North Korea on Monday threatened to launch nuclear strikes at the United States and its military bases in Northeast Asia as the United States and South Korea began one of their annual large-scale joint military exercises.

China's finance minister says Beijing is expanding deficit spending to prevent a slide in growth and support its efforts to overhaul its cooling economy.

China’s leaders made clear they are emphasizing growth over restructuring this year, but suggested they are trying to avoid inflating debt or asset bubbles as they send massive amounts of money coursing through the economy.

China is aiming for average economic growth at or above 6.5 percent for the next five years, the government said on Saturday, as the world's No. 2 economy seeks to balance deep structural reforms, gyrating financial markets and softening global trade.

China's defence budget this year is likely to rise at its slowest pace since 2010, in line with the decelerating economy, by a much lower figure than had been expected, although it probably does not represent the true spending number.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and to turn its military posture to "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday.

The U.S. Navy has dispatched an aircraft carrier and several ships accompanying it into the South China Sea in the last few days, a deployment of thousands of U.S. sailors to a region a top U.S. admiral said last week is increasingly militarized by China.

Chinese leaders are expected to cut their growth target to allow more flexibility in overhauling their slowing, state-dominated economy when their legislature meets this week. But they are unlikely to unveil significant new reforms.

North Korea has fired a volley of short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast after the UN security council unanimously approved the toughest sanctions against the regime in two decades over its nuclear and rocket tests.

North Korea faces harsh new U.N. sanctions to starve it of money for its nuclear weapons program following a unanimous Security Council vote on Wednesday on a resolution drafted by the United States and Pyongyang's ally China.