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'It's a nightmare': woman faces £1,300 demand due to universal credit fraud

Scammers took advantage after the government suspended face-to-face interviews with claimants A Hampshire woman, whose identity was used by fraudsters to apply for a £1,300 universal credit advance, has been told by investigators that they are dealing with thousands of similar cases, and that “it could have happened to anyone”. In March, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suspended face-to-face interviews for new applicants. Continue reading... from https://ift.tt/1Zwy43B https://ift.tt/3prkySY Check out https://ronaldstoner.weebly.com

Study adds to calls to ban dogs from beaches during nesting season

Research reveals how ground-nesting birds frequently scared from nest by off-lead canines There is only one thing more terrifying for a nesting bird than a person walking nearby: when that two-legged beast is joined by a four-legged companion. A study of how ground-nesting birds are disturbed on beaches in Spain has revealed how they are almost always scared from their nests by passing off-lead dogs, but seem unperturbed by motorbikes, helicopters and low-flying planes. Continue reading... from https://ift.tt/1Zwy43B https://ift.tt/3pvDVds Check out https://ronaldstoner.weebly.com

Covid jobs crisis could have lasting impact on young people's pensions

New figures show only a few years out of the workforce can have a big effect on a retirement fund The rise in the youth unemployment rate caused by the coronavirus pandemic is terrible news for Britain’s young adults – and could have a lifelong impact on their financial security, wiping out a large portion of their pension benefits. Figures prepared exclusively for Guardian Money reveal how only a few years outside the workforce can have a dramatic effect on a person’s chances of building up a pension. Contributions in the early years of someone’s working life are crucial in generating a satisfactory sum to live on in retirement. Continue reading... from https://ift.tt/1Zwy43B https://ift.tt/38IlCMc Check out https://ronaldstoner.weebly.com

Pandemic drives ebook and audiobook sales by UK publishers to all-time high

Printed book sales plunge in first six months of 2020 on back of shop and school closures See all our coronavirus coverage Sales of digital books by British publishers are set to hit an all-time high this year as the public turns to reading to escape pandemic cabin fever. However, the ebook and audiobook boom comes at a high cost for the industry, with global sales of printed books by UK publishers plunging by 55m in the first six months of the year as high streets and schools closed during the first coronavirus lockdown. Continue reading... from https://ift.tt/1Zwy43B https://ift.tt/38CbLHY Check out https://ronaldstoner.weebly.com

‘I want to give my child the best’: the race to grow human breast milk in a lab

Thought up by a tired new mother, and now backed by Bill Gates, manufactured human milk sounds like the stuff of science fiction. But just how liberating will it be? Dr Leila Strickland became a mother when she was a few months away from completing her postdoctorate fellowship in cell biology at Stanford University. She spent the first three months of her son’s life “at home on maternity leave, relentlessly struggling to breastfeed. I was having a hard time producing enough milk.” She never expected to find feeding her baby a greater challenge than advanced cytology. “My mom breastfed me and my sister until we were over two years old. All my life, I’d fully embraced the proposition that breast milk is the best nutrition for a baby, and that this is what I would feed my baby.” Lactation consultants, paediatricians and well-meaning friends told her to just keep trying. “Because I was so unprepared for it, I found it really isolating. I felt like there was something wrong with me.” Co...

How to get good at chess

You don’t have to be a polymath like Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit to improve your game The first thing to say about chess is that we are not all natural geniuses like Beth Harmon, the star of The Queen’s Gambit , who is taught the game by grumpy but lovable janitor Mr Shaibel at the age of nine and is very soon beating him. The daughter of a maths PhD, she sees the patterns and movement in chess immediately, can visualise effortlessly – being able to memorise moves and play without a board is the sign of chess mastery – and sees whole games on the ceiling of her orphanage dormitory. She is a prodigy, just like world champion Bobby Fischer, on whom Walter Tevis based the novel from which the TV series is drawn. We are mere mortals. So how do we get good? Continue reading... from https://ift.tt/1Zwy43B https://ift.tt/35uVYZp Check out https://ronaldstoner.weebly.com

SpaceX delays Crew Dragon launch due to poor weather

Forecasts of gusty, onshore winds over Florida force reschedule to Sunday of first full mission carrying four astronauts Nasa and SpaceX have announced a 24-hour weather delay of their planned launch of four astronauts into orbit for America’s first fully fledged human mission using a privately owned spacecraft. The liftoff time slipped from Saturday to Sunday evening due to forecasts of gusty, onshore winds over Florida – remnants of storm Eta – that would have jeopardised a return landing for the Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable booster stage, Nasa officials said. Continue reading... from https://ift.tt/1Zwy43B https://ift.tt/35wTJoF Check out https://ronaldstoner.weebly.com