In Brief

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates : A British couple whose drunken escapade led to sex on the beach, tabloid headlines and a clash between Western permissiveness and Islamic values was sentenced yesterday by a Dubai court to three months in prison. Vince Acors, 34, and Michelle Palmer, 36, each were sentenced to serve time, fined $272 for drinking alcohol and ordered to be deported immediately upon leaving prison. The couple were charged with having sex outside of marriage after a taxi picked them up July 5 from an all-you-can-drink Champagne brunch at a five-star hotel and drove them to Jumeirah beach in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates' most culturally tolerant emirate. The judge did not provide any details about his verdict, as is customary in Dubai, so it was unclear whether the sentence was for the sex offense or a lesser indecency charge. The couple's lawyer told reporters that he would appeal. Prosecutor Faisal Abdelmalek Ahil said he expected a harsher sentence. "I'm not happy," he said outside of court. "It's very light. It's normal for a sentence to be six months to a year for an offense such as this."

China dairies try to regain public's trust

HOHHOT, China : China's dairy giants opened their factories yesterday to a government-led news media tour in a bid to stave off losses and regain the public's trust after their products were found tainted with a chemical that killed four infants and sickened tens of thousands. Executives from Mengniu Dairy Group Co. and Yili Industrial Group Co. - both based in Inner Mongolia, where sprawling grasslands serve as grazing land to about 2.5 million cows - promised that stepped-up testing and new procedures would ensure that similar contamination won't happen again. Together the companies control more than half of China's dairy market. "Provide 100 percent safety to consumers," read a slogan on a red banner in the spotless processing and packaging hall at Yili's headquarters in Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia.