Category: news

A leading solicitor says cuts to the legal aid budget being debated in Parliament could “clog up” the court system in Wales.

Michael Imperato claims in some some instances simple hearings could take up to 60 times longer.

Figures show Wales is more reliant on legal aid than other parts of the UK.

The Ministry of Justice, which plans a £300m legal aid budget cut, mainly in civil cases, say modernisation and simplification are urgently needed.

Mr Imperato, the new president of Cardiff and District Law Society, represents 1,000 legal professionals.

A solicitor for 25 years, he said: “When you have a litigant in person, it’s often a much slower process, everything has to be explained to them, and so you find a hearing which between two solicitors may take five minutes to sort out, could take five hours”.

He also expressed concern that the cuts will create “advice deserts – where an underclass who won’t be able to afford solicitors or barristers will exist”.

Figures seen by BBC Wales from the Citizens Advice Bureau for the last financial year show that in Wales of the people that needed help with a legal problem, 14% also inquired about or needed legal aid.

That compares to just under 9% as an average for the rest of the UK.

Erika Helps, chief executive of Rhondda Cynon Taf Citizens Advice Bureau, said: “Obviously these figures show that people in Wales are more dependent on legal aid than their contemporaries across the UK as an average.”

She said she was concerned it would place a disproportionate burden on the Welsh courts.

“Clearly in the absence of funding for legal aid more people are going to want to represent themselves,” she added.

Currently 215,000 private family law cases go through the Welsh and English courts each year.

In a statement, the Ministry of Justice said: “There is an urgent need to modernise and simplify the justice system and we are improving information and support for people who want to represent themselves.

“Legal aid will remain available for anyone at risk of serious violence, or losing their home – but we have one of the most expensive legal aid systems in the world – which we cannot continue to afford.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Andy Murray says Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic’s form over the past year makes him believe he can win a Grand Slam.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Japanese researchers say they have discovered vast deposits of rare earth minerals, used in many high-tech appliances, in the seabed.

The geologists estimate that there are about a 100bn tons of the rare elements in the mud of the Pacific Ocean floor.

At present, China produces 97% of the world’s rare earth metals.

Analysts say the Pacific discovery could challenge China’s dominance, if recovering the minerals from the seabed proves commercially viable.

The British journal Nature Geoscience reported that a team of scientists led by Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, found the minerals in sea mud at 78 locations.

“The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometre (0.4 square mile) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption,” said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo.

The minerals were found at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface.

One-third of the sites yielded rich contents of rare earths and the metal yttrium, Mr Kato said.

The deposits are in international waters east and west of Hawaii, and east of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Mr Kato estimated that rare earths contained in the deposits amounted to 80 to 100 billion tonnes.

The US Geological Survey has estimated that global reserves are just 110 million tonnes, found mainly in China, Russia and other former Soviet countries, and the United States.

China’s apparent monopoly of rare earth production enabled it to restrain supply last year during a territorial dispute with Japan.

Japan has since sought new sources of the rare earth minerals.

The Malaysian government is considering whether to allow the construction of an Australian-financed project to mine rare earths, in the face of local opposition focused on the fear of radioactive waste.

The number of firms seeking licences to dig through the Pacific Ocean floor is growing rapidly.

The listed mining company Nautilus has the first licence to mine the floor of the Bismarck and Solomon oceans around Papua New Guinea.

It will be recovering what is called seafloor massive sulphide, for its copper and gold content.

The prospect of deep sea mining for precious metals – and the damage that could do to marine ecosystems – is worrying environmentalists.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Daily Telegraph says David Cameron will “welcome” Andrew Dilnot’s report into caring for the elderly in England.

The paper says the review is going to recommend a cap on how much people should have to pay for care.

The Daily Mail reports that pensioners would still face “big fees” because the cap does not cover “hotel costs”.

The paper says these are for items such as a room, food and heating which at more than £10,000 make up roughly half of an annual care home bill.

The Alzheimer’s Society tells the Independent it has seen reports that suggest the chancellor is baulking at the costs of elderly care proposals.

However, according to the paper, Treasury sources insisted they would not kick the plans into the long grass and were keen to go ahead with reform.

According to the Daily Mirror, the Treasury is expected to pick up the bill needed to plug the spending gap.

An editorial in the Sun describes the Dilnot plan as “sensible”.

The Daily Telegraph calls on the government not to “duck” changes to housing benefit.

This after it emerged that a Whitehall official warned these could leave thousands of people homeless.

But the Guardian believes that now some peers will be emboldened to amend the Welfare Bill when it goes through the Lords so the cap is less “punitive”.

The Department for Work and Pensions says it does not accept that a cap would increase homelessness.

Novak Djokovic clasping and kissing the Wimbledon men’s singles trophy appears on the front pages of many papers.

As does the photo of him eating a few blades of Centre Court grass to mark his win against Rafael Nadal – “Chompion” says the Sun.

Writing in the Times, Simon Barnes says the Serbian displays a “fine streak of madness”.

The Daily Telegraph says his victory was not just personal – he ended his country’s days as a pariah state.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Ants can recognise their worst enemies by smell, aggressively fighting slavemakers ants but only carrying away less threatening foes, a study shows.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.