DUBAI: A Briton accused of touching another man at a bar in the United Arab Emirates was sentenced to three months in jail by a Dubai court on Sunday.

State-linked daily The National said 27-year-old Jamie Harron from Scotland was arrested for allegedly touching the behind of a German expatriate, who reported him to police.

Media reports say the alleged sexual assault, which Harron has strongly denied, happened at the rowdy Rock Bottom bar – a popular haunt for the many well-heeled foreigners in Dubai.

Dubai, a tourism and trade hub in the Gulf, allows drinking in hotels and bars as it seeks to encourage foreigners to visit but has strict laws against homosexuality and public indecency.

Detained in Dubai, an advocacy group, said on its official Facebook page that Harron would appeal the verdict but that he had lost his job because of the case and was struggling to afford his legal expenses.

“He is angry, disappointed, and dreads what may happen next. He feels betrayed and exploited by the system,” said the group’s head, Radha Stirling, who has been in contact with Harron’s family.

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AVIGNON: A British woman died Saturday night after falling from a boat which hit a beacon in the Rhone river in Avignon, southern France, emergency services said.

The 27-year-old went overboard and was later found by divers at a depth of six metres, the fire service told AFP. Five others, including another Briton, were injured in the incident.

Eight friends aged between 20 and 30 — four French and four British — were on board the seven metre boat with a pilot aged around 50 when it struck the beacon at 10:45 pm on Saturday.

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Five were taken to local hospitals after the incident, two with serious injuries. An investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances.

“Everyone is in shock,” police said. “The victims have not been questioned, nor the witnesses.”

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Against the backdrop of India’s weapons-buying spree,  Pakistan has expressed its concerns over the growing transfer of conventional armaments to volatile regions.

“It has the potential to jeopardise regional balance,” Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva Farukh Amil said at a meeting of the UN General Assembly’s Disarmament and International Security Committee, Radio Pakistan reported.

He added that this troubling trend could be seen in South Asia where one state’s military spending grossly overshadowed all others.

Amil said Pakistan was committed to the establishment of strategic stability in South Asia.

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“Pakistan neither wants, nor is it engaged in an arms race in the region,” he maintained.

Earlier this year, India allocated INR2.74 trillion for the country’s military spending for the upcoming fiscal year, an increase of 9.5 per cent compared to the previous year’s INR2.49 trillion.

A Stockholm-based think-tank reported earlier this year that India was the world’s largest importer of major arms in the last five years and its overseas procurement was far greater than that of China and Pakistan.

As per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report, India accounted for 13 per cent of the total global arms import between 2012–16 which is highest among all the countries.

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In June, the Trump administration authorised the sale of a naval variant of the Predator drone to India.

The deal involves the sale of 22 unarmed drones, worth more than $2 billion.

India has also signed a $2.5 billion missile deal with Israel wherein both nations will jointly develop a medium range surface-to-air missile system for the Indian military.

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KARACHI: Pakistan Air Force (PAF) footballer Mansoor Khan and coach Arshad Khan had planned to take part in the Sri Lankan Premier Football League but will instead be appearing in the FATA Super Football League, thanks to yet more mismanagement on the Pakistan Football League’s (PFF) part.

PAF, after beating the Sri Lankan Air Force in a bilateral series, had struck a deal for its footballers to take part in the Sri Lankan league.

Mansoor and Arshad were supposed to be the first beneficiaries of that deal and were all set to fly off to Sri Lanka before PFF’s failure to provide the PAF with the duo’s International Transfer Certificate in time dashed their plans.

“We are still trying to get to Sri Lanka,” said Arshad. “We’ve already missed the first stage of the Sri Lankan Premier League and are instead playing in the Fata Super Football League.”

The PFF’s management had always been in disarray but following the suspension the chaos and confusion within has hit a new low, much to the dismay of the players.

Per Arshad, he was told by the PFF secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi that they cannot play in the Sri Lankan league as it is played under FIFA rules and regulations, and so must exclude Pakistani players due to FIFA’s decreed suspension.

However, his opinion is in direct conflict with international legal expert Andrea Basso, who claims that the suspension does not affect players.

“I believe the players currently registered in the PFF can be registered in other national associations as long as the transfer window is open,” she told The Express Tribune. “They have the right to work and FIFA should grant them a temporary ITC for the transfer.”

Arshad, too, has contacted FIFA for more clarity on the situation.

For now, he must make do with FATA Super Football League — a step down from what’s on offer in Sri Lanka but a chance to play football nonetheless, something which Arshad doesn’t take for granted.

This event should demonstrate to both the FIFA-backed Hayat group and the court-appointed administrator that Pakistan has so much potential for football,” he said.

“This is a proper tournament with sponsors, our national players and even foreign footballers,” said Arshad, whose Khyber Eagles FC has already qualified for the tournament’s semi-finals. “Shahid Shinwari has down on his own what our PFF couldn’t all these years. This shows that even though the authorities are not interested, the game is still flourishing in Pakistan. We are not stopping. I wish PFF could see this.”

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