BBC News with Nick Kelly.

There has been heavy fighting in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah where government Special Forces are battling to drive out militants linked to al-Qaeda. In the neighboring city of Ramadi, Iraqi police are leading an operation against militants there. Sebastian Usher reports. “The commander of the Iraqi Special Forces says heavy clashes are taking place as his troops battled to win back control of parts of Fallujah that the Jihadist fighters have seized. The Jihadist, under the black banner of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, has posted videos themselves, burning government vehicles, setting up checkpoints and issuing challenges to the authority of the Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Sunni tribal fighters have also taken to the streets with reports that some are fighting on the government side. The government is facing a growing challenge from Jihadists that many Sunnis believe it's been indiscriminate in its crackdown.”

A car bomb explosion in Beirut has killed at least four people. The blast in the southern neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital injured 60 others. The district is a stronghold of the Hezbollah movement. Rami Ruhayem reports from Beirut. “The explosion happened in the business street full of shops, restaurants and residential buildings. Reports suggested it was caused by a four-wheel-drive freight car. Hezbollah media denied that the target was Hezbollah office and said that the nearest one was hundreds of meters away. Hezbollah is heavily involved in the conflict in Syria, fighting alongside government forces. Some Syrian groups have threatened to revenge on the streets of Beirut and many would be quick to say this attack is another retaliation for Hezbollah's role in Syria.”

The California Supreme Court has ruled that a Mexican illegal immigrant who's qualified as a lawyer in the state should be granted the license to practice. Sergio Garcia entered the US illegally as a teenager to pick almonds with his father. He works his way through law school at a grocery store and passed his bar exam at the first attempt. Last year, California legislators passed a bill to allow qualified applicants into the state bar regardless of their immigration status. Mr. Garcia said his case showed other immigrants that hard work meant something in the US.

President of Panama has reacted with anger to the announcement by a consortium enlarging the Panama Canal that it may suspend work because of cost overruns. The consortium is made up of companies from Spain, Italy, Belgium and Panama. Here's Tom Burridge. “The President of Panama said he would travel here to Spain and to Italy. Ricardo Martinelli said both European governments have a moral duty to ensure that the Spanish and Italian companies charged with widening the canal fulfill the contract they won in 2009. The group of companies has announced an overspend of $1.6bn. The consortium says it would stop work in three weeks unless the authorities in Panama agree to cover that cost.”

World News from the BBC.

A leading member of the Rwandan opposition in exile has said he has no doubt the death of Patrick Karegeya was a political assassination. General Faustin Nyamwasa has himself survived two attempts on his life in South Africa. He was speaking to the BBC. “The motive, I think, is a political assassination because Rwanda's got threat out of political assassinations over the years. Dissidents in Kenya, generals in Uganda had attempted on my life in South Africa. Definitely the Patrick's life of Rwanda is not different from that.” Police in South Africa say they began a murder investigation into the death of an exiled former external intelligence chief Karegeya whom they say may have been strangled. Rwandan diplomats say the government was not involved in the killing.

A spokesman for the South Sudanese army says its forces are again moving on the key town of Bor, capital of the oil-rich Jonglei state. It's been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the country's civil war and was seized by the rebels earlier this week. News of the advance came as delegations from the government and rebels gathered for peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Nearly 2,000 flights across the United States have been cancelled following heavy snow across the northeastern centre of the country. Further bad weather is expected later on Thursday and the national weather service says temperatures will fall well below zero. Forecasters expect more than 30cm of snow and strong winds in Boston and New England overnight.

And the Roman Catholic Church has said the Pope Francis drew over 6.5 million visitors to audiences and the masses at the Vatican last year, that's more than twice the number who came to see his predecessor Pope Benedict during his first year as pontiff in 2005. The figures cover events at the Vatican after Francis was elected in March and did not include his visit to Brazil or trips elsewhere in Italy.

BBC News.