World News Roundup: N.Korea celebrates 10 years of Kim Jong Un as top party leader; Man found guilty of murdering UK lawmaker David Amess and more

While the two sides had appeared close to reviving the pact a month ago, talks have since stalled over last-minute Russian demands, the Nowruz holiday, and the unresolved issue of whether Washington might remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. Ukraine repulses attacks in east as Russia presses to control Mariupol Ukrainian troops have repulsed several Russian assaults in the country's east, British intelligence said on Monday, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said thousands of Russian soldiers were massing for a new offensive.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

N.Korea celebrates 10 years of Kim Jong Un as top party leader

North Korea praised Kim Jong Un's leadership in developing nuclear weapons, touted his political achievements, and unveiled new portraits and exhibitions to celebrate his 10 years in charge of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Kim is considered to have assumed power when he was named supreme commander of the military after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in Dec. 2011.

Man found guilty of murdering UK lawmaker David Amess

A "fanatical Islamist" inspired by Islamic State was found guilty on Monday of murdering veteran British lawmaker David Amess by knifing him to death in a frenzied attack in a church where he was meeting voters. Ali Harbi Ali, 26, a British citizen and son of a former media adviser to a prime minister of Somalia, repeatedly stabbed Amess in an attack last October for what he said was revenge for the lawmaker's support for airstrikes on Syria.

France's Macron heads to Le Pen stronghold in search of more votes

Centrist President Emmanuel Macron took his hunt for more re-election support on Monday to France's former industrial heartland in the north, a blue-collar stronghold of far-right rival Marine Le Pen, who he will face in an April 24 runoff vote. Macron, 44, is vying to become the first president in two decades to win a second term but faces a tough challenge from Le Pen, who has tapped into anger over the cost of living and a perception that Macron is disconnected from everyday hardships.

Analysis-Politics, not substance, seen guiding U.S. and Iran on terror listing

One of the last obstacles to reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal - Tehran's demand to remove its Revolutionary Guards from a U.S. terrorism list - is more an issue of politics than substance, analysts said. While the two sides had appeared close to reviving the pact a month ago, talks have since stalled over last-minute Russian demands, the Nowruz holiday, and the unresolved issue of whether Washington might remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

Ukraine repulses attacks in east as Russia presses to control Mariupol

Ukrainian troops have repulsed several Russian assaults in the country's east, British intelligence said on Monday, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said thousands of Russian soldiers were massing for a new offensive. Russian forces were also pushing to establish control over the southern port city of Mariupol, the lynchpin between Russian-held areas to the west and east.

Russian ex-journalist on trial for treason: 'I will fight until the end'

Russian former reporter Ivan Safronov said ahead of the resumption of his treason trial on Monday that he plans to vigorously fight the charges against him and does not fear the prospect of being jailed. Safronov, who covered military affairs for the Vedomosti and Kommersant newspapers before becoming an aide to the head of Russia's space agency two months before his arrest in July 2020, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

In north Syria, the business hub hopes to drive recovery from war

In an industrial zone in northern Syria's rebel-held city of Al-Bab, Abu Omar al-Shihabi's smelter churns out iron bars he says can compete with any produced in Syria and beyond. The industrial zone is an unlikely business hub. It is located on the edge of a city which was once occupied by the Islamic State and now sits between a Turkish border wall to the north and a frontline with Syrian government forces to the south.

UK sanctions Bosnian Serb separatist leader

Britain said on Monday it had sanctioned Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik and a second Bosnian-Serb politician for what it described as their attempts to undermine the legitimacy and functionality of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia has been going through its worst political crisis since the end of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, with Bosnian Serbs challenging state institutions as part of their longtime bid to secede and eventually join neighboring Serbia.

Russia will not pause military operations in Ukraine for peace talks

Russia will not pause its military operation in Ukraine for subsequent rounds of peace talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday. Russian officials say peace talks with Ukraine are not progressing as rapidly as they would like, and have accused the West of trying to derail negotiations by raising war crimes allegations against Russian troops in Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

Ukraine says tens of thousands killed in Mariupol, accuses Russia of slowing evacuations

Ukraine said on Monday that tens of thousands of people have likely been killed in Russia's assault on Mariupol and Russian forces have slowed down evacuations from the besieged southeastern city, where conditions are desperate. "Mariupol has been destroyed, there are tens of thousands of dead, but even despite this, the Russians are not stopping their offensive," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to South Korean lawmakers.