A ROUND UP OF WW4 ITEMS FROM IOE

5 Pak Army Officers Linked to Headley, Arrested

Some serving and ex-military officers are among five people arrested in Pakistan in connection with the LeT plot to carry out a major terror attack in India using American national David Coleman Headley, a media report said today.

"Pakistani authorities had arrested as many as five other people in connection with the (Lashkar-e-Toiba) plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials," the New York Times reported.

The paper quoted an official, who has been briefed on the investigation, as saying that those arrested remain in custody, but it was unclear what role they played in the expanding plot.

Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, who were arrested last month by FBI are accused of plotting terror attacks on behest of LeT against India and a Danish newspaper.

"The arrests of Headley and Rana have widened into a global terrorism inquiry that has led to arrests in Pakistan and implicated a former Pakistani military officer as a co-conspirator," the paper quoted officials as saying.

The American intelligence officials believe that some Pakistani military and intelligence officials even encourage terrorists to attack what they see as Pakistan's enemies, including targets in India, it said.

GE Capital completes first sukuk offering of $500m

GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric, has completed its inaugural sukuk offering of $500 million, tailored for investors across the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

The five-year sukuk had strong demand and makes GE Capital the first US corporate issuer of an Islamic bond. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Hasan, al-Awlaki discussed money transfers

The session was scheduled to decide whether he should be jailed after his release from hospital while he awaits trial for the killings of 12 fellow soldiers and a civilian on the Texas military base.

Maj Hasan, 39, who is believed to be paralysed from the waist down after being shot during the attack, has so far been placed in pretrial confinement in a military hospital in San Antonio by his commanding officer.

The hearing comes as new revelations about Hasan's monitored email contacts with an extremist preacher in Yemen deepen questions about whether his behaviour should have set off red flags before the shooting rampage.

He told Anwar al-Awlaki that he "couldn't wait to join him in the discussions they would having over non-alcoholic wine in the afterlife", according to ABC News. He also asked the cleric when jihad (holy war) was appropriate and whether it was permissible if innocents were killed in a suicide attack.

The two men also discussed financial transfers abroad by Hasan in communications that intensified in the run-up to the shootings, The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the emails were obtained by an FBI-led task force in San Diego between late last year and June but were not forwarded to the military, according to government and congressional sources.

Some were sent to the FBI's Washington field office, triggering an assessment into whether they raised national security concerns, but those intercepted later were not, the sources told the newspaper.

"He [Hasan] clearly became more radicalised toward the end, and was having discussions related to the transfer of money and finances," said the source. "It became very clear toward the end of those emails he was interested in taking action."

Hasan Was Worried About Results of Recent HIV Test

Major Nidal Hasan seemed worried about the results of an HIV blood test taken a week before the Fort Hood shooting rampage, according to federal investigators piecing together background details on Hasan's life.

Berlin wants no part in potential 9/11 execution

A legal team is going to New York to prevent the use of evidence provided by Germany in seeking a death penalty. Berlin wants to ensure that promises made by the US are kept if the suspects are found guilty.

A team of observers from the German government is going to New York to oversee the trial of five suspects accused of orchestrating the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

The federal trial of the suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants was announced on November 13 by the US Justice Department. The government also asserted that it intends to seek the death penalty if the accused are found guilty.

Germany, which does not have a death penalty, provided evidence for the trial on the condition that it could not be used to support a death sentence. Several members of the al Qaeda cell that planned and executed the attacks of September 11 were previously based in the northern German city of Hamburg.

FROM: Islam In Europe - The premier source for news about the Muslim community in Europe.