Nigeria's $500m typing error over MTN fine

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) initially said the $5.2bn fine had been reduced to $3.4bn.

But NCC spokesman Tony Ojobo says the correct amount is $3.9bn (£2.5bn).

The original sanction was imposed in October for failing to cut off unregistered users.

The company has not yet commented. 

Since the original fine, the South African company has made a number of senior managerial changes, which included the resignation of the MTN chief executive, Sifiso Dabengwa.

The fine was reduced after MTN complained to the NCC.

"There was a typo. The reduction should have been 25%," Mr Ojobo told the Bloomberg news agency.

"We saw the mistake and had to fix it." 

The amount has to be paid by December 31.

MTN has 231 million subscribers in 22 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. However, Nigeria is its biggest market.

In September, the company was named as most admired brand in Africa in the Brand Africa 100 awards, beating Samsung, while it was also awarded the continent's most valuable brand, worth $4.6bn (£3bn).

MTN was South Africa's second mobile operator when it was set up in 1994 after the end of apartheid. 

It began its expansion across Africa four years later with operations in Rwanda, Uganda and Swaziland.

Doctors urge Congress to fund gun violence research

On Wednesday morning, hours before 14 people were shot dead in San Bernardino, California by a heavily armed couple, several prominent physicians’ groups presented a petition to Congress urging lawmakers to end what it called the “effective ban” on gun violence research by government agencies.

More than 2,000 doctors from Doctors for America, the American Medical Women’s Association, the National Physicians and other groups signed the petition, which asked Congress to include funding for research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about gun violence and how to prevent it in annual appropriations.

“There’s nothing else that kills or injures so many people that we know so little about,” Dr. Alice Chen, a physician at UCLA Medical Center and executive director of Doctors for America, a Washington-based advocacy group, told Al Jazeera. “We know that research [on guns] needs to be done for us to have the answers we need to prevent all these terrible tragedies that are happening every single day.”

So far in 2015 there have been 353 mass shootings in the U.S. involving four or more deaths or injuries, according to the website ShootingTracker.com. 

In 1996, Rep. Jay Dickey, a Republican from Arkansas, spearheaded an effort to cut$2.6 million from the CDC’s budget, the same amount that had been appropriated the previous year to conduct research on gun-related deaths in the U.S. Congress also wrote into its appropriations bill for 1997 that “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”

Critics of this measure, which has become known as the Dickey amendment and has been included in appropriations bills since 1997, say that it has, in effect, cut off the CDC and other public health agencies from receiving funding for gun violence research. 

“Precisely what was or was not permitted under the clause was unclear,” wrote Dr. Arthur Kellerman from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences andDr. Frederick Rivara with the University of Washington, two of the epidemiologists who conducted gun violence research that may have inspired the amendment, in a 2013 op-ed. “But no federal employee was willing to risk his or her career or the agency's funding to find out.”

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about reasons for the lack of gun violence research. It has determined that, among the 10 leading causes of injury deaths in the U.S. in 2013, suicide by firearms and homicide shooting deaths are the fourth and fifth most common causes, respectively.

“It is possible for us to conduct firearm-related research within the context of our efforts to address youth violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, and suicide,” CDC spokeswoman Courtney Lenard wrote in an email to The Washington Post in January, “but our resources are very limited.”

After the December 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newton, Connecticut, which killed 26 people, including 20 first-graders, President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2013 calling on the CDC to research the causes of gun violence as well as its prevention.

However, Chen says that the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention still does not receive enough funding from Congress, despite the president’s order.

Last June, former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that the CDC is supposed to protect public health by looking at diseases and not guns. “I’m sorry, but a gun is not a disease,” he said. “Guns don’t kill people — people do. And when people use weapons in a horrible way, we should condemn the actions of the individual and not blame the action on some weapon.”

But Chen says that gun deaths are a critical problem for the health care system.

“A pool is not a disease, either, but we [the government] research on what keeps kids from drowning,” she said. “To say this is not the business of the CDC, that does not make sense.”

Dickey, who retired from Congress in 2000, sent a letter on Tuesday to Rep. Mike Thompson, D-California, who chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, calling for more gun violence research. “Research could have been continued on gun violence without infringing on the rights of gun owners, in the same fashion that the highway industry continued its research without eliminating the automobile,” he wrote. “It is my position that somehow or some way we should slowly but methodically fund such research until a solution is reached. Doing nothing is no longer an acceptable solution.”

President Obama to Deliver Address on Terrorism Sunday

President Obama will deliver a primetime address to the nation Sunday night on the threat of terrorism, the White House said, following last week’s killing of 14 Americans in San Bernardino and the recent attacks in Paris.

According to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, Obama will speak at 8 p.m. Eastern time Sunday “about the steps our government is taking to fulfill his highest priority: keeping the American people safe.”

The address from the Oval Office is a particularly rare move for Obama, highlighting his administration’s efforts to portray itself as seriously engaged on the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria afte

Earnest said in a statement Obama would update the country on the investigation into the California attack, which the administration has now branded an act of terror.

“The President will also discuss the broader threat of terrorism, including the nature of the threat, how it has evolved, and how we will defeat it,” Earnest said. “He will reiterate his firm conviction that ISIL will be destroyed and that the United States must draw upon our values – our unwavering commitment to justice, equality and freedom – to prevail over terrorist groups that use violence to advance a destructive ideology.”

In recent months, Obama has come under fire from Republicans and even some Democrats for his struggles to explain the nature of the ISIS threat and the U.S. effort to combat the extremist group. That campaign is being waged in two parts: the on-the-ground and air campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and on cyberspace and the streets of Western cities as ISIS-inspired radicalism spreads. A series of ill-times statements minimizing the group’s threat have only added to Obama’s problems.

In a press conference in Turkey following the Paris attacks, Obama frustratedly lashed out at partisan critics, maintaining that his strategy against the terrorist group is sound. But Republicans have called for an escalation to the air war, while some have called for the deployment of hundreds or thousands of American troops on the ground to fight the group. Meanwhile, intelligence agencies have struggled to spot cases of homegrown extremism as ISIS has embraced more sophisticated methods of securing its communications.

In the days between the Paris and California attacks, Obama and aides had repeatedly stated there was no credible and specific threat to the homeland—an indication of how the San Bernardino attackers planned their assault out of view of U.S. law enforcement.

Obama has only twice previously addressed the nation live from the Oval Office, to discuss the response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and later that year to mark the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. Five years later, about 3,500 American troops have returned to Iraq to advise and assist local forces against ISIS.

Kim Kardashian And Kanye West Have Baby Boy

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West pictured in September

The reality TV star announced on her website and via Twitter the arrival of their new son.

Associated Press said that the youngster was born in Los Angeles but had no information yet on the name On Ms Kardashian's Twitter feed she wrote: "He's here!" with a link to her website and picture of their mother and father holding hands.

On her webpage, the star of Keeping Up With The Kardashians wrote: "To our fans. Kanye and I welcome our baby boy!"

The website added: "Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West welcomed the arrival of their son this morning. Mother and son are doing well."

Just 12 hours earlier, Ms Kardashian posted a picture of her pregnant belly, joking: "Ready whenever you are lol".

The baby boy is the second child for the superstar couple - their daughter North was born in 2013.

The pair began dating in 2012 and married outside Florence, Italy, in 2014.

Mr West has yet to comment.

Officials from around the world reach climate change draft agreement

(CNN)Negotiators from 195 countries agreed Saturday on a blueprint deal aimed at reducing global carbon emissions and limiting global warming, a significant but far from conclusive step in the multinational effort to keep climate change in check.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) posted on its website a copy of the draft agreement, which officials have been working on intensively for some time. 

The document addresses deforestation, food security, poverty and a host of other issues, with chunks of the document focused on what developed countries can do to reduce carbon dioxide missions by a yet to be determined level by 2050. 

This includes what they can do to help other countries. To this point, one line in the draft states, "Developed countries shall provide developing countries with long-term, scaled-up, predictable, new and additional finance, technology and capability-building."

Officials will now work through next week at the COP21 conference in Paris to craft a complete, final agreement.

Doing so may not be easy, but that didn't stop those involved in the process from celebrating Saturday's announcement.

"One more step in writing of history," tweeted Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UNFCCC. "#ADP adopts the Draft Paris Outcome and forwards it to #COP21 for finalizing."

Can the world reach an effective deal?

Saturday's announcement comes days after leaders from around the world -- including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- gathered in the French capital for the conference's kickoff. At the time, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed optimism that a deal would be struck.

"I think we're going to solve it," Obama said. "I think the issue is just going to be the pace and how much damage is done before we are able to fully apply the brakes."

Many officials have talked about the importance of doing something to slow the pace of global climate change, aiming specifically to hold global average temperatures short of a 2 degrees Celsius increase over pre-industrial global temperatures. 

Having legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions  has long been seen as a priority to make this happen.

But getting every country in the world on the same page -- since even a few bad eggs could tilt the scales in the wrong direction, even if everyone else is doing their part -- has proven difficult over the years. It's also complicated to implement measures that have effective consequences for those who don't do their part.

Making sense of the UN climate conference's acronyms

'We can. We must. We will act on climate change'

In comments posted Saturday to Twitter, Figueres gave a sense of urgency and optimism to this challenge when she said, "We can. We must. We will act on climate change."

Segolene Royal, France's environmental minister, added that it's not that people don't know what has to be done. They just need the will -- politically and otherwise -- to make it happen.

"We have the solutions to climate change," Royal said, according to another U.N. tweet. "We just need to deploy them."

This sentiment was echoed by U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgren, who expressed hope "that leaders from around the world will find common ground" from his current home on the International Space Station.

"Whether you're a government, a business, a university or an individual, you can make a difference," he said.

Back on Earth, in Paris, several speakers -- including current Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg -- similarly rallied people to the cause Saturday, which the U.N. characterized as "Action Day."

One of the speakers, actor Sean Penn, said, "If there's something to move forward with forests, to reclaim the environment, to create economic opportunity and to protect these vital human rights, it's in no longer being afraid to make commitments to do so. ... Join us ... in making a commitment and in being under the scrutiny of our children in 10 years from today."

No 'free pass' for Democratic candidates, says Black Lives Matter founder

Since the start of the 2016 presidential campaign season, Black Lives Matter protests have been a regular feature of candidate rallies. Although the protesters have targeted contenders from both major parties, Democrats have faced the brunt of the disruptions. There’s a reason for that, Black Lives Matter founding member Patrisse Cullors told Al Jazeera.

“I think what’s important about challenging the Democrats is that for so many years, they’ve received a free pass in the black community,” Cullors said in an interview on Friday with Ali Velshi of "Third Rail." “And they’ve really milked our votes without giving many results."

Cullors — the person responsible for creating the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag — said activists are primarily targeting Democratic candidates because “we want to push them to become better advocates for the black community.” And she believes that strategy has been successful.

“We’ve seen Hillary Clinton come out with a criminal justice reform package. We’ve seen Bernie Sanders come out with a reform package,” said Cullors of the two Democratic candidates. “I mean, all of our tactics are pushing and pushing them to be much more honest about Black Lives Matter."

The most famous Black Lives Matter disruption of the campaign season occurred in July, when protesters affiliated with the civil rights movement successfully derailed a staged event featuring Democratic candidates Sanders and Martin O’Malley in Phoenix, Arizona. The following month, protesters tried to disrupt a Clinton appearance in New Hampshire but were barred entry; the campaign instead permitted them to meet with the candidate following the event.

Cullors was careful to emphasize that Republican candidates are “definitely not getting a pass.” Last month, a Black Lives Matter activist crashed a rally for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, where he was subsequently assaulted by zealous Trump supporters. Trump later said that perhaps the protester deserved to be “roughed up."

The movement has largely targeted Democrats because the GOP is “too far gone,” said Cullors.

“We want to really challenge the party that’s supposed to be the, quote, ‘party that’s on our side,’” she said. “When, historically, they have not been."

The three Democratic candidates have each taken steps to appease Black Lives Matter activists, in addition to the policy proposals cited by Cullors. Clinton, Sanders, and O’Malley all routinely utter the phrase “black lives matter” during their public appearances, and Sanders has recruited Symone Sanders — a young, black criminal justice reform activist — to serve as one of his spokespeople.

Despite the overtures from various candidates, other Black Lives Matter leaders have made clear that the movement — which, by its nature, is decentralized — will not endorse a candidate during this election cycle. 

Lake Chad: Triple suicide blasts kill 27, security sources say

The blasts, on the island of Koulfoua on the Chadian side of the lake, struck a weekly market, the sources said.

No group has said it was behind the attacks, but the region is under a state of emergency after attacks by the Boko Haram militant group.

This year thousands of people fleeing the Islamist fighters sought safety on the island.

Chad has played a key role helping Nigeria recapture areas seized by the group in northern Nigeria.