disruptions are not without costs. And one advocacy group has devised a way of calculating that cost.

Former Liverpool, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and England striker Rickie Lambert has sparked mockery and alarm after footage surfaced of him sharing a bizarre conspiracy theory about talking negatively to glasses of water. The ex-footballer, now aged 41, has become more and more outspoken as of later sharing views that many would consider to be controversial. A recent clip of Lambert has now gone viral where he says during an apparent interview, that scientists have done experiments where they speak positively and negatively to different glasses of water to see if it makes it clean. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In a sincere tone and with a straight-face Lambert says: "They’ve [scientists] done a test where you spoke positively to one glass of water, froze it, spoke negatively to another glass of water, froze it. Then [they] examined the ice. "The negativity water was full of holes and blackness. The glass of water that was spoke to positively was full of crystals. "They’ve done experiments to the word, to the word, and the water responded the same way every time if you spoke to it a certain way. "The one word where water responds in the most beautiful way and [produced] the most beautiful crystals is showing gratitude to water. So everything I was saying about manifestation is it down to showing gratitude." The clip which has been viewed nearly one million times on Twitter has since sparked a ton of memes mocking Lambert for this bizarre theory. Mockery aside, is Lambert talking nonsense or is this actually a piece of science fact. Well, Dr Masaru Emoto and did find that water that was exposed to positive words formed symmetrical crystalline structures when it was frozen and disorganized, asymmetrical structures were formed in frozen water that had been exposed to negative words. Water Has Memory! Dr. Masaru Emoto's Water Experiment! www.youtube.com Of course, this is just one person's theory but at least Lambert has been doing his own research. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora was on the receiving end of fan frustration for his bullpen management in a loss to the Houston Astros.

Pep Guardiola felt his team were given a useful test after coming from behind to begin their Champions League defence with a 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade. The holders were stunned when the Serbian champions claimed a shock lead on the stroke of half-time through Osman Bukari in Tuesday’s Group G clash at the Etihad Stadium. Yet as they did in the Premier League at West Ham last weekend, they hit back to win after the break, this time with two goals from Julian Alvarez and one from Rodri. City manager Guardiola said: “At the end, going in at half-time 1-0, after what we’ve done that’s nice – after winning the treble we need to be the type of champions who prove to ourselves that we are able to make a comeback. “In this situation it’s nice to prove it. In both games we played incredible and immediately at the start of the second half. “We have things to improve in general but that’s really, really good.” Guardiola was particularly impressed with the performance of his goalscorers. Alvarez has benefited from a run in the side this season while Rodri, match-winner in last season’s final, continues to excel. Guardiola said of Alvarez: “His movement was so quick and he’s so young. What a signing the club have done. “He has everything – fighting, goals, assists. Incredible. And he’s a lovely guy. Playing behind Erling (Haaland) he is an incredible threat.” Rodri has developed into one of the best midfielders in the game during his time at City and Guardiola is in no doubt he is now at the top. He said: “Yes, he’s the best – but hopefully he can be better. He has a good mentality and good things to improve. “But we were lucky again that the club has signed these type of players.” The downside for City was the loss of Bernardo Silva shortly before half-time with an unspecified injury. Guardiola said: “I didn’t speak with the doctors but apparently for the next games he will not be able to play.” The Portuguese joins an injury list that includes Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic. Guardiola said: “When we have five important players – really, really important players – injured, to sustain that for a long time will be difficult. But it is what it is. “We cannot have the salaries and budgets for transfers to have 55 players. It would be chaos for the clubs and they would be bankrupt. Sometimes it happens.” Red Star coach Barak Bachar admitted City were the better side. He said: “We tried, we fought, but we conceded an early goal in the second half. They should have scored more. “They are a great team, they have exceptional players. After we conceded it was difficult to maintain the pace, because we never play at this pace in our league. We learned a lot from this match.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Eddie Howe feels Newcastle’s point at AC Milan will ‘look better and better’ Erik ten Hag concerned by Manchester United’s mounting injury problems England’s Rachel Daly believes calendar in women’s game needs a re-think

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