The beds are full at the National Centre for the Rehabilitation of Addicts (NCRA), one of only two public addiction rehabilitation facilities in Jordan. In the midst of the busy centre, Ahmad*, 34, takes a breath in the facility's garden. The young man is on his eighth day of treatment for addiction to crystal methamphetamine. Cases of crystal meth abuse are rising throughout Jordan – according to doctors and scientists, the drug is even more addictive and dangerous than the now widely-available and also highly-addictive amphetamine, captagon. "On crystal [meth], I felt I was a different person," he told Al Jazeera, glancing down at the tattoo sleeves that envelop his arms, his brothers' names inscribed around each bicep.

New York-based Blackbird.AI has closed a $10 million Series A as it prepares to launched the next version of its disinformation intelligence platform this fall. The Series A is led by Dorilton Ventures, along with new investors including Generation Ventures, Trousdale Ventures, StartFast Ventures and Richard Clarke, former chief counter-terrorism advisor for the National Security Council. Existing investor NetX also participated. Blackbird says it'll be used to scale up to meet demand in new and existing markets, including by expanding its team and spending more on product dev. The 2017-founded startup sells software as a service targeted at brands and enterprises managing risks related to malicious and manipulative information -- touting the notion of defending the "authenticity" of corporate marketing.