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A US military judge has scheduled the long-delayed trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of being the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, for June 5, 2028.

The trial will take place before a military commission at the US detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where Mohammed has been held since 2006. He was captured in Pakistan in 2003.

Mohammed will stand trial alongside three co-defendants: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The four men are accused of various roles in planning and facilitating the September 11 attacks, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.

The decision to set the trial date represents a significant development in a case that has been delayed for more than two decades. Prosecutors had requested that the proceedings begin in January 2027, but military judge Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama rejected that timetable.

According to the judge’s scheduling order, more time is required to resolve outstanding pre-trial disputes, particularly disagreements concerning what evidence can be presented during the proceedings.

The September 11 attacks remain one of the most significant terrorist attacks in modern US history. On September 11, 2001, hijacked passenger aircraft were used in attacks that targeted the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia, while another aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.Downloading Interactive Geographic Maps

Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot. The charges against him and his co-defendants include conspiracy, hijacking and murder, among other offences.

The case has faced repeated delays because of complex legal disputes surrounding evidence, the treatment of the defendants while in US custody and other procedural matters.

A proposed plea agreement had also created further uncertainty. Mohammed and two of his co-defendants had reached an agreement that would have involved guilty pleas and removed the possibility of the death penalty in exchange for life sentences. However, the agreement was subsequently challenged and was ultimately rejected following further legal proceedings.

The handling of evidence obtained during earlier CIA interrogations has been another major issue in the case. Defence lawyers have argued that the circumstances surrounding some of the defendants’ earlier treatment could affect whether certain statements or evidence should be admitted at trial.

Despite the new date, the case could still face additional delays if outstanding legal issues are not resolved according to the schedule.

The planned June 2028 proceedings will begin with the selection of military personnel to serve as the trial panel. The prosecution and defence will then present their respective cases before the proceedings eventually move to a sentencing phase if convictions are secured.

For families of the victims and others who have followed the case for years, the scheduled date represents another step toward bringing the long-running legal process to a conclusion.

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Dolly Parton’s niece Rebecca Seaver has described the late country music icon as her “best friend” and “most trusted confidant” in a tribute following her death at 80.

Seaver, 39, shared a series of family photos on Instagram on Tuesday, Aug. 25, after Parton’s death was announced by her brother Bryan Seaver earlier that day. Parton died after a “brief battle with cancer,” although the type of cancer was not disclosed.

Reflecting on losing her aunt, Seaver wrote, “Today, the grief we feel is insurmountable because of the enormous amount of love we all have for Dolly Rebecca Parton. She has always been the light, not just for those directly in her orbit but for the entire world.”

Seaver, the daughter of Parton’s sister Cassie, said she was now facing “a new journey” without the person she relied on most.

“A life without my most trusted confidant. My best friend, my favorite adventurer, my name-giver, my godmother, my precious Aunt Granny,” she wrote.

Seaver also said she believed Parton was now at peace with her late husband, Carl Dean, and her mother, Avie Lee.

“I know she has been welcomed into the mystic by Carl and my Mamaw Avie Lee. She is now on her most important celestial journey with God and I know she is at peace,” she wrote.

Seaver has been closely involved in preserving her aunt’s legacy. She established the official Dolly Parton archive, curated Parton’s book Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones and served as executive director of Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum.

In her tribute, she said continuing to tell Parton’s story would be one way of honouring her.

“I am so grateful to have experienced the magic of her presence in my life and in all of yours. It is my absolute honor to pay tribute to her today, and always, by telling her beautiful story,” Seaver wrote. “Her legacy is the joy she brought and will continue to bring to all of us.”

She also urged people to remember that grief and joy can exist at the same time.

“This is a celebration of a beautiful life, lived unapologetically and with the most incredible heart,” she wrote. “She never left a rhinestone or a dream unturned, and I am so proud to carry those shining dreams forward.”

Parton was admitted to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville on Friday, Aug. 21, four days before her death. She had previously acknowledged dealing with health problems, including kidney and autoimmune issues.

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The United States has offered rewards of up to $18 million for information leading to the identification or location of two key leaders of the Islamic State Khorasan Province, ISIS-K.

The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme announced the offers in a notice posted on its X handle on Tuesday.

The programme is offering up to $8 million for information on ISIS-K leader, Shahab al-Muhajir, also known as Sanaullah Ghafari.

According to Rewards for Justice, ISIS’ core leadership appointed Ghafari, who was born in Afghanistan in 1994, as leader of ISIS-K in June 2020.

An ISIS communiqué announcing his appointment described him as an experienced military leader and one of ISIS-K’s “urban lions” in Kabul who had been involved in guerrilla operations and the planning of suicide and complex attacks.

Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $8 million for information on Ghafari,” who is responsible for approving ISIS-K operations throughout Afghanistan and arranging funding for the group’s activities, the programme said.

In another notice, the programme said Obaidullah, also known as Salahuddin and Maulawi Rajab, helps plan ISIS-K attacks and operations, commands groups conducting terrorist attacks and helps manage the group’s finances through its al-Siddiq Office.

The al-Siddiq Office, according to Rewards for Justice, is a regional ISIS directorate responsible for overseeing ISIS activities in Asia and providing financial support to ISIS branches and networks.

The programme said Obaidullah is a close associate of ISIS-K emir Sanaullah Ghafari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajir.

“Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Obaidullah, a key leader of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the programme said.

It added that Obaidullah was also connected to multiple ISIS-K terrorist plots targeting US, European and Middle Eastern interests.

Rewards for Justice said individuals associated with Obaidullah killed 145 people with gunfire and explosives in the March 2024 attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Russia, which was subsequently destroyed by fire.

The programme said ISIS-K is an Afghanistan-based terrorist group that conducts operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It said the group, composed primarily of former members of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2015.

Rewards for Justice also linked ISIS-K to several attacks, including the July 2016 bombing of a peaceful protest in Kabul, which it said killed nearly 80 people and wounded about 230 others.

The programme said ISIS-K claimed responsibility for a May 2020 attack on a Kabul maternity hospital that killed 24 people, including newborn babies and their mothers.

It also said the group claimed responsibility for the August 2021 suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, in which 13 US military personnel and about 160 civilians were killed during the evacuation operation.

The US Department of State designated ISIS-K as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in January 2016 and previously designated it as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organisation in September 2015.

The department designated Obaidullah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in November 2021.

Rewards for Justice urged individuals with information on the two men to submit tips through its reporting channels.