Forms of government

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has built its first-ever military spy satellite and that he planned to launch it on an undisclosed date, state media reported Wednesday.

Slovakia has banned the processing and sale of grain from Ukraine because of pesticides. This was reported by the Romanian media, referring to a message from the Ministry of Agriculture of Slovakia dated April 13, BTA reported.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is visiting China, called for a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue, Reuters reported.

"Conflicts must be resolved peacefully," Baerbock said at a news conference in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Qing Gan.

She called on China to exert its influence on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine said that he could not give specific details about the upcoming counter-offensive, "because we cannot give terrorists from the Russian Federation an opportunity to prepare for our methods and steps towards de-occupation", reports the Kyiv Independent.

Vietnam's economic growth slowed in the first quarter of the year as exports slumped due to reduced consumer demand, authorities said yesterday.

The communist manufacturing hub's economy expanded by 3.32 percent in the January-March period, down from 5.05 percent in the same period of 2022.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called on his country to expand production of "nuclear materials for weapons" and create more powerful weapons, AFP reported.

Kim's latest threat came ahead of the planned arrival of a US Navy strike group in South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has urged his country to be ready to launch nuclear strikes at any moment, accusing the US and South Korea of expanding joint military exercises involving US nuclear-capable weapons, BTA and Reuters reported, citing local media: state agency KCNA.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led two days of military drills "simulating a nuclear counterattack", including the launch of a ballistic missile, state media reported Monday.

Investors and stock markets have become very excited with China's "reopening" after its abandonment of the zero-Covid policy at the end of 2022. Nobody knows how many people died after more than 80% of the population was declared to have caught the coronavirus, but there have been clear signs of economic revival after three years of drastic lockdowns.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Tuesday, Seoul said, Pyongyang's second launch in three days and the first since South Korea and the United States began their largest joint military drills in five years.