Briefly

MIDDLE EAST

Embassy reopening seen helpful to region

The reopening of Iran's embassy in Saudi Arabia is helpful for the region, said United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday, in response to a question at a daily press briefing. Iran reopened its embassy in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after seven years of closure, nearly three months after the two countries agreed to restore bilateral ties under a China-brokered deal. In March, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a groundbreaking agreement in Beijing to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies and missions.

UNITED NATIONS

New members elected to Security Council

Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and South Korea on Tuesday were elected unopposed to the United Nations Security Council as nonpermanent members, while Slovenia won the fifth open seat by soundly beating Belarus. The Security Council is made up of 15 member states, five permanent veto-wielding countries and 10 others that serve two-year terms. Each year, five of those spots are up for grabs. The 10 nonpermanent seats are allocated to represent all regions equally. In a secret ballot during the UN General Assembly, Slovenia, which was competing with Belarus for the seat reserved for Eastern Europe, won by a vote count of 153-38.Algeria and Sierra Leone will represent Africa, South Korea won the Asia-Pacific seat, and Guyana won a seat reserved for Latin America and the Caribbean.

UNITED STATES

On-site inspection of plane crash to end

The National Transportation Safety Board said investigators plan to conclude its on-site investigative work on Wednesday from the southwestern Virginia crash site of the light plane that caused a security scare on Sunday when it flew over heavily restricted airspace near Washington. Four people, including the pilot of the Cessna Citation 560, were killed in the crash in a mountainous wooded area, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The Department of Defense scrambled F-16 fighter jets, which created a sonic boom over the US capital as they pursued the Cessna.

Agencies Via Xinhua