Low-deposit mortgages make return as the UK real-estate market emerges from Covid-19 related slowdown

Compared to last year’s summer low, mortgage products for homeowners with a deposit of 10% of their property’s value have risen. The increase, based on figures from financial information service Moneyfacts, could offer some relief to first-time buyers.   But the cost of mortgages still remains an issue for many hopeful homeowners. Low deposit mortgage packages are a huge help to first-time buyers In early September last year, there were only 44 mortgage products available for those able to offer a 10% deposit. According to money facts, the choice has now expanded to 197 products.   Mortgage products for those able to offer a 15% deposit has also risen sharply.   “First-time buyers who may have been concerned that with record low savings rates and increasing house prices, their homeownership dreams may have had to be shelved, may have been pleased to note that we are now seeing some providers return products for those with 10% deposits,” said Eleanor Williams, from Moneyf... More...

President Biden’s administration outlines coronavirus response plan

The newly sworn-in president of America, president Joe Biden, outlined his administration plan concerning COVID-19, which has currently led to the death of more than 400,000 people in the US alone.   His plan includes distributing 100 million vaccine shots in his first 100 days, issuing a “100 Days Masking Challenge” to encourage the public to wear masks, and requiring people to keep physically distant and wear masks in federal buildings and on federal lands. President Biden to ask congress to approve $400 billion coronavirus fund To carry out his plan, president Biden intends to ask congress to approve a $400 billion to kick-start the COVID-19 response.   The details of the plan includes: $20 billion for a national vaccine program that would partner with states, localities and tribal nations to fast-track vaccine rollout. $50 billion to expand testing, including improving support for laboratories and purchasing rapid antigen tests; Funding 100,000 public-health workers to ai... More...

Donald Trump left a letter for Joe Biden before departing the White House

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump left him a “very generous letter.” Biden refused to divulge the content of the letter out of respect for Trump.   Speaking from the resolute desk in the Oval Office after signing Day One executive orders, Biden told reporters: “The President wrote a very generous letter. Because it was private, I will not talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous.” Trump’s letter to Biden described by an aide to the former president as “personal” A senior Trump aide described the letter as a “personal note” that included prayers for the success of the country. According to the aide, the letter also admonished the new administration to care for the country.    The aide also added that writing the letter to Biden was one of the many items on Trump’s list in the Oval Office Tuesday night. Trump did not show the note he left to Biden to many of his aides.   White House press secretary Jen Psaki also decline... More...

Deadly sea-star disease found to be caused by bacteria

The deadly sea star disease, which causes sea stars to melt into a puddle of slime, is not as a result of an infection, but the result of multiple types of bacteria living within millimeters of the sea stars.   They act by depleting the oxygen from water, which in turn suffocates the animals. The bacteria thrive in areas of high levels of organic matter in warm water. The disease led to the death of hundreds of sea stars The disease first came to public attention in 2013 when sea stars living off the U.S. Pacific Coast died in massive numbers. Outbreaks of the disease had also occurred before 2013, but never at such a large scale.   Sea star wasting disease has lethal symptoms like decaying tissue and loss of limbs, which eventually leads to the death of the animal. Scientists initially suspected that a virus or bacterium might be the culprit, but their hypothesis was abandoned when subsequent studies found no relationship between the virus and dying sea stars. New findings s... More...

Scientists claim a galaxy in our solar system is dying

A distant Galaxy, known as CQ 4479, has been tagged by scientists as a dying Galaxy. Although it’s still processing new stars, the supermassive black hole in its center keeps expanding.   Astronomers at the virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society estimate that the Galaxy will halt its star formation within a few hundred million years. Studying its dying moments will provide astronomers with answers about how galaxy shutdowns occur. Astronomers theorize that galaxies die from the super-black holes in their center Galaxies typically start out by making new stars. The stars are formed from pockets of cold gas that contract under their own gravity and ignite thermonuclear fusion in their centers. At some point, the cold star-forming fuel process is disrupted, and it begins to fuel the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core.   The black hole gobbles the gas, heating it white-hot. Radiation from the hot gas pumps extra energy into the rest of the galaxy, blowing... More...