HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)—Sales of beer have surged by 50 percent in Zimbabwe over the past year amid the misery of daily power and water outages and ongoing economic woes.

BEER SALES SURGE—A man drinks a beer in Harare, Sept, 9. Beer sales have surged by 50 percent in Zimbabwe over the past year amid the misery of daily power and water outages and ongoing economic woes.

Health authorities also are reporting increases in illnesses linked to the consumption of illegal, homemade drinks with a high alcohol content made from potatoes, rags, chemicals, rotting vegetables and sugar.

One illegal liquor distilled over wood fires in the bush around Harare is known as “Take Me Quick.”

At an angle, not straight down.

The scientists at the University of Reims say pouring bubbly at a slant, as you would a beer, preserves more of the tiny gas bubbles that improve the drink’s flavor and aromas.

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT—Pouring your bubbly at a angle is the best way.

(NNPA/GIN)—An American aid worker and Congolese doctor reported last week that nearly 200 women and some young boys were gang-raped by Congolese and Rwandan rebels over four days within miles of a U.N. peacekeepers’ base in an eastern Democratic Republic of Congo mining district.

More than three weeks later, the U.N. mission has issued no statement about the atrocities and said Monday it still is investigating.

Congolese culture itself did not openly speak of rape until very recently.

An estimated 500,000 women and girls have been victims of sexual violence since the Second Congo War began in 1996.

JOHANNESBURG (AP)—A trustee of a Nelson Mandela charity said he will leave the organization after being caught up in a scandal involving a supermodel, a warlord and rough diamonds.

The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund announced Aug. 18 that its former chief executive, Jeremy Ractliffe, was stepping down from the charity’s board after he acknowledged that he secretly possessed alleged “blood diamonds” for more than a decade.

GIVING TESTIMONY—Naomi Campbell is seen on a screen in the pressroom of the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam, Netherlands, Aug. 5.