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As whole of market mortgage and remortgage brokers, our re-mortgage advisers will help to find you the best remortgage quotes in the UK . Mortgages 2 is a trading style of Professional Mortgage Connections Limited Latest Asbestos and Mesothelioma News Asbestos Increases School Repair Bill A New Mexico school remains closed after an attempted sewer repair exposed asbestos. The new finding will double the amount allotted for the school’s repair, and will keep the building closed until abatement is completed. Article Added January 5th, 2007 Washington Widow Wins Asbestos Suit A Widow in Washington State has won a battle with the company that exposed her husband to asbestos. The woman had filed a claim with the company, only to be turned down before the case went to trial. Article Added January 4th, 2007 Final Asbestos Cleanup Launched For 9/11 Site Work had been delayed on the final cleanup of the site of 9/11 due to recent discoveries of asbestos and other, sometimes disturbing, debris. After an investigation was completed, final work will resume. Article Added January 3rd, 2007 Botched Asbestos Removal Results in Jail Time A New York man is charged with illegal asbestos removal and unsafely handling the asbestos removed. The man was contracted to remove asbestos from a church in the Lake Placid area. Article Added January 2nd, 2007 EPA to Review Libby Asbestos Cleanup The EPA has responded to requests for testing to prove that the asbestos cleanup they conducted in Libby, Montana was effective. The government agency will launch a full review of the work started in 1999. Article Added January 1st, 2007 Marco Island Gets Asbestos Cleanup Marco Island finally got the green light from the EPA for asbestos cleanup at a local park. Asbestos was found at the site after a construction crew was given permission to store unused parts at the park. Article Added December 31st, 2006 Minnesota Couple Must Pay for Asbestos Removal A Minnesota couple is now responsible for expensive asbestos abatement on their property. The ministers did not know that the plot of land they built their dream house on was tainted with asbestos. Article Added December 30th, 2006 EPA Cannot Verify Libby Asbestos Cleanup Residents of Libby, Montana may be in for yet another problem when it comes to the local asbestos. The EPA cannot verify that the asbestos cleanup they conducted was completely effective. Article Added December 29th, 2006 Terminal at JFK Has Asbestos A terminal at the famous JFK International Airport has been out of use for years due to its size. Renovation plans have been put forward for the terminal, but due to asbestos work has not proceeded. Article Added December 28th, 2006 English, a West Germanic language originating in England, is the first language for most people in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language throughout the world, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations, in countries such as in India or South Africa, as well as in many international organizations. Modern English is sometimes described as the world lingua franca.[1] While Mandarin Chinese – and perhaps Hindi and Spanish – have more native speakers, English has considerably more influence or geographical reach than any of the three.[2]. Over 370 million people speak English as their first language.[3] Estimates on second language speakers, which includes foreign-language learners, vary greatly between 1.2–1.6 billion[3], depending on how literacy or mastery is defined. English is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, and diplomacy and also on the Internet. It has been one of the official languages of the United Nations since its founding in 1945 and is considered to be well on its way to becoming the world's first universal language.[4] The influence of the British Empire is often cited as one of the primary reasons for the language's spread worldwide.[citation needed] Following World War II, the economic and cultural influence of the United States increased and English permeated other cultures, chiefly through development of telecommunications technology.[5] Moreover, it was the influence of the United States that was the decisive factor in the post World War II displacement of French by English as the primary language of global diplomacy. Because a working knowledge of English is required in many fields, professions, and occupations, education ministries throughout the world mandate the teaching of English to at least a basic level (see English language learning and teaching) in an effort to increase the competitiveness of their economies. English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to southeastern Great Britain in the 5th century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany (Saxons, Angles) as well as Jutland (Jutes). Prior to the invasion of Britain by these Germanic tribes, the native Britons spoke an early form of Brythonic (the ancestor of Modern Welsh). Unlike in Gaul and Hispania, the indigenous population did not adopt Latin as a native language during the Roman occupation, where it was mainly confined to the Roman cities and garrisons. The degree to which the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants remained or were displaced by the Germanic invaders is a matter of some debate, although recent genetic studies suggest that the native Celtic population were not substantially displaced in any part of Britain.[6] If correct, this interpretation of events would imply that the native Celts in the south and east of Britain, gradually adopted the language and culture of a politically and socially dominant ruling class. (see Sub-Roman Britain). Celtic languages survived in parts of the island not colonized by the invaders: Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and, to some extent, Cumbria. The dialects spoken by the invaders eventually coalesced to a degree and formed what is today called the Old English language, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now northwest Germany and the Netherlands (i.e. Frisia). Throughout the history of written Old English, it remained a highly synthetic language based on a single standard, while spoken Old English became increasingly analytic in nature, losing the more complex noun case system, with a heavier reliance on prepositions and fixed word-order. This is evident in the Middle English period, when literature is first recorded in the various spoken dialects of English of the time, after written Old English lost its status as the literary language of the nobility. It has been postulated that the early development of the language may have also been influenced by a Celtic substratum.[7][8] Later, it was influenced by the related North Germanic language Old Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north and the east coast down to London, the area known as the Danelaw. Then came the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. For about 300 years following, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only Anglo-Norman, which was very close to Old French. A large number of Norman words found their way into Old English, leaving a parallel vocabulary that persists into modern times. The Norman influence strongly affected the evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English. During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration[citation needed], and the standardising effect of printing. Early Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare. [edit] Classification and related languages The English language belongs to the western sub-branch of the Germanic branch, which is itself a branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The question as to which is the nearest living relative of English is a matter of some discussion. Apart from such English-lexified creole languages such as Tok Pisin, Scots (spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland) is the Germanic variety most closely associated with English. Like English, Scots ultimately descends from Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon. The closest relative to English after Scots is Frisian, which is spoken in the Northern Netherlands and Northwest Germany. Other less closely related living West Germanic languages include German itself, Low German, Dutch and Afrikaans. The North Germanic languages of Scandinavia are less closely related to English than the West Germanic languages. Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (though pronunciations are often quite different) because English absorbed a large vocabulary from French, via Norman-French after the Norman Conquest and directly from French in further centuries. As a result, a substantial share of English vocabulary is quite close to French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings, etc.), as well as occasional divergences in meaning. See also: List of countries by English-speaking population Distribution of first-language native English speakers by country (Crystal 1997) Distribution of first-language native English speakers by country (Crystal 1997) According to the World Factbook and the Guinness World Records English is currently the 2nd most commonly spoken language in the world. It has over 500 million speakers. It is behind only Mandarin, which has over 1 billion speakers. English is today the third most widely distributed language as a first spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and perhaps Hindi [citation needed] (see the ranking). Approximately 600 million people use the various dialects of English regularly.[citation needed] About 377 million people use one of the versions of English as their mother tongue, and a similar number of people use one of them as their second or foreign language as well.[citation needed] English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a prominent place in international academic and business communities. The current status of the English language at the start of the new millennium compares with that of Latin in most of Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. English is also the most widely used language for young backpackers who travel across continents, regardless of whether it is their mother tongue or a secondary language. Although the language is named after England, the United States now has more first-language English speakers than the rest of the world combined. The United Kingdom comes second, with England indeed having as many English speakers as the rest of the world combined (aside from the USA).[citation needed] Canada is third, and Australia fourth, with those four comprising 95% of native English speakers.[citation needed] Of those nations where English is spoken as a second language, India has the most such speakers ('Indian English') and now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country.[citation needed] Following India are the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, and Germany.[citation needed] English is the primary language in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia (Australian English), the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Belize, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada (Canadian English), the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Guyana, Isle of Man, Jamaica (Jamaican English), Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand (New Zealand English), Ireland (Hiberno-English), Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom (various forms of British English), the U.S. Virgin Islands the United States (various forms of American English), and Zimbabwe. English is also an important minority language in several former colonies or current dependent territories of the United Kingdom and the United States, for example Hong Kong, Singapore, Mauritius, and the Philippines. It is also one of the 11 official languages that are given equal status in South Africa. In Asia, former British colonies like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, as well as the Philippines use English as either an official language or a de facto common language, and it is taught in all private and public schools as a mandatory subject. The majority of English native speakers (67 to 70 percent) live in the United States (Crystal, 1997). Although the U.S. Federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 27 of the 50 state governments, all but three of which (Hawaii, New Mexico and Louisiana, whose second official languages are Hawaiian, Spanish and French, respectively) have declared English their sole official language. In many other countries, where English is not a first language, it is an official language; these countries include Belize, Cameroon, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Ghana, Gambia, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the European Union (by 89% of schoolchildren), followed by French (32%), German (18%), and Spanish (8%).[9] It is also the most studied in the People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.[citation needed] English is also compulsory for most secondary school students in the PRC and Taiwan.[citation needed] See English as an additional language.