US President Donald Trump will not attend the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero in New York, opting instead to visit the Pentagon. Vice President JD Vance is expected to represent Trump at the Ground Zero event. Trump denied reports that he had planned to speak at the ceremony, stating that no politician traditionally speaks there. The attacks of September 11, 2001, killed nearly 3,000 people.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, is finally set to be prosecuted. Captured in Pakistan in 2003, he was held in secret CIA prisons and subjected to torture, including waterboarding, which has complicated legal proceedings. His trial is expected to be a landmark case, addressing the long-standing challenge of prosecuting a high-value detainee whose treatment raises due process concerns.

Russia's Strategic Missile Forces conducted a training launch of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome on August 28, with warheads striking targets at the Kura test site in Kamchatka. The test, confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, involved relocating a mobile launcher battery and is part of ongoing military posturing. It occurred three days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe's unannounced visit to Moscow, where he met with FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov to warn against provocations against NATO. The launch also precedes a scheduled meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, amid regional military drills.

Background: Israeli settlers have besieged Palestinian homes in Qusra since Sunday, cutting off utilities and road access, with the military failing to remove them despite international condemnation. Today: In a new escalation, radical Israeli settlers occupied a Palestinian home in Qusra, surrounding it with stones thrown while seven Palestinians were inside. The Israeli military said it intervened to remove settlers and protect residents, confiscating settler vehicles and handing evidence to police, but Palestinian media reported soldiers fired tear gas, bound and beat residents, and settlers set fire to nearby fields. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence as acts by a 'handful of lawbreakers' and called for prosecution. Separately, in the village of Jilud, settlers attacked an NBC News crew and a Palestinian family, smashing their vehicle's windshield and injuring a correspondent, with the military saying it was restoring order but reporting no arrests. This incident follows ongoing international criticism and a broader surge in settler violence across the West Bank.

Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-American businessman, has been appointed to head the TRIPP+ EnterpriseFund, a US State Department-backed investment fund financing the 'Trump Route' infrastructure corridor connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan through Armenia. The project, part of a US-mediated peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, aims to create a trade route bypassing Russia and Iran. Sokolov, a major Trump donor, has also acquired significant assets in Armenia, including telecom and mining interests, raising questions about his role and the project's geopolitical implications.

Background: Germany had previously issued travel advisories for Ukraine ahead of Independence Day, citing risks of Russian attacks. On August 28, the US State Department renewed its highest-level Level 4 'Do Not Travel' advisory for Ukraine, citing the ongoing war and Russian missile and drone attacks. The advisory update clarifies the security situation but does not change the risk level, and the US Embassy in Kyiv remains open. Concurrently, fresh Russian strikes continued across Ukraine. In the Kyiv region, a series of drone strikes on August 28 killed one and injured at least nine, including an attack on an enterprise in Myla that caused a large fire and evacuation of 200 residents. A Nova Poshta sorting depot in Sviatopetrivske was destroyed, with follow-up strikes targeting emergency crews. In the Odesa region, a Russian drone attack on the Izmail district on August 29 killed one and injured three, damaging transport infrastructure and grain trucks.