Japan

Japan on Saturday became only the fifth nation to achieve a soft lunar landing, but its "Moon Sniper" spacecraft was running out of power due to a solar battery problem.

After a nail-biting 20-minute descent, space agency JAXA said its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) had touched down and communication had been established.

Türkiye has emerged as the leading nation globally for the highest number of cigarettes smoked, earning the disconcerting distinction with 17.1 cigarettes per capita per day, according to a European Union (EU) Statistics Office report.

With the successful launch of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. state of Florida, Türkiye's first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı's Axiom-3 space mission has officially begun.

North Korea has announced the successful testing of its "underwater nuclear weapons system," specifically a nuclear-armed underwater drone known as the Haeil-5-23 system, as reported by the BBC. While North Korea has previously mentioned tests of this system, the weapon's existence has not been independently verified.

North Korea said Friday that it had tested an "underwater nuclear weapon system" in response to joint naval exercises by Washington, Seoul and Tokyo that involved a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Athens is standing in the way of an EU-Tirana Defense and Security Agreement over the Albanian government's intransigent stance regarding the incarceration of the ethnic Greek mayor of Himare, Fredi Beleri.

The EU is in the process of speeding up the procedures for signing agreements with third countries outside the Union with a view to better defense cooperation.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has announced that the Turkish-Japanese Science and Technology University (TJU) is set to commence operations later this year.

Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at a press conference that Japan only accepted U.S. aid after the earthquake while rejecting aid from other countries due to difficulties in reaching an agreement on how the aid would be delivered, reports Kyodo.

North Korea declared a successful test of a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a hypersonic warhead, intensifying concerns about regional stability. The secretive regime's latest launch, the first since December, showcased advancements in multi-stage high-thrust solid-fuel engines.

North Korea initiated its first missile launch of the year by firing an unidentified ballistic missile towards the East Sea on Sunday, as confirmed by the South Korean military. While details remain limited, the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged the launch without providing further information.