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.

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,

Russian President Vladimir Putin is concluding a two-day visit to China by emphasizing the countries' strategic ties as well as his own personal relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they seek to present an alternative to U.S. global influence. Putin made a back-handed rebuke for the U.S., and others who oppose the Moscow-Beijing relationship, saying an “emerging multipolar world ... is now taking shape before our eyes.” Putin praised their bilateral trade as he toured a China-Russia Expo in the northeastern city of Harbin and met students at the Harbin Institute of Technology, which is said to work closely with the People’s Liberation Army. Harbin was once home to many Russian expatriates and retains some of that history.

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.