UK minister denies secret deal on release of Lockerbie bomber

LONDON, England (CNN) — British Justice Minister Jack Straw denied Sunday that the Lockerbie bomber was freed from jail as part of an agreement to allow a British energy company to drill for oil in Libya.

“There was no deal over the release” of Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, Straw said.

Straw was responding to newspaper allegations that the British government wanted al Megrahi to be eligible for release in order to smooth the way for BP to win exploration rights in Libya.

He called the Sunday Times assertion “wholly untrue.”

Al Megrahi, 57, was serving a life sentence for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people, including 189 Americans. He was freed earlier this month because he has terminal cancer.
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California fire ‘out of control’

A wildfire in the mountains above Los Angeles is threatening 12,000 buildings and continuing to spread, officials in California say.

The fire has been fuelled by record temperatures over the past four days.
Evacuation orders cover about 10,000 homes and state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger described the fire as “still totally out of control”.

About 2,000 firefighters are trying to contain the blaze, which has burnt more than 55 sq miles (142 sq km) of forest.

The fires rained ash on cars and homes as far away as central Los Angeles on Sunday.
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General Motors expands in China

General Motors has signed up to a 2bn yuan ($293m; £180m) joint venture with the Chinese state-owned carmaker FAW to make light trucks and vans.

The vehicles will initially be sold in China under the FAW brand, but could in future be exported under the GM brand.

They will be produced at existing FAW facilities in the cities of Changchun and Harbin.

GM sold 818,442 vehicles in China in the first six months of 2009, compared with 1,094,561 in the whole of 2008.
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Japan victor hails ‘revolution’

Japan’s opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama has hailed an election “revolution”, with exit polls suggesting a massive win for his party.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house, ending 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the LDP, NHK TV predicted.

Mr Hatoyama, 62, said people were “fed up” with the governing party.

Prime Minister Taro Aso said that he took responsibility for the defeat and would resign as head of the LDP.
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Excerpts from Kennedy’s letter to Pope Benedict XVI

(CNN) — Shortly before he died from brain cancer, Sen. Ted Kennedy wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI. President Obama delivered the letter to the pontiff during his visit to the Vatican in July.

The following are excerpts from the letter as read by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at Kennedy’s private burial service Saturday in Arlington National Cemetery:

“Most Holy Father, I asked President Obama to personally hand-deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Catholic faith is to me, and I am so deeply grateful to him. I hope this letter finds you in good health.

“I pray that you have all of God’s blessings as you lead our Church and inspire our world during these challenging times. I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago, and although I continue treatment the disease is taking its toll on me. I am 77 years old, and preparing for the next passage of life.
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Dalai Lama leaves for visit to Taiwan

(CNN) — The Dalai Lama left for Taiwan on Sunday for a trip that will include praying for victims of Typhoon Morakot.

The Tibetan spiritual leader boarded a plane in New Delhi, India, early Sunday morning ET.

He is expected to return to India on September 4.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said last week that he approved the Dalai Lama’s visit to the typhoon-battered island.
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China signs deal to sell iPhones

Mobile operator China Unicom has signed a deal with Apple to launch the popular iPhone into the world’s largest mobile phone market.

The phones are expected to go on sale in China later this year.

State-owned Unicom would be the first Chinese phone company to formally support the iPhone, although many unlocked iPhones are already in use.

China has more than 600 million mobile phone accounts and a deal to introduce the iPhone has been long-awaited.
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Straw ‘backed down’ over Megrahi

Justice Secretary Jack Straw dropped a demand to exclude the Lockerbie bomber from a Libyan prisoner transfer accord, the Sunday Times has reported.

Letters leaked to the paper say Mr Straw wanted to exclude Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi from the accord.

He backed down citing “overwhelming” UK interests. A major oil deal was being discussed at the time.

Mr Straw called the news “academic” – as Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds, not under the transfer accord.

And he stressed that the Scottish authorities would still have had a veto over any move to send Megrahi home under the transfer agreement.
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Fans party on Jackson’s birthday

Fans around the world have marked what would have been Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday with parties and mass dances.

In Mexico City, organisers said they had broken a record for the most people dancing to Thriller at the same time, reporting that 12,937 people turned up.

In New York, film director Spike Lee staged what he described as a “joyous, festive and celebratory” event.

Other gatherings remembered Jackson in cities including London, Paris, Moscow, Delhi, Barcelona and Bucharest.

An all-day street party near Jackson’s childhood home in Gary, Indiana, featured local performers and a candlelight vigil.
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Elderly skin ‘raises cancer risk’

Older people are more at risk of skin cancer and infection because their skin is unable to mobilise the immune system to defend itself, UK research suggests.

It contradicts previous thinking that defects in a type of immune cell called a T cell were responsible for waning immunity with age.

In fact, it is the inability of the skin to attract T cells to where they are needed that seems to be at fault.

The findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
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