Today's extraordinary projections of the course of the economy over the rest of the year from the Bank of England are, bizarrely, both worse and better than might be feared.

Closing schools in response to the coronavirus has "opened up a chasm" between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and the rest, according to research.

Low staff numbers and a lack of PPE are among the challenges facing schools as they draw together plans to reopen.

Ever since lockdown began on 23 March, hair salons have been closed and people have been forced to come up with alternative methods to keep their locks in check.

Wales has taken the first step to easing lockdown by relaxing exercise rules and reopening some libraries, tips and garden centres.

A father has been charged with murdering his two young children who had their throats cut at the Ilford family home.

Garden centres in England will be allowed to reopen next week as part of the Government's first-step measures to ease the coronavirus lockdown.

Boris Johnson will reveal on Sunday the Government's "road map" on how it will lift restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, in what is expected to be a "modest" easing of lockdown.

Some 140 people were found making their way to Britain by the Border Force and brought ashore at Dover, according to Sky News.

Working from home requires a lot of technical setup, which is ... not a smooth process for some. NPR's Scott Simon and Jessica Hansen play out a scenario many might be familiar with.

The Supreme Court is now holding hearings over a teleconference, making the audio publicly available. Jerry Goldman, the founder of the Oyez Project, offers some guidance on how to listen to it.

The company has faced criticism in recent years for its handling of issues ranging from user privacy to policing hate speech to stopping the spread of disinformation.

Pianist-singer behind “Tutti Frutti,” “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Long Tall Sally” set the template that a generation of musicians would follow

The post Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers, Dead at 87 appeared first on My Site.

Dr. Joseph Allen studies where building design meets health—he took our questions for 30min.

The author of The Miniaturist on the beguiling blend of tradition and modernity (and pancakes) in a city that provided the inspiration for her 17th-century-set debut novel and Waterstones Book of the Year 2014

• Top 10 free things to do in Amsterdam
  
• A new Amsterdam – and a new Rijksmuseum

Amsterdam is classically romantic but is also funky, forward-thinking and citizen-friendly. In the old centre, around the southern canal belt, there are these beautiful 17th-century merchants’ houses that 21st-century Amsterdammers still live in. I’ve always thought it wears its historical cloak quite casually and doesn’t just dwell in the past.

The Rijksmuseum is stunning and I love it as a fascinating, cool, accessible museum, as well as for the part it played in inspiring The Miniaturist. I came across Petronella Oortman’s doll’s house there by chance. It’s an exact scale replica of her real home, and Oortman spent a fortune having it created. I thought at the time it was an interesting story, but I didn’t think I was going to write a novel about it. I’m in its debt, really.

The first known comet to visit us from another star system has an unusual make-up.

UK scientists provide a new estimate for the amount of space rock falling to Earth each year.

Smartphones can be used to digitally trace Covid-19. But not if the public don’t download an app over privacy fears – or find it won’t work on their device

The idea of the NHS tracing app is to enable smartphones to track users and tell them whether they interacted with someone who had Covid-19. Yet this will work only if large proportions of the population download the app. No matter how smart a solution may appear, mass consent is required. That will not be easy. Ministers and officials have failed to address the trade-offs between health and privacy by being ambiguous about the app’s safeguards.

Instead of offering cast-iron guarantees about the length of time for which data would be held; who can access it; and the level of anonymity afforded, we have had opacity and obfuscation. It is true that we are dealing with uncertainties. But without absolute clarity about privacy the public is unlikely to take up the app with the appropriate gusto.

The chance to put biodiversity and the environment at the heart of recovery from the pandemic should not be squandered

One night in April, birdwatchers from around Britain stepped outside their doors and listened intently to something most of them had never experienced before: the fluting, mysterious, melancholy cry of the common scoter on the wing.

Flocks of these dusky sea ducks were beating their way over Britain on their long migratory journey towards their Arctic breeding grounds, easily audible to the naked ear. The first great wave was heard on the Wirral before being picked up in the Peak District, and at last by the Humber. A second wave was made out as flocks made their way along the line of Hadrian’s wall, from the Solway Firth in the west to Northumberland in the east. A third wave flew above listeners from the Severn estuary to the Wash. The birds were heard in urban Blackburn, Stalybridge, Bristol and London. It was thanks to social media that so many listeners were alert to the birds’ progress – and thanks to the silence of lockdown that they could be heard.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford dropped by his cottage last month, days after asking the province’s residents to stay away from theirs. His office says Ford "drove alone" and was there for less than an hour to check on construction.

Danish Chagani was excited when the lawyer who lived down the hall from his Toronto condo wanted to rent his unit after he bought a house for his young family. But the first-time landlord says the feeling was short-lived.

A hard Brexit is more likely due to the coronavirus crisis because Britain and the European Union have made so little progress in talks, Germany's foreign minister has said. Heiko Maas said that negotiations between Britain and the EU so far on the future trade relationship had yielded few gains with the UK disregarding the political declaration, which he said was "simply not on". Britain left the EU in January, and talks with the bloc are now focused on setting new trading terms from 2021, when London's status-quo transition period ends. However, the talks quickly hit an impasse when negotiations resumed last month, according to diplomats and officials. "It's worrying that Britain is moving further away from our jointly agreed political declaration on key issues in the negotiations," Mr Maas told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. "It's simply not on, because the negotiations are a complete package as it's laid out in the political declaration." Mr Maas said there was currently neither common ground on how to shape a comprehensive trade deal or on whether to extend the negotiation period beyond the end of the year. "The British government is still refusing to extend the deadline," Mr Maas said. "If it stays that way, we will have to deal with Brexit in addition to the coronavirus at the turn of the year." Simon Coveney, Ireland's foreign minister, said on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic had made an already difficult timeline for a British-European Union trade deal "virtually impossible" and that it would make sense to seek more time.

The Asian giant hornet stings through clothing like a red-hot needle and slaughters honeybees by the thousands.

The agreement would be the latest effort to cultivate allies around NASA’s plan to put humans and space stations on the moon within the next decade, and comes as the civilian space agency plays a growing role in implementing American foreign policy.

Police complaints commissioner raises questions about explanation for not recommending criminal charges. 

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Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is currently $37.50 on cdkeys.com. Yesterday it was $41. 

https://www.cdkeys.com/pc/games/mount-and-blade-ii-2-bannerlord-pc

On Steam its MSRP is $50 with a limited time sale going on now for $45. The game just came out to Early Access 3/31.

The question now is: jump now on the good price, or will the price continue to fall?

Note: It's in Early Access and has been in development for like 8 years. Expect some clunk.

It's a bumper crop of BonusCash at your local Rite-Aid this week, with not 1, 2, 3, but 4 gaming GC's, and 1 of those gives you even more options!

• Nike, GameStop, Netflix ... $5 BonusCash when you buy $25 of these items.*
• Google Play, AMC Theatres, Apple AppStore/iTunes, Fandango, XBOX, Panera Bread, Regal Theatres ... $6 BonusCash when you buy $30 of these items.*

FYI, "GameStop" is a big win, because not only can you purchase (additional) XBOX, PSN, Nintendo, and Steam credit there, but you order the GC credit from their website, and get a redemption code instantly after checkout.
 
For those who are new to the "Rite-Aid wellness+ reward BonusCash" program, you'll receive the $$$ amount when you purchase the minimum amount specified. Gift-cards within the same bullet-point share the same "limit 2 offers per customer", but you can earn rewards on the other bullet-point lines as well. For example, you can purchase $25 each of GameStop & Netflix (or $50 of GameStop) ... and still be able to purchase another $60 mix of Google & Apple & XBOX, and can stagger your 4 GC purchases throughout the week.

Screenshot of 2 separate GC offers (bullet points) included here:

• if you've met the limit of 2 items per BonusCash group with the current transaction, or
• if the transaction you're about to complete exceeds the limit of 2 per week, or
• when your BonusCash rewards will expire.

Luckily the mobile RiteAid app (and website) list your individual accumulation & cashing out on a per transaction basis, so that's a good way to keep tabs on the expiration dates, since you only get 30 days to spend the BonusCash once earned. Good luck!