November 13, 2013
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jonathan Rodin.
Making headlines:

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela files opposing papers on the release of the Nkandla report.

The US will name Nigeria's Boko Haram as a terrorist group.

And, the Protection of State Information Bill goes back to the President.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has filed papers opposing an urgent application to prevent her from releasing the provisional report into President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead.

Her office said on Wednesday that the papers were filed on Tuesday afternoon at the High Court in Pretoria. "[This was in]... response to an application filed last Friday by organs of state within the security cluster."

The security cluster of ministries sought to interdict Madonsela from releasing her provisional report to affected, implicated and interested parties for comment.

The US State Department will formally designate the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram as a "foreign terrorist organization" on Wednesday.

The designation is significant because it directs US law enforcement and regulatory agencies to block business and financial transactions with Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic law in northern Nigeria and has ties to al Qaeda.

The move makes it a crime under US law to provide "material support" to the group.

Boko Haram and other splinter Islamist groups are seen as the biggest security threat in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and top oil exporter.

Despite protest from opposition benches, the National Assembly adopted the revised Protection of State Information Bill on Tuesday.

The highly contentious bill will now go back to President Jacob Zuma for assent after 225 MPs voted in favour of the proposed law, and 88 voted against it.

In September, Zuma referred the bill back to the assembly, citing two sections of the bill he deemed unconstitutional.

Introducing the revised bill on Tuesday, State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele said Zuma should be congratulated for identifying the technical errors in the bill.

Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, however, said opposition parties would continue in their effort "to not back down in the face of this assault" on democracy.

Also making headlines:

The amendments to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act have been sent to President Jacob Zuma for assent after the National Assembly adopted the amendment Bill this week.

The UN Security Council authorized an increase of more than 4 000 peacekeepers in Somalia on Tuesday so the UN-backed African force can boost its fight against al Shabaab militants who have shifted tactics and expanded their reach.

And, the Legal Practice Bill, which has far-reaching implications for the legal profession, was approved by the National Assembly on Tuesday.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.