An Arab television station has broadcast previously unseen footage of a smiling Osama bin Laden meeting the top planners of the September 11 attacks in an Afghan mountain camp and calling on followers to pray for the hijackers as they carried out the suicide mission.

Previously unshown footage of the preparations for the September 11 attacks in which al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is seen meeting some of the planners and hijackers in a mountain camp in Afghanistan was screened tonight by al-Jazeera television.

A senior planner of the September 11 2001 attacks said the Hamburg al-Qaida cell was smaller than investigators believed, consisting only of himself and three of the suicide pilots, a German court was told in the first public release of statements by suspects in US custody.

A key al-Qaida captive in US custody told interrogators that a Moroccan on trial for helping the Hamburg-based September 11 suicide pilots had no knowledge of the plot, according to a summary read out in court in Hamburg today.

The re-trial of the only September 11 terror suspect ever convicted opened today with the United States under pressure to allow testimony by alleged key al-Qaida operatives in its custody.

LAWYERS for the only man convicted over the September 11 attacks in the United States said yesterday they will call for the case against him to be thrown out when he returns to trial this month.

THE only September 11 suspect ever convicted was freed by a German court yesterday pending the outcome of his retrial on charges of aiding the suicide pilots.

The only September 11 suspect ever convicted was freed by a German court today after his conviction for aiding the suicide pilots was thrown out last month.

A German court today overturned the world’s only conviction for the September 11 attacks and ordered a retrial for a Moroccan found guilty last year of aiding the Hamburg cell of suicide hijackers.

A HAMBURG court yesterday acquitted a Moroccan man of helping the September 11 hijackers after a 5½-month trial that was only the second anywhere of a suspected attacker.

A Hamburg court today acquitted a Moroccan man of helping the September 11 hijackers after rejecting a dramatic last-minute motion for new evidence by a lawyer for relatives of US victims of the attacks.

The second alleged September 11 terrorist to face trial anywhere appeared in court today in Hamburg, Germany.

THE US Justice Department is defying a court order to produce an al-Qaida prisoner for cross-examination by a man accused of the September 11 bombings.

A FEDERAL appeals court yesterday dismissed the US Government’s appeal of a lower court order granting accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui the right to question a senior al-Qaida leader in US custody.

A US judge has rejected a government compromise proposal and ruled for a second time that terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui needed to directly interview a senior al-Qaida prisoner to prepare his defence.

A US judge ruled today that accused terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui is entitled to see a top secret proposal that would give him access to information from a senior al-Qaida captive.

A Moroccan student was today convicted of being an accessory in the murder of more than 3,000 September 11 victims and helping support the Hamburg-based terror cell.

A verdict was expected today in the first trial of a suspect in the September 11 terror attacks against New York and Washington.

Osama bin Laden told followers before the September 11 attacks that “we must strike at America” and there would be “thousands of dead,” a witness at the trial of an alleged plot member testified today.

A statement attributed to al Qaida threatened more attacks in New York and Washington unless the US stops supporting Israel and converts to Islam, an Arab TV reporter who received the unsigned document said.

A Moroccan man was arrested in Hamburg today on suspicion that he provided logistical support to the cell of September 11 hijackers led by Mohamed Atta, German federal prosecutors said.

An al-Qaida militant arrested with September 11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh in Karachi has been identified as one of the murderers of reporter Daniel Pearl, a senior police official said today.

FIVE al-Qaida suspects were handed over to US authorities and flown out of Pakistan yesterday.

President George W Bush said Ramzi Binalshibh’s arrest showed the war on terrorism had not flagged.

The US today landed its “big catch” – the self confessed al-Qaida member who boasted he helped plan the September 11 terror attacks.

Five al-Qaida suspects arrested last week in Pakistan have been handed over to US authorities and flown out of the country.

US OFFICIALS led the interrogation of a key al-Qaida suspect Ramzi Binalshibh yesterday, as Pakistan pondered likely extradition requests from the US or Germany.

Pakistan has made no decision on the extradition of Ramzi Binalshibh, the September 11 plotter who was arrested last week in a joint operation by US and Pakistani intelligence, an Interior Ministry official said today.

A suspected organiser of the September 11 attacks has been captured in a shoot-out in Pakistan, according to US officials.

AL-QAIDA considered striking US nuclear facilities as it planned its assault on New York and Washington and has not ruled out future nuclear attacks, according to a reporter’s account of his interview with two September 11 plotters.

Al-Qaida considered striking US nuclear facilities as it planned its assault on New York and Washington and has not ruled out nuclear attacks in the future, according to a reporter’s account of his interview with two September 11 plotters.

Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera says it has conducted interviews with two wanted al-Qaida members who disclose how the terrorist network planned and carried out the September 11 attacks in the US.

A SEPTEMBER 11 hijacker vowed as far back as 1999 that thousands would die when planes crashed into the World Trade Center, a German prosecutor said yesterday.