Briefly

IRAN

Teheran says UN arms embargo lifted

A United Nations-imposed arms embargo on Iran ended officially on Sunday in line with a 2015 landmark nuclear deal, the Iranian foreign ministry said. No special action was necessary from Iran as the embargo lifts automatically if no extension or additional measures are taken by the Security Council, the ministry said. Iran is self-dependent in defense and does not expect an arms-buying spree, it said. "Unconventional arms, weapons of mass destruction and a buying spree of conventional arms have no place in Iran's defense doctrine," the ministry said.

NEW ZEALAND

Dozen whales die in beach stranding

More than a dozen whales have died in New Zealand after becoming stranded on the country's North Island, the Department of Conservation said on Sunday. Rescuers and volunteers worked all day Saturday to refloat about 25 of the animals, part of a pod of about 40 to 50 pilot whales that became stranded earlier that day on a beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. Five dead pilot whales were discovered late on Saturday night at a site thought to be the original stranding location, the department said. Most of the stranded whales rejoined the pod on Sunday morning and were led out to deep water.

FRANCE

Social media attacks preceded beheading

Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded outside his school in a Paris suburb, was described by his pupils and their parents as caring and professional. He had become the target of an angry campaign on social media. Paty, 47, was killed on Friday by an 18-year-old man. Prosecutors said the attacker wanted to punish the teacher for showing his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics class on freedom of expression this month. Prosecutors added that they detained two men, who they said used social media to turn a dispute over the civics class into a campaign against Paty.

ISRAEL

Signing formalizes ties with Bahrain

Israel and Bahrain were scheduled to officially establish diplomatic relations on Sunday at a ceremony in Manama, an Israeli official said, after the two states reached a US-brokered normalization deal last month. A visiting delegation from Israel and officials in Bahrain will sign a "joint communique (that) is the establishment of full diplomatic relations", an Israeli official in Manama told reporters. Once the text is signed at a ceremony scheduled for Sunday evening, Israel and Bahrain will be free to open embassies in each other's countries, the official said.

Agencies - Xinhua