Keith Adams

North Korean state media has reported that the first Workers' Party conference since 2021 has begun in Pyongyang, showing images of the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, arriving at the Grand House of Culture building and making his way to the main conference chamber, while hundreds of delegates follow behind.

At one moment, Kim stops to bow beneath two huge portraits of the country's two previous leaders, his grandfather and the country's founding leader, Kim Il-sung, and his son, Kim Jong-il.

Kim Jong-un was given a standing ovation as he took to the stage to deliver his opening address.

Adopting a triumphant tone, the communist leader hailed the country's recent great successes, lauding his nation's growing international standing and improving economy.

The most important political event in the North Korean calendar comes at a time when Kim has enhanced his regional presence by growing the country's nuclear arsenal and forging ever closer ties with Moscow, much to the growing concern of Washington and Seoul.

The meeting, which is likely to run for several days, will provide Kim an opportunity to unveil his key political and military objectives.

The significant event is closely watched by foreign observers, keen for clues on the direction the isolated state may be heading.

But ahead of this year's event, many North Korean experts think Kim could use the Congress for a particularly significant announcement.

Who will be his successor?

Last week, South Korean intelligence agencies indicated that Kim was considering his 13-year-old daughter, believed to be named Kim Joo-ae, as his successor, a move that would formalise the regime's fourth generation of succession.

Pete Ross.

More than 50 years after humans last travelled to the Moon, NASA has set a date for sending astronauts around it once again.

The Artemis II mission has been scheduled to launch on 6 March after its 98-metre-tall rocket successfully completed final tests.

The spacecraft will lift off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, although the date remains subject to conditions at the site.

Our science correspondent Georgina Renard has been hearing from NASA.

Georgina Renard.

And you might have to go a little further into the cosmos than the moon if you want to find life on other planets.

Or perhaps you believe aliens have already visited Earth and, as some conspiracy theorists say, have been examined in the notorious Area 51, the top secret US military site in Nevada.

Well, now, perhaps, we might get to the bottom of those stories.

President Trump has said that he'll direct the Department of Defence to begin the process of releasing government files related to extraterrestrial life.