diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index 8d6188e..85c05bd 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import os
-import logging
 import smtplib
 from email.mime.text import MIMEText
+from functools import wraps
+from urllib.parse import urlparse, urljoin
+
 from flask import (
     Flask,
     render_template,
@@ -11,135 +13,222 @@ from flask import (
     flash,
     session,
 )
+from markupsafe import escape
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
 from werkzeug.security import check_password_hash
-from functools import wraps  # Import wraps
-from database import get_connection, init_db, get_all_emails, get_admin, create_default_admin
+
+from database import (
+    get_connection,
+    init_db,
+    get_all_emails,
+    get_admin,
+    create_default_admin,
+)
 
 load_dotenv()
+
 app = Flask(__name__)
 app.secret_key = os.getenv("SECRET_KEY")
-base_url = os.getenv("BASE_URL")
+base_url = os.getenv("BASE_URL", "").strip().strip("/")
 
-# SMTP settings (for sending update emails)
 SMTP_SERVER = os.getenv("SMTP_SERVER")
 SMTP_PORT = int(os.getenv("SMTP_PORT", 465))
 SMTP_USER = os.getenv("SMTP_USER")
 SMTP_PASSWORD = os.getenv("SMTP_PASSWORD")
-SENDER_EMAIL = os.getenv("SENDER_EMAIL", SMTP_USER) # Use SENDER_EMAIL
+SENDER_EMAIL = os.getenv("SENDER_EMAIL", SMTP_USER)
 
-# Logging setup
-logging.basicConfig(
-    level=logging.INFO, format="%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s"
-)
-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
-# Initialize the database and create default admin user if necessary.
 init_db()
 create_default_admin()
 
-# Decorator for requiring login
+
 def login_required(f):
-    @wraps(f)  # Use wraps to preserve function metadata
+    @wraps(f)
     def decorated_function(*args, **kwargs):
         if "username" not in session:
-            return redirect(url_for("login"))
+            next_url = request.full_path if request.query_string else request.path
+            return redirect(url_for("login", next=next_url))
         return f(*args, **kwargs)
 
     return decorated_function
 
 
-def send_update_email(subject, body, email):
-    """Sends email, returns True on success, False on failure."""
+def get_dashboard_counts():
+    """Return dict of counts: total subscribers, total newsletters, sent today."""
+    counts = {"total_subscribers": 0, "total_newsletters": 0, "sent_today": 0}
     try:
-        server = smtplib.SMTP_SSL(SMTP_SERVER, SMTP_PORT, timeout=10)
-        server.set_debuglevel(False)  # Keep debug level at False for production
-        server.login(SMTP_USER, SMTP_PASSWORD)
-
-        unsub_link = f"https://{base_url}/unsubscribe?email={email}"
-        custom_body = (
-            f"{body}<br><br>"
-            f"If you ever wish to unsubscribe, please click <a href='{unsub_link}'>here</a>"
-        )
-
-        msg = MIMEText(custom_body, "html", "utf-8")
-        msg["Subject"] = subject
-        msg["From"] = SENDER_EMAIL  # Use sender email
-        msg["To"] = email
-
-        server.sendmail(SENDER_EMAIL, email, msg.as_string())  # Use sender email
-
-        server.quit()
-        logger.info(f"Update email sent to: {email}")
-        return True
-    except Exception as e:
-        logger.error(f"Failed to send email to {email}: {e}")
-        return False
-
-
-def process_send_update_email(subject, body):
-    """Helper function to send an update email to all subscribers."""
-    subscribers = get_all_emails()
-    if not subscribers:
-        return "No subscribers found."
-    try:
-        for email in subscribers:
-            if not send_update_email(subject, body, email):
-                return f"Failed to send to {email}"  # Specific failure message
-
-        # Log newsletter content for audit purposes
         conn = get_connection()
-        cursor = conn.cursor()
-        cursor.execute(
-            "INSERT INTO newsletters (subject, body) VALUES (%s, %s)", (subject, body)
-        )
-        conn.commit()
-        cursor.close()
-        conn.close()
+        cur = conn.cursor()
+        cur.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM subscribers")
+        counts["total_subscribers"] = cur.fetchone()[0] or 0
 
+        cur.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM newsletters")
+        counts["total_newsletters"] = cur.fetchone()[0] or 0
+
+        cur.execute(
+            """
+            SELECT COUNT(*)
+            FROM newsletters
+            WHERE sent_at::date = CURRENT_DATE
+            """
+        )
+        counts["sent_today"] = cur.fetchone()[0] or 0
+
+        cur.close()
+        conn.close()
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+    return counts
+
+
+def is_safe_url(target: str) -> bool:
+    if not target:
+        return False
+    ref = urlparse(request.host_url)
+    test = urlparse(urljoin(request.host_url, target))
+    return test.scheme in ("http", "https") and ref.netloc == test.netloc
+
+
+def send_update_email(subject: str, body_html: str, email: str) -> bool:
+    """Send a single HTML email with retries."""
+    max_retries = 3
+    retry_count = 0
+
+    unsub_link = ""
+    if base_url:
+        unsub_link = f"https://{base_url}/unsubscribe?email={email}"
+
+    if unsub_link:
+        custom_body = (
+            f"{body_html}"
+            f"<br><br>"
+            f"If you ever wish to unsubscribe, please click "
+            f"<a href='{unsub_link}'>here</a>."
+        )
+    else:
+        custom_body = body_html
+
+    while retry_count < max_retries:
+        try:
+            server = smtplib.SMTP_SSL(SMTP_SERVER, SMTP_PORT, timeout=10)
+            server.set_debuglevel(0)
+            server.login(SMTP_USER, SMTP_PASSWORD)
+
+            msg = MIMEText(custom_body, "html", "utf-8")
+            msg["Subject"] = subject
+            msg["From"] = SENDER_EMAIL
+            msg["To"] = email
+
+            server.sendmail(SENDER_EMAIL, [email], msg.as_string())
+            server.quit()
+            return True
+        except Exception:
+            retry_count += 1
+            if retry_count >= max_retries:
+                break
+            import time
+
+            time.sleep(1.0)
+
+    return False
+
+
+def process_send_update_email(subject: str, body_html: str) -> str:
+    """Send update email to all subscribers and log newsletter content."""
+    try:
+        subscribers = get_all_emails()
+        if not subscribers:
+            return "No subscribers found."
+
+        failures = []
+        for email in subscribers:
+            if not send_update_email(subject, body_html, email):
+                failures.append(email)
+
+        try:
+            conn = get_connection()
+            cursor = conn.cursor()
+            cursor.execute(
+                "INSERT INTO newsletters (subject, body) VALUES (%s, %s)",
+                (subject, body_html),
+            )
+            conn.commit()
+            cursor.close()
+            conn.close()
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+
+        if failures:
+            return f"Sent with failures: {len(failures)} recipients failed."
         return "Email has been sent to all subscribers."
     except Exception as e:
-        logger.exception("Error processing sending updates")
         return f"Failed to send email: {e}"
 
 
-@app.route("/")
+@app.route("/", methods=["GET"])
 @login_required
 def index():
-    """Displays all subscriber emails"""
-    emails = get_all_emails()
-    return render_template("admin_index.html", emails=emails)
+    """Dashboard: list subscriber emails and show widgets."""
+    emails = []
+    try:
+        emails = get_all_emails()
+    except Exception:
+        flash("Could not load subscribers right now.", "danger")
+
+    counts = get_dashboard_counts()
+    return render_template("admin_index.html", emails=emails, counts=counts)
+
 
 @app.route("/send_update", methods=["GET", "POST"])
 @login_required
 def send_update():
-    """Display a form to send an update email; process submission on POST."""
     if request.method == "POST":
-        subject = request.form["subject"]
-        body = request.form["body"]
-        result_message = process_send_update_email(subject, body)
-        flash(result_message)
+        subject = (request.form.get("subject") or "").strip()
+        body_html = request.form.get("body") or ""
+
+        if not subject or not body_html:
+            flash("Subject and body are required", "danger")
+            return redirect(url_for("send_update"))
+
+        result_message = process_send_update_email(subject, body_html)
+        flash(escape(result_message))
         return redirect(url_for("send_update"))
+
     return render_template("send_update.html")
 
 
 @app.route("/login", methods=["GET", "POST"])
 def login():
     if request.method == "POST":
-        username = request.form.get("username")
-        password = request.form.get("password")
+        username = (request.form.get("username") or "").strip()
+        password = (request.form.get("password") or "").strip()
+
+        if not username or not password:
+            flash("Username and password are required", "danger")
+            return redirect(url_for("login"))
+
         admin = get_admin(username)
         if admin and check_password_hash(admin[1], password):
             session["username"] = username
+            session.permanent = True
+            app.config["SESSION_COOKIE_HTTPONLY"] = True
+            app.config["SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE"] = True
+            app.config["SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE"] = "Lax"
+
+            next_url = request.args.get("next")
+            if next_url and is_safe_url(next_url):
+                flash("Logged in successfully", "success")
+                return redirect(next_url)
+
             flash("Logged in successfully", "success")
             return redirect(url_for("index"))
         else:
             flash("Invalid username or password", "danger")
             return redirect(url_for("login"))
+
     return render_template("login.html")
 
 
-@app.route("/logout")
+@app.route("/logout", methods=["GET"])
 def logout():
     session.pop("username", None)
     flash("Logged out successfully", "success")
@@ -147,4 +236,9 @@ def logout():
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    app.run(port=5001, debug=True)
+    is_prod = os.getenv("ENVIRONMENT", "development").lower() == "production"
+    app.config["PREFERRED_URL_SCHEME"] = "https" if is_prod else "http"
+    if is_prod:
+        app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=5001, debug=False, use_reloader=False)
+    else:
+        app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=5001, debug=True, use_reloader=True)
\ No newline at end of file