DUBAI: An appeals court in Dubai on Tuesday suspended three-month jail terms against two Britons convicted of having sex on the beach in the booming Gulf emirate but ordered them to leave the country. Michelle Palmer, 37, and Vince Acors, 34, who have been on bail during their trial, were not in court when the verdict was issued. Their lawyer Hassan Matar said the three-month prison sentence had been suspended by the court but that the pair would now be deported. The two were found guilty in October of having sex in a public place and drinking alcohol in a highly publicised case in the emirate, which despite its pro-Western outlook still adheres to certain strict Islamic rules and bans sex out of wedlock. Palmer and Acors denied charges of having sex in public and committing public indecency, but admitted to being under the influence of alcohol when they were caught on Dubai's Jumeirah public beach in July after meeting at a champagne brunch in a five-star hotel. In addition to the jail sentence and deportation, they were each fined 1,000 dirhams ($270) for drinking alcohol. Both had remained free on bail during the trial. "The verdict concerning their expulsion remains valid," Matar said. "There are only a few routine procedures to complete for their departure." At the opening of their trial in August, Palmer denied having sex with Acors, saying they were simply "kissing and hugging." Matar has insisted that the results of a medical test on Palmer just hours after they were arrested on July 5 showed "she had not engaged in recent sexual intercourse," while the medical report for Acors was inconclusive. Palmer was sacked from her job as a publishing executive in the UAE following the case, while Acors was visiting Dubai at the time. The case turned the spotlight on the lifestyle of the 120,000-plus British residents of the UAE, around 100,000 of whom live in Dubai, a bustling city state which hosts hundreds of thousands of Western residents and tourists.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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