GREENOCK, Scotland – Embarking on our trip to Scotland early Monday morning to cover the potential release of the only man ever to be convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, we thought we would return to London barely 24 hours later.

Three days later, we remain here, in Greenock, a small town on the west coast of Scotland, a town which for the last four years, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi has had to call "home."

In that time, we've visited Lockerbie. We're seen the garden memorial which has replaced the huge crater left by the flaming fuselage when it fell from the sky, it in turn, replacing the homes that had stood there and the families who had lived in them.

We've heard from eyewitnesses and emergency workers who cannot forget what they saw, even over 20 years later. We've heard conspiracy theories from local politicians who have blamed Iran, the Palestinians and the U.S.

We've even heard from relatives of the dead who really believe that the Scottish justice system has got it wrong and that Megrahi is an innocent man.

As we file more reports and speak to more involved parties, this case seems to get murkier and ever more confusing and my thoughts begin to lie with the one man who now has to decide the fate of the Libyan.

Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's Justice Secretary, has been given the sole responsibility of determining the fate of the terminally ill Meghari.

The Scottish Parliament has said that it doesn't need to be involved. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has said that he trusts whichever decision MacAskill will take.

Supportive words, but hardly conducive for a man who needs to weigh up years of evidence, appeals, medical advice and family statements.

Since we came to Scotland, political heavyweights such as U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry have weighed into the debate, urging MacAskill not to allow Meghari to go free.

The Justice Secretary hasn't even been able to count on the support of his own colleagues with the Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy, yesterday slamming the ongoing situation as "embarrassing."

And so as we wait, busying ourselves collecting our elements and watching the news wires for updates, I feel rather sorry for the beleaguered Scottish politician who must be now sitting in his office, pouring over reams of material and trying to work out the right thing to do.

LONDON, England - It started out as a regular day in the office.

One of the raiders can be seen clutching stolen watches as the gang makes its getaway.

Isn't that how all good tales start?

After an early start I was all ready to shoot that final piece.

Location: Oxford Street, about 10 in the morning.

But we were thwarted, first by my inability to get my words out right, then by builders drilling, then by bikes revving a la speedway track.

And as I glanced over my shoulder in frustration, the noisemakers were clearly visible: two people on bikes making as much noise as possible with a crowd of spectators gathered around. Dressed all in black with helmets and balaclavas, they looked - to the denizens of Oxford Street - as if they were on a film shoot. To complete that illusion, we gave the bikers the compliment of keeping our camera rolling. In fact, the scene was rather more entertaining than my piece.

In the space of a few minutes, the two loud bikers acquired two similarly dressed passengers, waving what quite clearly seemed to be a handful of shiny watches. A few more revs for effect, V signs and then they left noisily.

The result: Ah, a smashed jeweler's window, a very large sledge hammer that lay abandoned and a lot of spectators rather the wiser. Oh, and plenty of pictures gathered on mobile phones to entertain friends and family later.

This was not a film. It was real, and it was just another day on Oxford Street.

Watch how my story about a new book release turned into something more.

CAIRO, Egypt - "Pop singer brutally murdered by a paid assassin."
 
A headline that can cause a media frenzy - and that's exactly what happened in Egypt and throughout the Middle East.

Egyptians have been captivated with the murder of singer Suzanne Tamim, pictured here in a photoshoot.

 
Egyptians are captivated with the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. And the fascination grew when Egyptian billionaire businessman Hisham Talaat Mustafa was accused of paying a former police officer, Mohsen Al-Sukkary, to kill her.  
 
In our own Cairo offices we would dissect the details with CNN's office manager, Housam Ahmed, who could read the Arabic papers and share the sordid details.  
 
The rumors were flying from publication to publication: "She dumped him;"  "He paid for her plastic surgery;"  "He was angry she fell in love with another."
 
And it was hard not to speculate over the various theories of what really may have happened.
 
Housam told us that his wife and her friends can't get enough of the story and that it is the topic of conversation among many housewives and dinner tables throughout the country.  
 
But now, they are cut off from their media fix.
 
The head judge in the trial has placed a gag order on any reporting of the trial, stating that the sensationalism of some media organizations were affecting the proceedings, but yet he still considers the trial "open"?
 
Mohammed Radwan, the managing editor of the Independent newspaper Al-Masri Al-Youm told us that his reporters are still allowed to attend the trial but can't report anything until a verdict is reached.
 
"We're not allowed to publish any of the testimonies of the witnesses," Radwan said, "I think this is something very negative for the reader in general."
 
But what really concerns some is the belief that the order was placed to help Mustafa's case and his friendship with the son of President Hosni Mubarak played a role.  
 
"He is considered one of the most prominent businessmen in the country.  So we believe that the gag order was to protect him and not for the trial itself," Rawda Ahmed, a lawyer who is appealing the media blackout, told us.
 
Others in the country say that it is impossible that cronyism will factor into the case and that the ruling family can't save him now.
 
"What we have on hand here is someone who murdered a woman because she dumped him.  It's as simple as that.  So this is not something that the regime can easily defend," media analyst Hisham Kassem told CNN.
 
The trial will resume later this month with journalists forced to bite their tongue or risk jail time - another step back for the media in a country where press freedom often depends on the government's mood.