UK teacher jailed for abducting pupil

A BRITISH teacher has been sentenced to five years and six months in jail for abducting and having sex with a 15-year-old pupil, nine months after they fled to France and sparked an international manhunt.

Jeremy Forrest, a married 30-year-old maths teacher, was convicted of abduction by a jury on Thursday, and on Friday admitted five further counts of sexual activity with a child.

He was not originally charged with sex offences for legal reasons linked to his extradition from France.

When Forrest was convicted on Thursday after a two-week trial, he had told the girl "I love you" as he was led from the court.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, burst into tears as the verdict was announced and told him: "I'm sorry."

Prosecutors had labelled Forrest a paedophile who had groomed a vulnerable girl, who he first kissed when she was 14. They said he "grossly abused" the trust placed in him as her teacher.

The girl, now 16, said in evidence that she had encouraged the relationship and had gone willingly to France in September when they realised their affair was about to be exposed.

But she was under age at the time - the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16.

She had used a passport belonging to Forrest's wife to get the ferry to France, where the couple were finally caught one week later in Bordeaux after Forrest tried to find work in a bar.

Their secret escape from Britain caused an international manhunt, and her family said in a statement on Thursday that the past nine months had been "like living out your worst nightmare".

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Mount Etna wins World Heritage status

ITALY'S Mount Etna, one of the world's most "active and iconic" volcanoes, has been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO in recognition of its scientific and cultural importance.

The tallest active volcano on the European continent at 3,300 metres, Mount Etna has been written about for 2,700 years and has "one of the world's longest documented records of historical volcanism", according to UNESCO.

"The diverse and accessible assemblage of volcanic features such as summit craters, cinder cones, lava flows, lava caves and the Valle de Bove depression have made Mount Etna a prime destination for research and education," UNESCO said.

The volcano, in the east of Sicily, is one of the most-studied in the world and "continues to influence volcanology, geophysics and other earth science disciplines", UNESCO added.

"Mount Etna's notoriety, scientific importance, and cultural and educational value are of global significance."

Situated near Catania, Sicily's second city, the volcano, which is some 200 kilometres in circumference, was created by a series of eruptions beneath the sea off the ancient coastline of Sicily some 500,000 years ago.

There are still periodic eruptions at the central crater. Lava flows down the sides of the volcano have sometimes threatened villages, which are built up to around 800 metres.

Catania city has been hit several times during eruptions, including being almost completely destroyed by one of the largest recorded eruptions in 1669, after which it was rebuilt in the Baroque style.

The zone listed by UNESCO - largely undeveloped except for a few seismic monitoring stations and some shelters along mountain paths - is part of the Mount Etna National Park, created in 1987.

UNESCO also inscribed the Namib Sand Sea, "the world's only coastal desert that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog", to the World Heritage list.

Other sites to win World Heritage status on Friday included the El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve in Mexico thanks to their "dramatic combination of desert landforms, comprising both volcanic and dune systems as dominant features".

UNESCO also inscribed 16 wooden tserkvas (churches) in the Carpathian mountains of Poland and Ukraine, saying they were "outstanding examples of the once widespread Orthodox ecclesiastical timber building tradition in the Slavic countries that survives to this day."

UNESCO is currently holding a 10-day annual meeting in Phnom Penh where it is considering whether to add 31 sites to the 962-strong World Heritage List of sites of "outstanding universal value".

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Strong quake felt across north Italy

A STRONG earthquake has been felt across northern Italy, from Milan, to Venice, Turin, Bologna and Florence, according to Italian media reports, which put the epicentre in Tuscany.

The national earthquake and volcano centre (INGV) said it was a 5.2-magnitude earthquake which hit at a depth of 10km on Friday.

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Betting scandal case doomed to fail: court

A Sydney magistrate has thrown out a betting scandal case against three rugby league identities. Source: AAP

THE case against three rugby league identities embroiled in an alleged betting scandal was doomed to fail, says the Sydney magistrate who threw out the case.

Former rugby league player John Elias, former Parramatta player Brad Murray and Jai Ayoub, the son of Murray's manager Sam Ayoub, had the prosecution against them permanently stayed on Wednesday.

"I find that the prosecution would not be in a position to prove the element of deception beyond a reasonable doubt in all defendants' matters," Magistrate Greg Grogin said in Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.

"The prosecutions would therefore, if allowed to proceed, inevitably be doomed to failure."

The three men were previously charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception by placing bets on the NRL game between North Queensland and Canterbury on August 21, 2010.

The match was the subject of an unusual betting plunge on the first score being a Cowboys penalty goal which did not eventuate.

All up, they could have won a total of $123,000 from a series of separate wagers.

Former NRL player Ryan Tandy, who played for the Bulldogs that day, was fined $4000 after he was found guilty of trying to manipulate the first scoring point of the match to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage.

In his decision, Magistrate Grogin supported the defence's argument that just because the trio may have received information about actions on the field to force the penalty it did not constitute an offence.

It is the nature of professional sport for people close to players, coaching staff and others to hear information that could affect the outcome of a match, he said.

He also said there was no evidence they took part in planning what happened on the field.

"There is a lack of proximity or causal link between the on-field activity and the placing of the exotic bet," he said.

The magistrate also noted they were not charged with a conspiracy, joint criminal enterprise or common purpose charge.

Counsel for the trio will have their applications for costs heard before the same court on September 20.

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Nigella's case raises politicians' hackles

BRITISH politicians have questioned the way police treated Nigella Lawson's husband after he admitted assaulting the celebrity chef in a restaurant.

Opposition Labour Party MP Sandra Osborne asked in the House of Commons on Thursday if there is one rule for the rich and famous, and another rule for everyone else.

She was referring to advertising mogul Charles Saatchi, who earlier this week was given a police "caution" after admitting assault.

He contacted police after newspapers published photos of him grasping his wife's throat during an argument.

He will not face further charges or penalties.

Osborne said it sent the wrong message to allow someone to receive only a caution after admitting assault.

UK prosecutors' guidelines indicate cautions are appropriate for some assaults.

But, in the House of Lords, Lord Avebury also hit out at the "leniency" shown to Saatchi.

As Lord Avebury spoke, Lawson's father - former chancellor of the exchequer Lord Lawson of Blaby, who was present in the chamber - shook his head.

The Liberal Democrat peer raised the issue as Baroness Northover for the government answered questions on domestic violence.

He asked her: "Do you think that the leniency shown to Mr Saatchi when he half-strangled his wife set the wrong tone?"

Lady Northover replied: "I can't comment on a particular case and I think that what I'm struck by also is the media reaction, which is really very interesting, the support and the sympathy for people who may find themselves in such situations and also that these problems go through every level of society."

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg faced criticism for suggesting Saatchi's clutching of Lawson's throat could have been "just a fleeting thing".

Asked by a female caller to his weekly radio phone-in whether he would have stepped in had he been present, Clegg said he could not say as he did not know the full facts.

"I just don't know. There was this one photograph. I don't know whether that was just a fleeting thing," he said.

He was immediately rebuked by female MPs.

Shadow home office minister Diana Johnson said Clegg's comments were "disgraceful" and called for a debate in the Commons "on how seriously the government take the issue of domestic violence".

On Twitter, Tory MP Sarah Wollaston wrote: "So just don't 'call Clegg' if your partner likes to grab you by the throat to emphasise a point."

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Judge summons Messi in tax fraud case

A SPANISH judge has named Barcelona star Lionel Messi as a suspect in a tax fraud probe and summoned him to appear in court on September 17, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Barcelona says.

The 25-year-old four-time World Player of the Year and his father Jorge Horacio are accused of defrauding Spanish tax authorities of more than four million euros ($A5.8 million).

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