London, October 17 : A Brit couple jailed for three months for having sexual intercourse on a beach in Dubai have vowed to appeal against their sentence, claiming that they are “innocent”.

Michelle Palmer, 36, and Vince Acors, 34, were arrested in July with the police claiming that they had been having sex on the public Jumeirah beach.

Judge Hamdi Abul Khair at Dubai''s Court of First Instance sentenced them to three months imprisonment, fined them 155 pounds each for drinking alcohol, and ordered their deportation after their sentence.

The judge, however, did not specify whether the couple were sentenced for indecent behaviour, or for sex outside marriage.

London, Oct 17 : A British General who will take over as British Army’s new head in Afghanistan today, has demanded an increase in the number of troops in the strife-torn country by nearly 30,000 in order to combat the Taliban there.

General Sir David Richards, who will take over from General Sir Richard Dannatt, is believed to favour sending up to 5000 more British troops to Afghanistan on top of the 8000 already in the country. The other 25,000 troops would be made up of US reinforcements and newly trained Afghan soldiers. General Richards also believes that a negotiated settlement may be necessary to end the conflict, but that any talks must take place with the Afghan government and NATO in a position of strength, reported The Independent.

London, Oct 17 : Investigation by CERN has revealed that the major helium leak that caused the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to be shut down until the spring was caused by a faulty electrical connection between two magnets.

The LHC is the world’s largest and highest energy particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of protons with very high kinetic energy.

The LHC circulated its first particle beams on 10 September 2008, but a few days later had to suspend operations due to equipment failure.

Cairo - A British citizen has handed in several small statues believed to be antiquities to Egyptian cultural authorities in London, expressing a wish that they be returned to their homeland, a news report said on Thursday.

"I received an email from a British woman called Rebecca Robinson saying she had several ancient Egyptian statues that she wanted to return to Egypt," Maysa Nasr Farid, the Egyptian cultural attache in London told Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA).

London - Across-the-board falls in share prices Thursday accounted for a 5-per-cent drop in the Financial Times Share Index (Footsie) in London which closed at a 5-year-low.

Analysts said not only financial shares, but all sectors from from construction to mining and tourism, were affected by the downward trend fuelled by fears over a looming recession.

The Footsie closed down with a loss of 218.2 points at 3,861.4 points, dropping below the psychologically important 4,000 barrier.

London- The last remaining survivor of the Titanic in Britain has said she is forced to sell mementoes from the ill-fated cruise liner to pay for her nursing home fees, reports said Thursday.

Millvina Dean, 96, is hoping to raise more than 3,000 pounds (5,200 dollars) from selling a suitcase full of clothes given to her family by the people of New York when they arrived in America after their rescue.

Dean is also putting up for auction rare prints of the Titanic which have been signed by the artists along with compensation letters sent to her mother by the Titanic Relief Fund.