New trial urged in Lockerbie case

London

A former Libyan intelligence agent convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, "may have suffered a miscarriage of justice" and should be granted a new appeal, a Scottish judicial panel ruled Thursday.

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was found guilty of murder in the December 1988 bombing, which killed 270 people, including 189 Americans. He was convicted in 2001 and has been serving a life sentence in a prison near Glasgow, Scotland. At the original trial, three Scottish judges convicted al-Megrahi of planting an unaccompanied suitcase containing a bomb-laden radio-cassette player aboard the flight. His co-defendant, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted.

The independent Scottish Criminal Cases Review considered the reliability of testimony from one witness and doubts relating to clothes al-Megrahi allegedly bought in Malta on Dec. 7, 1988, that were inside a suitcase containing the bomb. The panel said there was insufficient evidence to conclude the purchase took place.

Luanda, Angola

5 die as 737 crashes in Angola

An Angolan Airlines plane crashed on landing at an airport in northern Angola on Thursday, killing five people.

The Boeing 737 carrying 79 passengers crashed and broke in half when it landed at an airport in M'banza Congo, a town about 180 miles north of the capital, Luanda, national airports chief Celso Rosas said.

The plane landed halfway down the runway and bounced before crashing into a house, the state news agency, Angop, reported from the scene. The aircraft's landing gear appeared to give way as the plane touched down, Radio Nacional de Angola reported. It said seven crew members had been on board, and the co-pilot died.

On Thursday, African governments also inaugurated the Civil Aviation Agency, based in Namibia with offices in South Africa, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria and Cameroon to streamline aviation regulations and licensing throughout Africa at a time the continent has posted the worst accident record in the world.

Athens, Greece

Heat wave triggers fatal wildfires

Wildfires swept through Greece on Thursday, killing two people and destroying homes after days of record high temperatures that led to extensive power cuts.

The fires were sparked by an early-summer heat wave that has caused at least nine heatstroke deaths in Greece since Monday and killed dozens more in southeast Europe.

Also

London scare: Explosives officers today defused a suspected bomb in a vehicle parked near Picadilly Circus in central London, police said. The area around the vehicle was cordoned off this morning while explosives officers examined the vehicle.

Missing-girl arrests: An Italian man and a Portuguese woman were arrested Thursday on suspicion of links to the case of Madeleine McCann, the 4-year-old British girl who vanished nearly two months ago during a vacation in Portugal, police said. Spanish news reports said the man may have tried to extort money from Madeleine's parents, offering information about the location of their daughter.

South Africa strike: Public-sector unions representing 1 million members called off a nearly monthlong strike Thursday, ending a labor action that closed schools and crippled hospitals across South Africa. A majority of the unions agreed to sign the government's final offer that included a 7.5 percent wage increase. The rest will return to work while negotiations continue.

Seattle Times news services