Today's Mortgage Refinance Rates -- January 19, 2021: Rates Keep Inching Up, but Remain Competitive
Although average mortgage refinance rates climbed slightly for the 30-year and 15-year refinance loan, rates remain extremely competitive on Jan. 19.
General counsel wrote a letter to the White House ‘respectfully’ declining to resign before she was eventually removed from her post
The Duchess of Sussex “went mental” at her personal assistant for ordering blankets that were the wrong shade of red, it has been claimed. Meghan, 39, is said to have had “unattainably high demands” causing untold tensions with her Kensington Palace staff. When she hosted a shooting party at Sandringham for Prince Harry’s friends, shortly after their engagement, she allegedly told her PA, Melissa Touabti, to order red, personally embroidered blankets for each of the guests. A source told the Sunday Times: “When they arrived, they weren’t the right shade of red for Meghan and she went mental at Melissa.” Ms Toubati is said to have left “traumatised” by the Duchess’s alleged behaviour and left the Royal Household six months after the Sussexes’ wedding, amid claims she had been reduced to tears.
Everyone aged 56 and over will be invited for jabs this week, NHS England has announced. Hundreds of thousands of letters for those aged between 56 and 59 began landing on doorsteps on Saturday. The latest round of invitations comes after eight in 10 people aged 65 to 69 took up the offer of inoculation. More than 18 million people in England - more than a third of the adult population - have already received a vaccine. Across the UK, more than a million people have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, while almost 21.4 million people have had one dose. Dr Nikki Kanani, NHS England national medical director for primary care, said: "It is testament to our incredible staff that we can now move on to the next age group. The vaccines are both safe and effective, so if anybody who is eligible hasn't been vaccinated yet, I'd urge them to go online or call 119 and get themselves booked in."
More than third of Scottish voters less likely to vote for cutting ties with rest of UK after events of recent days
The European Union should shake off its ill will and build a good relationship with Britain as sovereign equals, Britain's top EU adviser David Frost said on Sunday, promising to stand up for the country's interests. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Frost again defended Britain's unilateral move to smooth post-Brexit trade between Britain and Northern Ireland, over which the EU has promised to launch legal action for breaching the terms of the Brexit deal. Since Britain left the EU last year, relations between the two have soured, with both sides accusing the other of acting in bad faith in relation to part of their trade agreement that covers goods movements to Northern Ireland.
Brexit is done - and so is Nigel Farage. The former leader of the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party, credited even by his sharpest critics as the most influential politician of the past two decades, has finally quit politics. And this time it is for good. In an interview with this weekend’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, which you can listen to on the audio player above, Mr Farage announces he is resigning as leader of the Reform Party and turning his back on politics after three decades of political street fighting. He says: “There is no going back - Brexit is done. That won’t be reversed. I know I’ve come back once or twice when people thought I’d gone, but this is it. It’s done. It’s over.” Mr Farage famously quit after the 2016 referendum, saying "I want my life back", but then reformed the Brexit Party two years later in 2018 to exploit disaffection with the way the Government was handling the Brexit negotiations. He adds: “Now's the moment for me to say I've knocked on my last door. I'm going to step down as the leader of Reform UK. I'll have no executive position at all. I'm quite happy to have an honorary one, but party politics, campaigning, being involved in elections, that is now over for me because I've achieved the one thing I set out to do: to achieve the independence of the UK.” The 56-year-old insists that he had no plans to retire, saying: “I'm not packing up. I'm not off to play golf four afternoons a week and have half a bitter afterwards. That's not happening.” Instead, he will be trying to influence the national debate on China’s influence in the UK and the battles over the so-called culture wars.
She accused critics of the Duchess of being racist
‘Population immunity’ to flu and other viruses may have been impacted by Covid health measures, government adviser says
Last month Boris Johnson made his long-awaited speech to Parliament and announced a number of key dates for reopening Britain. The Government has always said that reopening schools would be the priority when lockdown is eased, with Monday previously set as the target date. According to a statement from the National Education Union, a full return would mean 10 million pupils and staff travelling to and from school each day.
Drivers who get straight behind the wheel after having a Coronavirus vaccination could be at risk of invalidating their car insurance, a leading motoring lawyer has warned. Nick Freeman, who was dubbed Mr Loophole after getting a string of celebrities off motoring charges, said having a jab is classed as a medical procedure and therefore drivers are unlikely to be covered by their policy if they are involved in an accident on the way home. He said it could be a particular issue with drive through vaccination centres and he has recommended that people do not drive immediately after getting a coronavirus jab.
Two men arrested and being treated in hospital
The Royal family will assume the brace position as it awaits a stream of damaging revelations by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their Oprah Winfrey interview. The slickly produced, dramatic teasers quashed any lingering hopes that the couple might stick to more mundane and diplomatic subject matters. Instead, they will tell “their truth”, lifting the lid on life behind palace walls in a manner no member of the family has done for decades. The couple intend the interview to draw a line under their grievances and mark the end of that chapter of their lives, allowing them to finally look to the future. But in reality, the issues that they raise, the allegations they make, are expected to be explosive, with potentially serious and long-term implications for the monarchy.
Exclusive: Appointments to be cancelled and new slots unavailable in east Midlands, ahead of significant supply boost in following week
Rangers fans gathered outside the Ibrox stadium on Saturday, March 6, as their team edged closer to a Scottish Premiership title victory.The team remained four points away from securing the title but could win it over the weekend if Celtic loses to Dundee United on Sunday, local media reported.The celebrations took place as Glasgow remained under coronavirus restrictions that bans gatherings and urges residents to remain at home. Credit: Jamie Giles via Storyful
‘Democrats are passing Covid relief And Republicans are reading Dr Seuss’ says one reply
An undersea tunnel between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will move a step closer this week when a Government review recommends a feasibility study into it. A major Union Connectivity review is expected to say that civil servants should formally appraise the plans for “a fixed link” between the two islands, most probably between Stranraer in Scotland and Larne in Northern Ireland. The review by Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy is also expected to recommend a major upgrading of road and rail links between the four nations of the UK. The undersea tunnel – details of which were first disclosed by The Telegraph last month – has already won the enthusiastic private backing of both Boris Johnson, who first proposed a fixed link across the Irish Sea in 2018, and Alister Jack, the Scotland Secretary. The link – dubbed ‘Boris’s burrow’ – would be the same length as the Channel Tunnel and go some way to smoothing the flow of freight between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Sir Peter is understood to have rejected a bridge between Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the grounds that it may have to be closed for a third of the year due to bad weather. There is also unexploded ordnance on the sea bed dating back to the Second World War which would be a risk to the structure and to the workers building it. The Hendy review is also expected to recommend a major upgrading of road and faster rail links between the four nations of the UK. One government source said: "It is very good news for union connectivity across the United Kingdom." Scottish civil servants in Edinburgh who report to the SNP-led government were told not to engage with the Hendy review, despite the fact that Scots will benefit from it. Concern about the future of the UK has now led to MPs in England setting up a WhatsApp group and working with the Conservative Union Resources Unit to work to preserve it. Conservative MPs south of the Border are keen to work to help shore up the UK if the SNP win power again at May’s Scottish Parliament elections. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is expected to use any victory to press the case for an early vote on Scottish independence. The Conservative Union Resources Unit has around 100 members and has started to meet weekly to coordinate efforts to protect the UK from the SNP’s attempts to break it up. Senior Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said: “It is in all our mutual interests that the SNP is not allowed to destroy the United Kingdom.” Writing for The Telegraph, Sir Bernard said that last week’s Budget, which set up a new UK-wide Shared Prosperity Fund, allowed the Government to show that “it will not abandon the Scots to an incompetent and failing nationalist government”. He said: “The nationalist government in Scotland has become more and more consumed by its separatist obsession. They recently decided to stop flying the Union Flag outside Scottish government buildings. “Preoccupied by divisive gestures, they are careless of the real needs of Scots, for their jobs and financial security. “Instead of supporting the UK connectivity review, which promotes improved rail and road links between the North of England and Scotland, they instructed their officials to refuse to cooperate.” He added: “The record of the present nationalist administration strengthens the case for Scotland remaining in the UK, and for strengthening partnerships across the UK. The strongest argument for the UK is shown by this Budget. “It increases support for Scotland, despite the objections of the nationalists. It has also inspired confidence in the UK, and so in Scotland too, across the entire world, despite the way the pandemic has ravaged the public finances.” Separately Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is set to accuse the SNP government of "breaking accountability to parliament". In a speech being delivered on Monday, he will say the Scottish Parliament must be empowered to hold the executive to account. Speaking to the Onward think tank, Mr Ross is due to say: "This sorry episode has undermined trust in the First Minister and in her government, but it has also shaken confidence in our Scottish Parliament. "The Parliament has been tested to its limits in its ability to hold the SNP government to account and it has been found wanting. "That is not the fault of individual parliamentarians but of a structure which has given the SNP all of the cards it needs to frustrate the opposition. "By deliberately breaking the accountability of government to parliament, the SNP are damaging devolution and the institution that gives them the authority to govern Scotland’s public services."
Trump was enraged that his name and likeness had been used to raise money for organisations that would then help reelect Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach him
The Duchess of Sussex “called all the shots” when it came to managing her own media, royal sources have said, casting doubt on her claim she could not be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey three years ago. Multiple royal sources have told The Telegraph the 39-year-old former actress “had full control” over her media interviews and had personally forged relationships not only with Ms Winfrey, but other powerful industry figures including Vogue editor Edward Enninful. In a teaser clip released from the Sussexes’s interview with the US chat show host, due to be aired in the US on Sunday, the Duchess said it felt “liberating” to be able to speak and accused the Royal family of effectively gagging her and taking away that choice. “It’s really liberating to be able to have the right and the privilege in some ways to be able to say yes, I’m ready to talk, to be able to make a choice on your own and be able to speak for yourself,” the Duchess said. In the clip, the Duchess and Ms Winfrey reference the fact that a royal aide was listening in to their first phone call in February 2018, although it is understood the pair had spoken privately before then.
The passenger, an Indian citizen, began to act up soon after take-off, quarrelling with other passengers, assaulting a flight attendant and pummelling the cockpit's door, said Ivailo Angelov, an official at the National Investigation Agency. His aggressive behaviour prompted the flight's commander to seek an emergency landing in Sofia.
No European Union country has a bigger stock of AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines or has used a smaller percentage of its stock than Italy. Rome, with European Commission permission, stopped a shipment of 250,000 of the Oxford University jabs leaving the EU for Australia. The ban was a rebuke to the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm, which Brussels accuses of breaking its contractual obligations, which AZ denies. In January it cut supplies to the EU in the first quarter to 40 million doses from the 90 million in the deal, and said it would cut deliveries by another 50 per cent in the second quarter. The EU has lagged far behind the UK, US and Israel in rollout, which it blames on supply shortfalls. Italian prime minister Mario Draghi aims to use AZ to speed up vaccinations as his country gears to face a third wave. He is expected to lift age restrictions and follow Britain's lead in having a longer gap between first and second jabs to increase the number having at least one shot. But a new YouGov survey of 1,029 Italians found that almost a quarter (23 per cent) would refuse the AZ jab and demand an alternative.