Butt, Aamer lose appeal

Disgraced Pakistan players Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamer lost their appeals Wednesday against their jail sentences for spot-fixing, with England's top judge saying they had "betrayed" their country.
Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge said their "notorious" case was a "carefully prepared" corruption conspiracy which merited a "criminal sanction".
On November 3, former Test captain Butt, 27, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and promising fast bowler Aamer, 19, was ordered to serve six months in a young offenders' institution.
The pair were not present at the Court of Appeal in London for the hearing before Lord Judge, the head of the English judiciary, and two other judges.
They dismissed the appeals in which Butt's lawyer argued that the former skipper's sentence was "manifestly excessive", and Aamer's lawyer urged the court to suspend his sentence.
In a scandal that shook the sport, Butt, Aamer and fast bowler Mohammad Asif, 28, were all jailed for their parts in fixing elements of the August 2010 Test match against England at Lord's.
Their British agent agent Mazhar Majeed was also jailed.
The case hinged on the balling of pre-arranged no-balls, which could then be bet upon.
Lord Judge said the conspiracy "was not set up on the spur of the moment and it was not the result of some temptation to which either appellant succumbed, in effect, on the spur of the moment".