Hello, I'm Neil Nunes with the BBC news.
The president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has told the BBC that technically the security forces have won the war against the Islamist group Boko Haram. Mr Buhari, who came to power under a pledge to defeat the group this year, said the militants could no longer mount conventional attacks against government forces or centers of population. He said they had been reduced to suicide bombings and remained a force only in the heartland Borno state.
"They can not now marshal their forces and attack towns or attack military installations as they did before. I don't think this is mad talking and we have more substitude alongside the organized military. We have gotten some hardware fellow and xx was British and Americans, and the French. XX."
But Boko Haram is reported to have mounted more than 100 attacks and killed more than 1,000 people over the past two months.?
A court in Thailand has sentenced two Burmese migrant workers to death for the murder of two British tourists on the holiday island of Koh Tao September last year. A judge found Z L and W Z H guilty of attacking David Miller and Hannah Witheridge on a beach so they could rape her. Both men initially confessed but retracted these, saying they had been tortured. Outside the court, Mr Miller's brother Michael said the family would always treasure their memories of him.
"Our lives have been changed forever. Nothing brings David home. No last talks, no goodbyes. But whatever our anguish, the love we have for David could never be taken away. Our 24 years of memories and his beaming smile will be always be cherished."
At least 25 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in the fire at a hospital in the Saudi Arabian city of Jizan. The fire broke out on the first floor of the Jizan General Hospital where the maternity and intensive care wards are located in the early hours of Thursday morning. It's not clear what started it, an investigation is now underway. Emergency services have now brought the fire under control.
Reports from Afghanistan suggest that the Taliban is now in almost total control of the town of Sangin in the southern Helmand province. The militants have surrounded a detachment of Afghanistan government forces in a military base. There are reports that local officials have been somberly executed. This man was driven from his home by the advance of the Taliban.
"We fled home with the clothes in our backs. We left our livestocks behind. Yesterday, I returned to Sangin. I went to the market and saw Taliban militants there. The market was closed. People are stuck in their homes."
World news from the BBC.
The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is making his first official visit to Russia for talks on defense and energy cooperation. The visit is expected to result in multi-billion-dollar deals. From Moscow, Sarah Rainsford has this report.
"India has become a even more important market for Russia since the west imposed economic sanctions. So Moscow is looking to sell its sophisticated S400 anti-aircraft systems to Delhi. A deal to manufacture military helicopters in India could also be signed. It's also meant to demonstrate that India has not drifted away from Russian by tightening ties with the US and for Russia to prove it still values its Cold War ally despite starting armament sales to Pakistan for the first time in decades."
The US campaign group Black Lives Matter has held a protest disrupting two airports and the country's biggest shopping mall. They're demanding justice for G K, an unarmed black man shot dead by officers in Minneapolis last month.
Both Houses of Chile's Congress have approved a law granting free university education to many of the country's students. The law will benefit almost 200,000 students at state universities. Nicolas Rocha has more.
"Chilean students have been demanding a greater say in university system which they believe favors private institutions while state ones flounder. President Michelle Bachelet made education reform a pillar of her 2013 reelection campaign. After Wednesday's voting in congress, a spokesman, B L, said the government had fulfilled its promises. He said education was now everybody's right."
And the West Bank city of Bethlehem is preparing to receive worshipers for its Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity. But this year's festivity comes at a time of rising tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians.