I applaud David Cameron's professed commitment to gay equality ("A celebration – and a challenge for us all", 1 August). However, his government gives visas and work permits to Jamaican dancehall singers who advocate the murder of gay people, endorses the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood, even if they test HIV-negative, and exempts religious organisations from aspects of the equality laws, which allows faith agencies to discriminate against lesbians and gay men. The real test for Mr Cameron is whether his government is prepared to abolish these remaining vestiges of homophobic discrimination.

The UK Government said today that "significant lessons" have been learned in relations with Scotland after the row over the Lockerbie bomber's release.

Embattled BP chief executive Tony Hayward is negotiating his exit package with an announcement on his future expected in the coming 24 hours, it was reported today.

The Scottish legal system pre-dates the Act of Union; it is separate and distinct from English law ("An extremely murky business", 18 July). As such, criminals in Scotland can only be released on, for example, compassionate grounds by a Scottish minister.

British oil major BP Plc behaved in a "perfectly normal and legitimate" way in lobbying the British government in 2007 over a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a letter to a US lawmaker.

Jack Straw last night refused to give evidence to a United States congressional hearing on the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Jack Straw tonight declined a request to give evidence to a US Senate committee hearing on the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond today insisted he did not regret the controversial release from prison of the Lockerbie bomber.

In his article in The Wall Street Journal, previewing his first meeting here with President Obama yesterday, the Prime Minister said all the right things.

Calls from a group of US senators for a meeting with David Cameron to discuss their concerns about the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi have been rejected by the Prime Minister. A Downing Street source said the schedule for his two-day US visit was too tight to accommodate their request.

David Cameron will today seek to change the public's perception of the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain.

David Cameron will tell US President Barack Obama tomorrow that he "deeply regrets the pain" caused by the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi last year and that it was the "wrong" decision, in an attempt to prevent the affair overshadowing his first visit to Washington, DC, as Prime Minister.