A lengthy US senate investigation has debunked claims by a Republican congressman that military analysts identified Mohamed Atta and other September 11 hijackers before the attacks.

A German federal appeals court today convicted a friend of three of the September 11 suicide pilots of accessory to murder for his alleged role in their plot and sent the case back to a lower court for sentencing.

A German of Moroccan descent has been arrested in Hamburg on suspicion that he is a member of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network with contacts to a man close to the September 11 hijackers, federal prosecutors said today.

Seven people have been arrested in connection with a plot to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower and other targets, the FBI said.

Amnesty International today urged European Union governments to prevent their airports from being used for secret transfers of terror suspects to countries where they might be tortured, and called for compensation for victims of such alleged US operations.

A SUSPECTED al-Qaida cell leader was convicted yesterday of conspiring to commit murder in connection with the September 11 attacks in the United States, concluding Europe’s biggest trial of alleged members of the terrorist group.

A suspected al-Qaida cell leader was today convicted of conspiring to commit murder in connection with the September 11 attacks in the United States and sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Spanish court, while two other suspects were acquitted.

A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman has said.

AN AIRPORT that was the starting point for one of the September 11 hijackers was evacuated for several hours after receiving a bomb threat signed under the alleged terrorist’s name.

An airport that was the starting point for one of the September 11 hijackers was evacuated for several hours after receiving a bomb threat signed under the alleged terrorist’s name.

Claus-Peter Tiemann, Hamburg

Jordan will ask Britain next week to extradite the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, who has been described as Osama bin Laden’s “spiritual ambassador in Europe”, Interior Minister Awni Yirfas said today.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday said he was considering hosting a conference to bring together all countries affected by Islamic extremism.

SUSPECTED terrorists will continue to be held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Vice-President Dick Cheney says, amid concerns by some fellow Republicans that the situation may be counterproductive.

Suspected terrorists will continue to be held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said US Vice President Dick Cheney, amid concerns by some fellow Republicans the situation may be counterproductive.

A German federal appeals court today upheld the acquittal of a September 11 suspect, starting the clock ticking on how long the Moroccan man could remain in the country.

A prime suspect in last year’s train bombings in Madrid took the stand today at the trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members and denied he had anything but a business relationship with their accused leader, who allegedly helped plot the September 11 attacks in the US

A suspected Muslim extremist accused of helping to plot the September 11 attacks in the United States said today he had never even heard of al-Qaida until he was arrested four years ago on suspicion of leading one of its cells.

A trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members, including three accused of helping plot the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US, went into its second day today with the lone native-born Spaniard among defendants again taking the stand.

AL-QAIDA’S suspected leader in Spain went on trial yesterday on charges of helping to plot the September 11 attack by aiding one of the suicide pilots.

A Spanish judge indicted eight people on terrorism charges today, saying they had provided logistical help and false documents for suspects in the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

The lawyer defending an accused accomplice of the September 11 suicide pilots at his Hamburg retrial has been critically injured in a motorbike accident, throwing into question how the case will proceed.

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.

Blindsided by terrorists and beset by poor communications, US officials were so slow to react on September 11, 2001, that the last of four hijacked planes had crashed by the time Vice President Dick Cheney ordered hostile aircraft shot down.

CHILLING radio transmissions by the September 11 hijackers from the planes they commandeered were played for the first time yesterday.

Chilling radio transmissions by the September 11 hijackers from the planes they commandeered were played for the first time today.

Plagued by miscommunication and confusion, the Pentagon’s air-defence command missed an opportunity to possibly intercept at least one of the hijacked planes on September 11, the federal panel reviewing the attacks said today.

US president George Bush’s justification for the Iraq war suffered another major setback when a commission dismissed claims of a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.

SEPTEMBER 11 plot mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed originally envisioned an attack involving 10 hijacked planes, including one he would pilot and, after all male passengers were killed, land at an airport and make an anti-American speech, according to the commission investigating the attacks.

A MOROCCAN fugitive sought in connection with last month’s Madrid train bombings was indicted yesterday on charges of helping plan the September 11 attacks in New York.

A fugitive sought in connection with the Madrid terror bombings, was indicted today on charges of also helping plan the September 11 attacks in the United States.

A GERMAN court yesterday 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 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.

A Moroccan who allegedly helped the September 11 hijackers but was freed on evidence suggesting he knew nothing of the plot awaited a verdict today in only the second trial anywhere for the attacks on the United States.

A MOROCCAN who was found guilty of helping the September 11 suicide hijackers told a court yesterday his conviction was “unjust” and denied that an al-Qaida cell ever existed in Hamburg.

A CONTROVERSIAL Spanish judge yesterday opened the way to put Osama bin Laden on trial for the September 11 terror attacks.

A controversial Spanish judge today opened the way to put Osama bin Laden on trial for the September 11 terror attacks.

NEARING the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, seven in 10 Americans continue to believe that Saddam Hussein had a role in the attacks.

A MOROCCAN accused of aiding the German al-Qaida cell in planning the September 11 attacks was involved in the plot from the start, prosecutors alleged at the opening of his trial yesterday.