There was no "double-dealing," no oil deal and no private assurances to Libya in an effort to secure the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday. Brown took time out from an event in Birmingham, England, to address the issue a day after the British and Scottish governments released more than 100 pages of previously secret documents regarding the release of Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi. The Scottish Parliament also held a heated debate ...

Nearly 40 people were killed and up to 80 wounded Tuesday night when a truck bomb exploded in front of a construction company in Kandahar, Afghanistan, chief police commander Fazel Ahmed said. "I have to tell you that I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber, guilty of a huge terrorist crime, received on his return to Libya," Brown said. Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was released from custody last week on compassionate ...

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday he was outraged and "repulsed" by the celebratory welcome given to a man convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. "I have to tell you that I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber, guilty of a huge terrorist crime, received on his return to Libya," Brown said. Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was released from custody last week on ...

Americans are being urged to boycott Scottish products as continued outrage over last week's release of the Lockerbie bomber prompted an emergency meeting of parliament. A Web site set up to vent anger at the decision to send Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi back to Libya calls on Americans to avoid travel to Scotland and cease buying Scottish products such as whisky. Both tourism and whisky account for billions of dollars of revenue for the Scottish economy. "The actions of ...

A Scottish court has formally allowed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi to abandon his second appeal against his conviction over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 people were killed when an airliner was blown out of the sky. Last week, al Megrahi lodged a "minute of abandonment" with the Scottish Court Service, which is a legal move to drop an appeal. The Scottish Court of Appeal in Edinburgh confirmed Tuesday it had accepted the request. Analysts say the move ...

The Scottish government have said no decision has been made on releasing the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The government statement followed reports that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, serving a life sentence for the bombing that killed 270 people, could be released on compassionate grounds. The 52-year-old is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. A court rejected his appeal for release last November, saying he could be treated at a prison hospital, but left ...

A pregnant British woman, who was jailed in Laos on drug charges, will leave from the capital, Vientiane, on Thursday for Britain, said an official from the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Samantha Orobator, in her third trimester, is expected to arrive on home soil early Friday, the official added. Orobator was jailed last August after being arrested with about a half-kilogram of heroin at the airport in Vientiane, officials have said. She received a life sentence for drug trafficking. ...

A toxic chemical added to a popular pain reliever likely killed two dozen children in Bangladesh, health officials said Tuesday. That means Samantha Orobator and John Watson could be home within weeks, the spokesman said. Each prisoner must now apply for return under the agreement, said the spokesman, who asked not to be named, in line with policy. Britain and Laos signed the deal in May to allow the return of Orobator and Watson, the only Britons held in Laos, ...

Bernard Madoff has decided not to appeal the 150-year prison sentence he received for operating the biggest investment fraud in history. "We are not going to appeal," Madoff attorney Ira Lee Sorkin told CNN on Thursday. Sorkin said he met with Madoff this week at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. "Even if the Court of Appeals sends it back, certainly a guidelines sentence under the circumstances would give him a life sentence," he added. Citing crimes ...

Pakistan cracked down on Taliban militants within its borders Tuesday, carrying out airstrikes in its northwestern region, a Pakistani military spokesman said. The appeal by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi at the Criminal Appeal Court in Edinburgh is expected to last four weeks, a court spokeswoman said. Megrahi was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in January 2001, but he maintains his innocence and fought for the right to appeal. After he brought his case before the Scottish Criminal ...