News in Brief-(2023-11-02)

Peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi
smuggles message out of cell
OSLO, Nov 01: "Victory is not easy, but it is certain," imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner and women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, said in a message smuggled out of her Tehran cell published late Tuesday. In the message, read out in French by her daughter, Kiana Rahmani, and posted on the official Nobel website, the 51-year-old activist and journalist expressed "sincere gratitude" to the Norwegian Nobel committee. Mohammadi-who was given the nod in early October "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran"-once again criticised the requirement for women in Iran to wear a headscarf, and denounced Iranian authorities. — AFP
S California wildfire prompts evacuation
AGUANGA, Nov 01: Hundreds of firefighters aided by aircraft on Tuesday battled a wind-driven wildfire that damaged or destroyed at least nine buildings in rural Southern California and prompted authorities to order 4,000 residents to evacuate. Gusty Santa Ana winds spread the Highland Fire over about 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) of brushy hills near the Riverside County hamlet of Aguanga after it broke out Monday afternoon. — AP
Militants kill 17 in northeast Nigeria
KANO, Nov 01: Jihadists affiliated to the Islamic State group killed 17 people in a raid on a remote village in northeast Nigeria after villagers refused to pay an illicit tax, anti-jihadist militia and a resident told AFP Tuesday. Scores of fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the remote farming and herding village of Kayayya in Yobe State late on Monday, 150 kilometres from the state capital Damaturu, hurling explosives and opening fire, the sources said. — AFP