TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Turkey would move forward with ratifying Finland’s Nato application, paving the way for the country to join the military bloc ahead of Sweden.

The announcement came as Finnish president Sauli Niinisto was in Ankara to meet with Mr Erdogan and 10 months after both Finland and Sweden applied to become Nato members.

NORTH KOREA: Pyongyang said today that it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile to “strike fear into the enemies” as South Korea and Japan agreed at a summit to work closely on regional security with the United States and staged military exercises around the region.

This came as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a summit aimed at rebuilding security ties.

UNITED STATES: Video from a state mental hospital shows a black Virginia man, Irvo Otieno, who was handcuffed and shackled being pinned to the ground by deputies who are now facing second-degree murder charges over his death on Thursday.

The family called on the US Department of Justice to intervene in the case, saying Mr Otieno’s constitutional rights were clearly violated.

PALESTINE: An Israeli army raid killed four Palestinians, including a teenage boy, near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, Palestinian officials said.

The Palestinian health ministry identified three of the dead as Youssef Shreem, Nidal Khazim, and Omar Awadin. The identity of the fourth was not immediately known.

The Israeli military said its troops killed two wanted members of the Islamic Jihad group and a third person.