Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.

I'm your host, Aurel Oganbi.

And I'm Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

In the 1990s, North Korea endured a famine that killed hundreds of thousands.

Worrying reports regarding its ongoing food crisis suggests the country is once again

in a dire situation.

Can the regime avoid a catastrophe on the same scale this time?

And if you ask most people what baseball games are like, the answer is likely to be

slow.

That's how many old school fans like it, but the sport is failing to attract young ones.

So authorities are trying to make things a bit speedier and spicier.

First up though.

A manual Macron, Francis President, is packing his bags and heading to Beijing for three days

of meetings.

Yesterday ahead of his departure, he welcomed Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission's

President.

The pair will set off together with an entourage of business leaders, but there's more on the

agenda than striking deals.

Much more, China's President Xi Jinping recently went to Moscow to meet with his Russian

counterpart Vladimir Putin.

There no limits friendship is a growing concern to the West as Russia's war in Ukraine

...