More mortgage lenders have announced further rate cuts, following a series of reductions last week.
Barclays is cutting rates across over 20 mortgage products from Wednesday. This includes a two-year fixed-rate home buyer mortgage for those with a 40% deposit, reduced from 4.95% to 4.60% (£899 fee). A five-year fixed-rate option for buyers with a 20% deposit will decrease from 5.11% to 4.96% (no product fee). Skipton Building Society will also reduce mortgage rates from Wednesday, alongside launching new products.
These moves follow similar reductions last week by HSBC UK, Halifax Intermediaries, Santander, and TSB, driven by easing swap rates, which lenders use to price mortgages. The Middle East conflict previously caused market volatility and uncertainty about interest rates.
Financial information website Moneyfacts noted average two and five-year homeowner mortgage rates were unchanged from Monday to Tuesday. Despite a recent plateau, rates have increased significantly in recent weeks. The average two-year fixed-rate homeowner mortgage was 4.83% at the start of March, rising to 5.87% by Tuesday morning.
The average five-year fixed-rate homeowner mortgage has risen from 4.95% at the start of March to 5.76% on Tuesday morning, according to Moneyfacts.
Barclays is making some mortgage rate reductions from Wednesday (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Archive)
Jen Lloyd, head of mortgage products and propositions at Skipton, said: “Following the reductions we made earlier this month, we’re pleased to be able to cut rates further.
“While falling rates offer encouraging signs for the market, a degree of caution remains important. Conditions continue to be volatile amid ongoing global conflicts and broader economic uncertainty, and it’s too early to say whether this marks a sustained downward trend.
“Against this backdrop, recent easing in swap rates has enabled us to pass on additional savings through our mortgage pricing.
“This is a welcome development for existing homeowners and prospective buyers alike, providing some much‑needed relief and a potential boost for home buyers at a time when affordability remains under pressure.
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Former State Controller Betty Yee, a Democrat suspended her bid for Californiagovernor this week, narrowing an already volatile primary field as betting markets show climate activist Tom Steyer and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra leading the race.
California’s top-two primary system means only the two highest vote-getters advance, regardless of party, raising fears that vote-splitting among Democrats could lock them out of November—even as Democratic voters in the state outnumber Republicans by nearly two to one, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Yee cited a lack of fundraising, limited polling traction and the realities of campaigning in some of the nation’s most expensive media markets as key reasons for stepping aside.
“It was becoming clear that the donors were not going to be there. Even some of my former supporters just felt like they needed to move on,” Yee told an online news conference about her decision, The Associated Press reported.
Prediction markets like Polymarket allow users to trade contracts tied to real-world outcomes, such as election winners.
Prices fluctuate based on trader sentiment, news events and available data, creating a constantly updated snapshot of perceived odds.
At the time of writing, Polymarket traders showed billionaire Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra effectively tied, with each at roughly a 36 percent implied chance of winning the gubernatorial race.
A second tier of candidates lags well back, with former representative Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Republican Steve Hilton each hovering around 6 percent, followed by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at roughly 4 percent.
Trading volume on the market has exceeded $11.5 million, reflecting unusually high engagement for a state-level contest.
Separate data from U.S.-regulated prediction market Kalshi paints a similar picture, but with former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra slightly ahead at around 41 percent, compared with Tom Steyer at roughly 38 percent.
Domestically, British data showed an unexpected fall in the jobless rate. However, this drop was primarily due to a rise in students not actively seeking work, rather than an increase in employment, while average weekly earnings also declined.
Analysts noted that sterling failed to strengthen because the February unemployment rate likely overstated the true health of the British labour market.
The former top official in Britain’s foreign ministry who was sacked over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as U.S. ambassador said on Tuesday he had come under a lot of pressure from the prime minister’s private office to resolve his security clearance quickly.
This “is perhaps one reason why sterling is not selling off more,” said Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING, after mentioning the Polymarket betting site, which gives a 4o per cent probability of Starmer leaving office by June and a 67% chance by December.
The pound was last down 0.28% at $1.3496. The euro was 0.1% higher against the pound at 87.10 pence.
The greenback rose on Tuesday after falling a day earlier as uncertainty over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran kept investors on the sidelines.
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Investors are also closely watching bets on future Bank of England rate hikes. Traders are now almost fully pricing one BoE rate hike this year, while indicating two rate increases for the European Central Bank.
Some analysts flagged that the pound performed quite well against the euro while markets removed a lot of the expected Bank of England tightening this year.
Hopes for a Middle East peace deal eased inflation fears and tempered expectations of a rapid policy tightening by central banks, including the BoE. Currencies tend to strengthen when central banks raise rates and weaken when they cut them.
ING said it expects no BoE rate hikes in 2026, adding that one tightening move may not be priced out until oil prices drop.
Omega-3 supplements can support heart, brain, and inflammatory health, but only when used thoughtfully. They work best for specific groups, should be taken with fat-containing meals, and require attention to formulation and dose. For many people, food remains the first and best source, while supplements act as a targeted support tool rather than a daily default.
A partnership to help take the headache out of the home buying process has been launched by mortgage giant Lloyds Banking Group, estate agency Connells Group and conveyancing provider LMS (Legal Marketing Services).
Those behind the announcement said it will reshape the way homes are bought and sold across England and Wales, with customers benefiting from a simpler process.
The digital home buyer service has been developed to cut “points of frustration” such as duplicated checks and long waiting times.
Customers should experience a smoother journey with fewer questions and less chasing, according to those behind the initiative.
The service aims to tackle issues with checks taking place earlier and information shared digitally between relevant parties using LMS’s property transaction network, a shared data-exchange platform.
It also aims to tackle the issue of repetitive requests for identity verification and minimise “late surprises” about properties.
The service runs on residential sale and purchase transactions within England and Wales, involving Connells branches, LMS‑panel conveyancers, and Lloyds Banking Group as the lender.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: “Too many people who have bought or sold a home will know this feeling all too well – months of waiting, chasing and worrying, with sales liable to fall through at any moment. It can quickly become a living nightmare.
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“It doesn’t need to be this difficult and that is why we have set out bold proposals to shake up the home buying and selling process.
“I’m pleased to see Lloyds Banking Group, Connells Group and LMS showing what’s possible by getting the right information to the right people earlier, cutting the delays and uncertainty that make moving home so stressful.”
Andrew Asaam, homes director, Lloyds Banking Group, said: “The process of buying or selling your home is too stressful, too slow, too laborious, and often collapses through no fault of your own.
“With this new digital service, we aim to cut the stress, increase the speed, reduce the workload for customers and limit the number of transactions that fall through. This could change the way we buy and sell homes.”
Chris Rosindale, chief operating officer at Connells Group, which has more than 1,200 branches, said: “We believe in reform that makes the system faster, more transparent and more reliable and are excited to be part of transformation in the sector.”
Nick Chadbourne, chief executive at LMS, said: “This initiative signals a serious move away from siloed processes and toward genuine market-wide reform.”
Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests.
The observational study, led by Jorge Nieva, MD, of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at Keck Medicine, was presented this month at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego. It has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Researchers looked at dietary, smoking and demographic data for 187 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer at age 50 or younger.
They found that among non-smokers, there was a link between healthier-than-average diets – rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and the chance of lung cancer development.
Young lung cancer patients ate more servings of dark green vegetables, legumes and whole grains compared to the average U.S. adult, the researchers found.
Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests.(iStock)
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association.
“Commercially produced (non-organic) fruits, vegetables and whole grains are more likely to be associated with a higher residue of pesticides than dairy, meat and many processed foods,” according to Nieva. He also noted that agricultural workers exposed to pesticides tend to have higher rates of lung cancer.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” Nieva told Fox News Digital.
The disease is becoming more common in non-smokers 50 and younger, especially women – despite the fact that smoking rates have been falling for decades, the researcher noted.
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association.(iStock)
“These patients tend to have eaten much healthier diets before their diagnosis than the average American,” he went on. “We need to support research into understanding why Americans – and women in particular – who no longer smoke very much are still having lung cancer,” he said.
The study did have some limitations, Nieva acknowledged, primarily that it relied on survey data and was limited by the participants’ memories of their food intake.
“Also, the survey participants were self-selected, and this could have biased the findings,” he told Fox News Digital.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking.”
The researchers did not test specific foods for pesticides, relying instead on average pesticide levels for certain types of food. Looking ahead, they plan to test patients’ blood and urine samples to directly measure pesticide levels, Nieva said.
Although the study shows only an association and does not prove that pesticides caused lung cancer, Nieva recommends that people wash their produce before eating and choose organic foods whenever possible.
“This work represents a critical step toward identifying modifiable environmental factors that may contribute to lung cancer in young adults,” said Nieva. “Our hope is that these insights can guide both public health recommendations and future investigation into lung cancer prevention.”
“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but is by no means certain,” a doctor said.(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said the study is “interesting,” but that it “raises far more questions than it answers.”
“It is a small study (around 150) and observational, so no proof,” the doctor, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.
“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but it is by no means certain,” Siegel went on. “How much exposure is needed? How much of it gets into food and in which areas? This requires much further study.”
Kayla Nichols, communications director for Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, a distributed global network, said the organization agrees with the study’s conclusion that more research should be done on the rise in lung cancer, particularly in individuals eating diets higher in produce and fiber.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” the researcher told Fox News Digital.(iStock)
“There is a bounty of existing research that already links pesticide exposure to increased risk of multiple types of cancers,” Nichols, who was also not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. She called for more research on chronic, low-level exposures to pesticides, as well as more effective policies to protect the public from pesticide residues on food.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as industry partners including AstraZeneca and Genentech, among others.
Fox News Digital reached out to several pesticide companies and trade groups for comment.
Melissa Rudy is senior health editor and a member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
Victoria Beckham has designed a new limited edition collection for Gap – 38 pieces to be exact, with a “perfect” white T-shirt, and the classic Gap logo hoodies, all reimagined with the addition of a Victoria Beckham logo.
Queues will be around the block as the on-trend 1990s-inspired items arrive in stores and online this Friday at a fraction of the price of her mainline collection, with items including the Capri jeans priced at £70, and a denim jacket, costing £95 – and in sizes from XS to XXL. Sharing a logo with Gap is reportedly a “pinch me moment” for Beckham. Lucratively, that may well be the case, as it gets her designs, loved by A-listers, out there to a far bigger audience.
But her main selling weapon? It’s Harper – yes! Her 14-year-old daughter, who, like any other child her age, is at school peobbly trying to get her head around GCSEs, is now being dragged into the bottomless pit of her parents’ PR machine, after the fashion designer told the Sunday Times: “Harper is going to love my Gap collection.”
Harper Beckham is going to love her mum’s new Gap collection – according to Victoria (Getty)
“She loves nothing more than shopping on the high street. She’s going to love the Gap collection when she gets her hands on it,” Beckham gushed in the interview. Sure Victoria, nothing like name-dropping your daughter to drum up business among the younger audience.
Beckham’s Gap collection is her latest performative parenting push – one of many – in the endless merry-go-round of her plugging the Beckham brand by involving her four children. It’s been speculated that Harper may even be part of the Gap campaign itself, following in the footsteps of Gwyneth Paltrow, who starred with her daughter Apple Martin in a campaign for GapStudio last autumn.
Beckham just can’t stop the brand machine firing even though Brooklyn, 27, has told us loud and clear in his lengthy six-page Instagram statement in January that such attention isn’t always welcome and a huge part of his reason for his family estrangement.
Brooklyn has no plans to reconcile with his famous parents, who he accuses of “controlling him for most of his life” – and listening to his mum banging on about his poor sister’s love of Gap, is just another example of what he said he hated the most.
“For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into,” he wrote.
Brooklyn Beckham pictured with his wife Nicola Peltz claims that his family values public promotion and endorsements above all else (Instagram)
“My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else. “Brand Beckham” comes first. Family ‘love’ is decided by how much you post on social media, or how quickly you drop everything to show up and pose for a family photo opp, even if it’s at the expense of our professional obligations.”
The family business model has been spinning for him ever since his parents sold his baby photos to OK! magazine. When his mother broke her silence on family estrangement for the first time, she told the Wall Street Journal: “All we’ve ever tried to do is protect and love our children”.
“We’ve always tried to be the best parents that we can be,” she said. “And you know, we’ve been in the public eye for more than 30 years right now, and all we’ve ever tried to do is protect our children and love our children. And you know, that’s all I really want to say about it.” You can almost hear the roll of Brooklyn’s eyes from here.
Victoria and her husband David Beckham have fully immersed their children in Brand Beckham from birth through micro-managed social media exposure, with a happy-clappy, loving family narrative, often tagging and photographing them to further their public image. They have been trotted out on the front row at fashion shows, paraded on their Netflix documentary, and asked to show up to every Victoria/David Beckham event like one big happy family.
No wonder Brooklyn has resorted to a brand new tattoo that reads “our little bubble” because his life with wife Nicola Peltz in LA has become his safe place. Whether his siblings will eventually feel the same remains to be seen. So far there a few signs of any of the others pulling away, perhaps because they haven’t allowed themselves to believe the love is performative, as Brooklyn claims, or they remain in denial about it – or are firmly loyal.
They are Brand Beckham – it’s all they’ve known. Victoria filed trademarks for all of her children’s names in 2017, covering extensive areas that include everything from beauty, media, electric train sets and ballpoint pens. Last month, it was reported that Harper was set to become the next Kylie Jenner with her own beauty line, which she’s named “HIKU by Harper”.
Harper is going to want a Hermes handbag, not track pants from Gap – and you can bet if she’s ever seen in Gap clothing, it’s only performative
Beckham’s youngest son, Cruz, is being touted by Brand Beckham as music’s next big thing in his indie band The Breakers – like some manufactured Mick Jagger in vintage Saint Laurent. And it can’t get more performative than Cruz penning the song “Loneliest Boy” with the lyrics about “breaking mama’s heart” – which fans are convinced are inspired by Brooklyn and his ongoing estrangement. Gold point for Cruz!
The Beckham family at Cruz’s 21st birthday party in February – without Brooklyn (Victoria Beckham/Instagram)
It’s hard for any child to criticise their own parents and take a deep look into a family that is supposedly as perfect as a Beckham Gap T-shirt. In normal circumstances, questioning the motives behind a parent’s actions is an unbearable task.
And there is always the possibility that this Gap collection might genuinely be a nostalgic trip down memory lane for Victoria. “I remember going to Gap with my mum and sister and being so excited by it,” she said in the interview. “Growing up, it was only ever the high street. I wasn’t in a position to wear designer clothes.”
Harper is in a very different place. Her daughter’s life experience isn’t an average home in Hertfordshire, as it was for Victoria growing up, but a Holland Park mega-mansion, an estate in the Cotswolds, a luxury Miami villa, an apartment in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and a £16m superyacht. She’s going to want a Hermes handbag, not track pants from Gap – and you can bet if she’s ever seen in Gap clothing, it’s only performative to help Brand Beckham.
President Donald Trump’s selection to chair the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, will testify in a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday as his nomination faces bipartisan opposition centered on a federal criminal investigation into the central bank’s current leader.
The probe into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which focuses on alleged false testimony to Congress about an office renovation, threatens to derail or delay Warsh’s nomination.
Powell, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, has rebuked the probe as a politically motivated effort to influence interest-rate policy.
Warsh, a former Fed official, will likely face scrutiny from some lawmakers eager for assurance that he will set interest rates based on economic conditions, even if it puts him out of step with Trump’s preference for low interest rates.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a potentially decisive vote on the committee, says he will not move to advance the nomination until the Department of Justice resolves its unprecedented investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell’s term as Fed chair ends on May 15, but he said last month he would stay in the position until Warsh is confirmed. For his part, Trump told Fox Business last week he would fire Powell if the current Fed chair attempts to remain in office past the end of his term.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the committee, voiced concern in a statement last week about what she considers Warsh’s perceived lack of independence, saying he may end up being “Donald Trump’s sock puppet.”
By contrast, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has dismissed such worries in a post on X last week.
Kevin Warsh, former governor of the US Federal Reserve, during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings at the IMF headquarters in Washington, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Under Warsh, Scott said, the Fed will “be focused solely on strengthening the American economy.”
Warsh, who previously worked on Wall Street and in the George W. Bush administration, brings experience in finance and policymaking.
He is currently a fellow at a conservative think tank called the Hoover Institution, which is based at Stanford University. He also works as a partner at the Duquesne Family Office, an investment firm founded by billionaire and former hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller.
In 2006, Bush appointed Warsh to serve on the Fed’s Board of Governors, a top policymaking body that helps set the level of interest rates, where he served until 2011. His tenure overlapped with the 2008 financial crisis, during which he helped manage the central bank’s response under then-Chair Ben Bernanke.
The nomination of Warsh arrives at a delicate moment for the Fed, as it grapples with a challenging combination of elevated inflation and sluggish hiring. An interest-rate hike could help ease inflation but risks a further cooldown of the labor market, while a rate cut may boost hiring but threatens higher inflation.
During his term as a Fed governor in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Warsh gained a reputation as an interest-rate “hawk,” meaning he generally preferred higher interest rates as a means of ensuring low and stable inflation.
In recent months, however, Warsh has voiced support for lower interest rates, rebuking the Fed’s concern about inflation risk posed by a flurry of new tariffs issued last year.
Those remarks came before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, however, which sent inflation soaring last month.
The rapid acceleration of price increases could complicate interest rate policy at the Fed, which may be reluctant to lower borrowing costs as inflation climbs.
With 13 medals between them, Alex ‘Tattie’ Marshall and Paul Foster headline the Scottish bowls team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.
The vastly experienced duo will team up in the men’s pairs event, which they won at Glasgow 2014.
On his eighth Games selection, Marshall, who has seven medals in his collection, said: “It is always such an honour and privilege to be selected to represent Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
“To have another opportunity to be a part of a home Games is also not lost on me, and I know that Paul and I will give it our very best to try and win a medal for the team.”
Marshall’s niece Beth Riva, who won 2025 World Championship mixed pairs with Jason Banks last year, will join Caroline Brown in the women’s pairs.
Banks will also make his Team Scotland debut in the singles event.
For the first time in Games history, all of the bowls and para bowls will be played indoors at the SEC Centre.
In the para team, Pauline Wilson, Garry Brown, Robert Barr and his director Sarah Jane Ewing are all aiming for repeat golds after topping the podium at Birmingham 2022.
