The U.S. ambassador to Japan has stressed the importance of increased deterrence and his country’s commitment to its key ally as he visited two southwestern Japanese islands at the forefront of Tokyo's tension with Beijing. Rahm Emanuel on Friday visited Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island just east of Taiwan, a self-governed island also claimed by China. He later visited another Japanese island, Ishigaki, home to Japan Coast Guard patrol boats defending the disputed East China Sea islands and Japanese fishermen from armed Chinese coast guard ships that routinely enter Japanese waters. Japan is further accelerating its military buildup under a 2022 security strategy that focuses on counter-strike capability with long-range cruise missiles.

Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip have rolled across a newly built U.S. pier and into the besieged enclave for the first time. Friday's shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day. It comes as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hindered the delivery of food and other supplies seven months into the Israel-Hamas war. But the U.S. and aid groups warn that the floating pier project is not a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered the territory on an average day.

Israeli troops have recovered the bodies of three hostages in the Gaza Strip. The military said Friday the three were killed at a music festival during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, and their bodies were taken into Gaza. Among those found were German-Israeli Shani Louk. A photo of the 22-year-old's twisted body in the back of a pickup truck became emblematic of the attack. The military did not say where the bodies were found in Gaza. Israeli forces are currently invading the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying it’s the last stronghold of Hamas and hostages are being held there.

Hundreds of Air Force members in dress blues have joined Roger Fortson’s family, friends and others at a suburban Atlanta megachurch to pay their final respects to the Black senior airman, who was shot and killed in his Florida home earlier this month by a sheriff’s deputy. People lined up well before the start of Friday's service at the church in Stonecrest to file past the open casket to say their goodbyes to Fortson. He was shot May 3 by a deputy responding to a possible domestic violence situation at Fortson’s apartment complex. During the service,