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1010: TheDaily Mailappear to have learned more French than me. Yes indeed. Here’s how they describe yesterday’s drama on Court Suzanne Lenglen: "Andy Murray spent four hours and four minutes on Monday trying to haunt Richard Gasquet with that most felicitous French phrase: deja vu." TheDaily Telegraphsuggest that "perhaps next time Murray should just leave the locker room imagining that he is two sets down", whilethe Timescompares Murray to a tree: "The transformation of Murray from a teenage sapling with a tendency to wilt in the breeze to sturdy professional oak was further demonstrated… yesterday." Fair enough. And whilethe Sunfret about Murray "putting his fans through the wringer" when it’s not even Wimbledon yet,the Guardiancalls the match "the Battle of Wounded Knees" in which "Murray’s right ultimately proved to be in better shape than Gasquet’s left". More on Murray’s wonky knee later.

1004: And here is Justine Henin and she receives a rapturous reception on her long-awaited return to Roland Garros from the 23 people who have managed to show up on time at Court Philippe Chatrier.

1000: Ah bonjour to you. I’m already starting to fear I will run out of French words before week one is out. Oh, hang on, I already have. Tant pis! Anyway, top-drawer start to the day in Paris where we’ll see Justine Henin play her first match at Roland Garros since winning the title three years ago, while on Court 4, Britain’s last remaining female participant (in singles) Katie O’Brien is up against veteran American Jill Craybas.

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

The Crown Prosecution Service’s attempts to convict primary-school children of rape have consistently failed. According to court statistics, they have tried six times in the last decade and six times the 10-or-11-year-olds in the dock have been acquitted of that charge.

Yesterday, two more small boys were found not guilty – a divided Old Bailey jury instead convicted them of attempted rape. Their names have been placed on the sex offenders register, a status that is likely to have repercussions on the rest of their lives. They will be sentenced in eight weeks.

Chief Crown Prosecutor, Alison Saunders, stood outside the court yesterday afternoon to justify putting the boys and their eight-year-old victim through the ordeal of a full trial.

“The decision to prosecute was not taken lightly,” she insisted, reminding reporters that the CPS has a “duty to prosecute where there is sufficient evidence to do so and a prosecution is in the public interest”. This morning, however, some are questioning whether the public interest was served.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, columnist Philip Johnston asks whether there is “any other country in the world where the pre-pubescent fumblings of children would result in a rape trial?” He regards it as “astonishing” that the little boys were convicted “but even more amazing is that it even came to court at all”. It is a view echoed by other commentators today – see this round-up of responses.

Prosecutors in England and Wales are certainly under pressure to take more alleged rapists to court, particularly those accused of unlawful intercourse with a minor – statutory rape. Guidance states that “the public interest requires the prosecution of an offence of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 unless exceptional circumstances exist”.

So were there “exceptional circumstances” in this case?

Some would argue that the fact the alleged perpetrators were only 10-years-old was just that. The law of statutory rape was clearly not devised to criminalise very young children whose first sexual encounters go too far.

Many rape statutes specify that statutory rape occurs when the complainant is under a certain age but also that the perpetrator is over a certain age. No such distinction applies in England and Wales.

In a speech last year, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, reminded staff that “the Code for Crown Prosecutors makes clear that the interests of a youth must be considered” when deciding whether it is in the public interest to go ahead with the prosecution of a young child. He also said that prosecutors are obliged by law to “have regard to the welfare of any children appearing in court, whether as defendants or not”.

He pointed out that “England and Wales has one of the lowest ages of criminal responsibility in the world, much lower than in the majority of our European counterparts”.

Few other Western nations would even consider prosecuting a 10-year-old for any crime, never mind statutory rape.

“For example in the Scandinavian nations the age of criminal responsibility is 15, in Portugal and Spain it is 16, and in Belgium and Luxembourg it is 18,” Mr Starmer said. Having taken the decision to treat very young children as criminally responsible for their actions in Britain (the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is currently eight), the youth prosecutor “makes important decisions regarding outcomes for very young offenders that are made by care and social services agencies in most European countries,” Mr Starmer told his audience.

The fact that the boys were accused of “statutory rape” raises further questions. The issue of consent from the eight-year-old girl did not apply in this case because the law assumes she is too young to give it. The jury did not need to consider whether this was a game of “doctors and nurses” that got out of hand, or even whether the girl had participated or encouraged the activities.

Their conclusion was simply that the boys tried and failed to have intercourse with her. With very young defendants there must be a question as to whether they can be expected to have an understanding of the complexities of the law in this area. It is one thing to “know right from wrong” but another to understand that the criminal justice system would regard touching private parts with a play-mate as potentially a matter which risks years in jail and a lifetime on the sex offenders register.

The CPS code reminds prosecutors that the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 states “it shall be the principal aim of the youth justice system to prevent offending by children and young persons”. The reason for taking children to court is primarily to stop them breaking the law in future, not simply for retribution or to punish misdemeanours in the past.

As the act makes clear, that preventive approach “provides a new guiding principle to which all agencies and individuals can relate their work and responsibilities”. So a further question for the CPS is whether prosecution in this case made it less likely that the two boys will re-offend.

“I don’t think anyone who has sat through this trial would think for a moment that the system that we employ is ideal,” the judge, Mr Justice Saunders, said. He was reflecting on the proceedings but his remark has been seized upon by those who think the case should never have come to court in the first place.

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Investigators at the site of Saturday’s jet crash in southern India find the plane’s flight data recorder.

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A woman being questioned by police about historical sex abuse in south Down is charged with 15 offences.

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A top scientist warns a patent on the first synthetic life form would give its creator a monopoly on a range of genetic engineering.

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Jamaican police launch an assault on the stronghold of alleged drugs lord Christopher “Dudus” Coke in Kingston.

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Two American tourists are kidnapped by armed tribesmen near Yemen’s capital Sanaa, officials say.

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Partial results show the governing party of Meles Zenawi is heading for a win after Sunday’s national elections, officials say.

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The US announces joint naval exercises with Seoul after a report blamed North Korea for the sinking of a Southern warship.

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Two police officers have been killed and six others wounded by gunmen during unrest in Jamaica’s capital, Kingston.

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Two boys, aged 10 and 11, are found guilty of the attempted rape of an eight-year-old girl near her London home.

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Election observers in Ethiopia are investigating irregularity complaints, but say Sunday’s vote was largely peaceful.

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Hillary Clinton urges action to contain the “precarious situation” after a report blames North Korea for sinking a Southern warship.

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The Northern Ireland executive will have to save an extra £128m on top of other savings during this financial year.

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The government is to spell out where it will cut £6bn in spending this year, saying immediate action is needed to start rectifying the UK’s finances.

Conservative Chancellor George Osborne and his Lib Dem deputy David Laws will outline cuts across all departments.

Budgets for IT, property, advertising and recruitment are expected to be cut, while some quangos could be abolished.

Ministers admit the cuts will be "painful" and Labour say they are a step too far.

Monday’s announcement is the first step in the coalition government’s attempt to eliminate the bulk of the UK’s record peacetime deficit – likely to total £156bn this year – over the next five years.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said its decisions will be "unpopular and controversial" but the government must "hold its nerve" and tough decisions will help maintain spending in key areas.

Austerity measures

Some of the £6bn will be reinvested into schemes for employment and economic growth as the UK emerges from recession.

The move comes ahead of the government’s emergency Budget on 22 June and its autumn review of long-term departmental spending when the full scale of future austerity measures will become clearer.

During the election, the Lib Dems and Conservatives disagreed over the need for cuts this year but those differences were put aside as both sides made compromises in their coalition deal.

They agreed to speed up action on the deficit, warning that Greece’s debt crisis and the wider financial instability across Europe highlight the dangers of putting off action any longer.

Monday’s focus will be on "non-priority" areas, with ministers insisting they are clamping down on waste and that services on which the most vulnerable in society rely will be untouched.

But BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said people would still feel the impact of the decisions, and jobs would go in some areas.

The chancellor is expected to announce a saving of £163m from restraining recruitment, including a recruitment freeze across the civil service.

Savings from discretionary spending, which includes consultancy, travel, office furnishing and advertising, are expected to reach more than £1bn and £10m will be saved from cracking down on first class travel for civil servants, our correspondent added.

Budgets of so-called quangos are set to fall by more than £500m, with bodies such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency – which oversees the national curriculum – and the Young Persons Learning Agency facing big cutbacks or even closure.

The Tories say quango spending has risen by nearly £10bn in the past few years and many decisions should be taken by ministers instead.

Recent figures show the number of quangos fell by 60 between 2007 and 2009 but staff numbers rose from 95,000 to 110,000.

‘First test’

The budget of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is set to fall by £700m, with "significant cuts" to regional development agencies in the south of England and further savings on the universities budget.

Spending across Whitehall on travel, equipment and consultancy services is likely to be slashed, IT projects put on hold, procurement contracts re-negotiated and government buildings rationalised.

There is also likely to be tighter control over hiring across most departments, with a recruitment freeze in some areas.

Cuts of £6bn would amount to a 1.5% fall in central departmental spending and a 0.8% reduction in overall government expenditure, according to figures in Labour’s last Budget in March.

The coalition has ordered an audit of all spending commitments approved since the start of the year, saying ex-ministers were guilty of profligacy and making pledges they knew they could not meet.

Labour have said Monday’s announcement will be the "first test" of the government’s priorities and argue it will expose their claim to be able tackle the deficit without harming the economic recovery.

They believe cuts should be delayed until the economy is stronger.

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