North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is re-elected by Congress as the General Secretary of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party for the third time.

State media reported on Monday that Kim, 42, was reelected to the top post with delegates at the Congress crediting him for bolstering the country’s nuclear arsenal and strengthening its regional standing.

Kim has created a military capable of handling “any threat of aggression” and “any form of war,” the Congress announced, adding that his brave leadership is “reliably guaranteeing” the country’s future and “boosting the pride and self-esteem” of North Koreans.

Kim was reelected as General Secretary of North Korea’s Workers’ Party with the “unshakable will and unanimous desire” of thousands of delegates on the fourth day of meetings Sunday, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced. He has held the party’s top post since 2016.

The Congress is held every five years to elect the general secretary to serve as the party’s top representative and leader.

Kim is expected to announce his major policies on the military, diplomacy, the economy, and other areas for the next five years at the Congress, which kicked off last Thursday.

Western political analysts believe Kim will likely use the assembly as a platform from which he will announce the nation’s new military goals, including strengthening conventional forces and integrating them with nuclear capabilities. He will also likely announce a new plan for economic “self-reliance” through mass mobilization, following gradual post-pandemic gains fueled by rebounding trade with China and arms exports to Russia.

In the meantime, Kim’s government has rejected dialogue offers from US President Donald Trump since the American president began his second term, urging Washington to drop its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for talks. Kim has declared the war-divided South Korea a permanent enemy of the North as long as it is under US influence.

• Helicopter came down in Dorcheh city of Isfahan province.
• Sanctions-hit Iran suffered many air disasters in recent years.
• Pilot killed when F-4 jet crashed in Hamadan province last week.

An Iranian Army helicopter crashed into a fruit market in the central province of Isfahan on Tuesday, killing the pilot, co-pilot, and two merchants, state media reported.

The helicopter came down in the city of Dorcheh, causing a fire that was put out by emergency services, the reports added.

The pilot, co-pilot, and two fruit vendors on the ground were killed, the official IRNA news agency said, attributing the crash to “a technical malfunction”.

Sanctions-hit Iran has suffered several air disasters in recent years, with officials complaining of difficulties acquiring spare parts to keep its ageing fleets in the air.

Experts say Iran has a poor air safety record, with repeated crashes, many involving aircraft bought before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and lacking original spare parts for maintenance.

Last week, a US-built F-4 fighter belonging to Iran’s regular air force crashed in the western province of Hamadan, killing one pilot during a training flight.

German Ambassador to Pakistan Ina Lepel has said that Ukrainians are defending the freedom not only of Germany but also of the entire of Europe.

In her message on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion, the ambassador said that four years ago, on February 24, 2022, Russia launched an unprovoked and full-scale invasion against Ukraine, which was a blatant violation of international law.

“Even four years later, Ukraine’s military and people are continuing their resistance against the invaders,” she said.

“Ukraine’s brave soldiers and citizens are defending their freedom and sovereignty against a ruthless enemy that wishes to revive the colonial system of the past.”

In this way, she said, they are also defending the freedom of Germany and Europe as a whole. Because we do not know who the next victim of the Russian President’s aggression will be.

“This is the reason why supporting the freedom-loving and brave people of Ukraine in their war of resistance against the colonial system is in our fundamental interest.”

Ukraine, on February 24 (today), marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, with a show of solidarity from its staunchest allies and no immediate end in sight to Europe´s bloodiest conflict since World War II.

Tens of thousands of lives have been lost since the Kremlin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, confident of a quick victory but not expecting the fierce resistance that followed.