Briefly

IRAN

First military satellite launched amid tensions

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on Wednesday that it had put the Islamic Republic's first military satellite into orbit, dramatically unveiling what experts described as a secret space program with a surprise launch that came amid wider tensions with the United States. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch of the satellite, which the Guard called "Noor" or light. The US State Department and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. On its official website, the Guard said the satellite successfully reached an orbit of 425 kilometers above the Earth's surface. The three-stage satellite launch took off from Iran's Central Desert, the Guard said, without elaborating.

MOZAMBIQUE

Insurgents kill 52 in remote village

More than 50 villagers in Mozambique's northernmost province were killed by extremist insurgents on April 7 after they refused to be recruited to their ranks, police said on Tuesday. "The young men were about to be recruited but they resisted, which provoked the ire of the bandits that killed the 52 indiscriminately," police spokesman Orlando Modumane said. The killings took place in the village of Xitaxi in Muidumbe district in the province of Cabo Delgado, home to multibillion-dollar gas projects led by oil majors such as Total.

LEBANON

Suspected 'honor killing' claims 9 lives

A man slaughtered his wife and shot dead eight other people, including his brother, in a Lebanese town on Tuesday in the country's worst mass shooting in years, a security source said. The source said authorities caught the man, who had been on the loose after killing his wife with a knife and then going on a shooting rampage in Baakline, 45 kilometers south of the capital Beirut. The shooter had used a pump-action rifle, the source and state news agency NNA said. The news agency said the motive remained unclear. The security source said that it was a suspected "honor killing" and that five of those killed were Syrian, including two children aged 15 and 10, at the house under construction where the shooting took place.

YEMEN

Houthi militias accused of violating cease-fire

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition involved in the civil war in Yemen on Tuesday accused the Houthi militias of violating a cease-fire, Al Akhbariya TV reported. The coalition said the militias were involved in 193 violations in the last 48 hours, the report said. This was not the first time that the coalition accused the Houthis of cease-fire violations. On April 8, the coalition announced a two-week unilateral truce starting from April 9 in response to a call by the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths for warring parties in the country to lay down their weapons.

Agencies - Xinhua