the investigation into russian interference in the election of donald trump has reportedly been widened to include the united arab emirates the new york times says an advisor to the crown prince of the u.a.e. has been questioned special counsel robert know whether george notter who's a regular visit to the white house attempted to buy political influence the us president contradicted years of policy when he initially backed the u.a.e. and saudi led blockade against qatar. south korea has announced plans for a special envoy to visit the north the five person delegation will leave for two days of talks on monday it's in response to an invitation presented by kim jong un sr during her visit to the china lympics an al qaeda affiliate says it was behind the attack that killed sixteen people in bikini faso on friday the french embassy and army headquarters were targeted in the capital walk of duty. roger today those

are the very latest headlines from us here at al-jazeera the news continues after innovate africa. al-jazeera is a very important source of information for many people around the world when all the cameras have gone i'm still here going to areas that nobody else is going to talk to people that nobody else is talking to and bring that story to the forefront . this is innovate africa a series highlighting innovation and creativity across a continent that is on the rise. today on the innovate africa african scientists using satellite technology to map the future space in the south is on the chronic sector the one who has information about two quarters the future of african invents the world's first digital laser so what we want to do is come up with that nasty tools for age maybe but that a photonic space. and

a new technology to bring low cost internet to the remotest parts of the continent . across africa science and technology are playing a vital roles in our development in today's program we meet african scientists who are fast tracking the continent's future i visited the cell the african national space agency to find out how looking into the stars is helping improve life in africa. i don't think i was. an increasingly complex network of systems space and satellite

technology is new bunkering new frontier. devices navigation system radio and television signals internet connectivity and even disaster management. facilitated by thousands of satellite orbiting the. space science is now a critical pursuit for african countries with an increasing dependence on space based technologies. with the explosion across africa space will be providing solutions to the continent's growing i.c.t. needs. and south africa is leading the african space race. to the south african department of science and technology has said space science as one of the family grand challenges for the country in the a ten year innovation plan. in order to facilitate this sense of the south african national space agency

has been formed dr jane all which is the managing director of the observation unit quite excited about this whole experience personally a fan of space you know from the days of star trek and all of that but there's some people who would say why are we spending money on space technology when we have bigger problems in africa. today the biggest challenge about space when people still think about space technology is about expensive. wars and they say these. are not the course best accord is meant for both countries at the experiencing disasters that they're experiencing. the one who has information actually a quarter of the future. centers earth observation unit to collect and assimilate data transmitted from satellites. here the satellite imagery is

interpreted and used to support. human settlement issues i agree cultural development and disaster management. i was told you are the right leader to see when it comes to exactly how we apply the satellite imagery so what exactly is going on here we're looking at a satellite image here but five so it gives the cup ability to observe what he said pinning on the earth has surfaced from space and we are able to acquire information over. to what you will see when you walking down the street or when you're driving and then we can do and so our news mostly government departments so what we do we are now allows the images and converted into information that they can use for example if we're looking at human settlement we can more need to. there it who each hour it been growing on

this particular image all these settlements that. in two thousand and six and over here this image was taken in twenty three there's been a massive development that. was developed between two thousand and six and twenty if it's not money tied it can have a negative impact on the infrastructure like demand of services can be higher than this but also it can also have negative impact on the environment on the part of africa that we're monitoring in the same way the images that are here it's center we we don't just. from the equator coming down to south africa so that information we share with the countries. images of africa transmitted from satellites can also help to assess zones on the

continent we don't access to electricity it's easy to spot areas without lights from the sky. apart from human settlement and resource analysis satellite imagery has several critical applications for africa pollution particularly in bodies of water can be quickly identified using different wavelengths. have one so the minute that we have different color it shows that there is a program pollutants and the overgrowth of organic matter like algae can seriously affect the safety of africa's valuable water sources by spotting these contaminants quickly alerts can be sent out and the pollutants contained or removed if we acquire this image today and then we have another image maybe end of demand we can see ways they are moving then they can also see where they need to concentrate

on large scale disaster management is also one of the key up locations of satellite imagery in africa. areas prone to flooding stand to benefit hugely from space science. this is an image of mozambique this is truck village that was taken before the flood and after the flood with the satellite imagery we were able to see in areas that were affected by floods all. during the flood and that agricultural. area subsistence farming it's all flooded so that cooler also affect our food security with such information we are able to model in terms of each other areas that are likely going to be affected by flags if we have similary so in so doing then we will be able to

plan better than local authorities who will be able to place people approve development in areas which are safe would you say that africa's future in the stars space provides as with cup abilities. to be yesterday and planned for tomorrow. it isn't only africa's weather conditions that can be tracked by satellites is also host to the only space weather regional warning center on the continent. here the scientists monitor the sun its activity and its impact on space weather space weather is the term for the conditions experienced between the earth and sun. the sun so we monitor the sun different wavelength. different colors you want to see. this if. it is not quite.

the sort of. particles. it came out that some also like to acknowledge is something the flares can have devastating effects on the continents communication systems electricity supply and even satellites themselves by predicting that scientists can send out early warnings to deactivate certain grids and systems until the flare has passed. maybe regions which we're interested in looking at on the sun in the spread of the sun which only has that x. explosion hoping and they describe it will call it to the region if we see any change hoping all these missions then we know that it's good to have an effect although if. so how much of the information that we get it

is given to other african countries well recognize that space is shared on soul and especially our submission you are saying you had one more reason why it's important to spend money on space technology because it's important for countries to be or otherwise you're just going fishing what are the countries for example where new information about areas for our culture which crops to plant where and when the quantrill food prices and that information is critical to space this hour is i think around the fact that. although africa has gone digital with mobile devices and internet connectivity

wiring the continent to a global i.c.t. network getting connectivity to remote african areas is still a challenge. rough terrain and lack of interest. often means that the installation of telecom cabling is expensive and in many cases impossible. l'afrique of ben would do the new poor slobby top sucker question in africa aren't that info and the. figures he want. if you broke dick down lead. scientist dr victor may have found a way to bypass conventional connectivity with his patron to a transmission system. with just was it in both a sphere. this. communication system the paramedic fair. in. the p.w. c.

system receives a satellite data signal and is then able to disseminate the signal via p.w. c. transmitted over great distances making telecoms cabling unnecessary. most importantly the p.w. c. connection can be provided at a fraction of current cost of systems offering similar satellite connectivity. while satellite broadband connections are available in africa they are far too expensive for most people in countries like senegal. thapar to has the most expensive broadband access in the world with monthly data packages costing about three times more than on any of the continent. victor has been working on his innovation in paris where he has been given permission to test the system and it's working well. will go. he has brought together a group of african scientists who are funded the research and development themselves

they are determined to offer the service to africans at either low or no cost not group because it's you know. a big laugh you know. as a duty to the boer war l'afrique. daughter yeah but the problem got every new world. a freak. under. this unique because the world. victor and his team realized that providing a data connection was not enough as many of the people who stand to benefit most don't have access to computers even electricity. their rollout strategy is to focus on a school. kid that. knows of a dog a tablet so the tablet would be powered by the solar power panels that you have installed into the backpack that every child would have recess an extension of the

p. w. c. innovation is a solar powered educational kid called. bringing hardware software data connection and solar power together in about a week you valid points you need to try. them see. as was a number of people the world may be dispositive because it is sort of a look what i love about what you've been able to develop here is that you you were thinking all the time about who you're creating it for. the p w c system has been hailed as revolutionary and victor has had several lucrative offers from both america and europe to buy his page into technology but he has refused to sell so we've. all moved to look at you know over. a company was you know these guys when they look my. is it bad is it going to this new would be. standing his ground has meant the victor has been backing to

secure noncommercial funding for the p.c. project for several years. used to paying top dollar some african institutions have been skeptical of its functionality and of question if something so cheap could actually do the job. today could be the day victor convinces them all. after months of negotiations with the senegalese government he finally has commissioned to pilot the system at schools into cars. dignitaries from across senegal have gathered at this elementary school with victor will demonstrate the routines system here for the first time. it was you could it would be so out of three so yeah well it really is it does

sound like you get to see what everybody was. after initial introductions to the package it's time to demonstrate the functionality of the kids in an actual costume . victor has a lot riding on things at this pilot school going well. or your dream. or book is what is up we did see some sensi. dark. gray your. guy you leave. the second electronic. setback.

for life to me but. i. thank. you. and that's just got to live through i thought it almost as. good chuckle from three o'clock and i didn't see the definition but. he and from the senate go to a laboratory out where to physicists are using light to make dramatic advances in the world of science.

the ability to harness light and use it in the form of a laser beam has been successfully explored by scientists and technologists. lasers a used in everything from simple barcode scanners to industrial manufacturing and medicine bloodlust surgery detection of pollutants in the atmosphere protection of aircraft against heat seeking missiles and even safeguarding structures from lightning strike i just some of the laser applications scientists are exploring. but at the council for science and industrial research here in. toria south africa researches are taking laser science to the next level. here in this laboratory dr sunderland novel a laser physicist has created the world's first digital laser a brand new invention with the power to compute he changed the field of laser science. so you can think of it as

a laser beam that changes all the time to movie kind of plays out because all the time we changing the programs inside lizza to generate different with a conventional laser there's no way to modulators or change the shape of the laser beam itself it can only be projected in one form if multiple shapes are required in order to complete a series of tusks the user must either use many laces each of a different shape or attempt to shape the beam using expensive specialized optical elements every time i want to change the shape by a new laser so we can think of this as a way nodded at a huge generate a laser that can actually generate different beams in real time what to do. with sandals discovery of the digital laser operators will now be able to use software and a digital interface to control and change the shape of laser beams this will drastically improve functionality and performance across many industries without the expense of

multiple lasers or extra optics so now it makes a whole lives up changing shapes to be very versatile. the digital laser has the potential to revolutionize telecommunications data transmission could be sped up dramatically using the programmable laser to replace conventional optical signal transmission you can ever detect on the other end if you send a message to shape of his appeal you could present a specific letter most people wonder if you take it for is it in their lives. in mind sending liz laser is now being used to assist in the field of bio photonics the science of using light to manipulate and understand the in the workings of cells and tissues in living organisms. so all of them like that i particularly fascinated by because then we want to make it makes of self colleague and friend dr patients mattoon is currently experimenting with this digital laser in the hopes of

streamlining the process of cell sorting. cell sorting is critical to patients as current experiment she's africa's first graduate and doctor of bio photonics. we are using lasers to actually come up with ways of bedding different diseases of disorders patients whose main focus is on developing noninvasive treatments for some of africa's most prevalent and life threatening diseases. i think about in the future when we have things like personalized medicine medicines where we can actually take some specimens from your body manipulate them and plant them back in your body that could be very exciting human bodies a made up of trillions of cells. when a disease like tuberculosis or hiv takes hold the body's cells come under attack. the current treatments for these diseases have no way of distinguishing between infected and healthy cells. the side effects of the medications can often be

devastating as both infected and healthy tissue is attacked. patients is working on a way of targeting only infected cells for treatment using laser light. so no need this is where we would cry oh preserve us our culture as we keep them in the good nitrogen this biological cell culture and of our tree allows patients and her team to manufacture a synthetic tissue models from human cells samples so you stop these cells but you can use them for the experiments with the laces yes so these you can keep them for ever. these cells are then infected with the disease being studied. in order to separate infected cells from the healthy ones patients and her team set up laser systems for optical tweezers. i.r. said yes so. i see we have to wear the goggles to keep our eyes safe it's quite

nice that they make us look like rock stars as well here so physics is cool that it's quite nice this is out of the coach happy and set up ok so what we want to do is eventually come up with that nasty tools for hiv but that a photonics based and this is weighed all spots optical tweezing allows individual cells to be manipulated you want to be able to directly go to the hiv positive cells yes and i they get them manipulate them inject them to administer the a.r.v. drugs to them specifically so it's not as toxic for the entire body that's exactly it to say distinctive cause this way or does it so it just puts us right. the laser beam is aimed at to sell the cell is drawn to the beams magnetic field and the cell can then be moved individually the scientists can then inject the cell with experimental treatments and watch is progress and also just thinking of the

fact that what i'm manipulating is tiny and i can't even see it with my naked eye but i'm able to control it using the. but she knew what i meant by science fiction it's quite fascinating so we're trying to emanate all sorts of problems that come with taking advantage there are already we want to make sure that you know we target in the body now no longer in the test tubes or in plates like this in the body and exactly where the virus is and i don't want an in-law just scale this application of laser technology could one day lead to whole body optical trapping devices that could separate the infected and healthy cells in each patient and make sure only the disease cells and tissue is targeted it would be a joy to have such a thing enough it can to make a huge difference. is that any kind of goal all project all idea that you're looking to ensure that you really want to achieve that you're striving towards if i can have a medical device that has my name to it that would be awesome i have no doubt that

it will happen this is good. for this series for go we've showcased creativity that's uniquely african but that's just the beginning for a continent that is brimming with confidence over the next few months will be seeking out more inventive thinkers here on a continent that is on the rise in innovate africa. part.

march on al-jazeera. with all potential challengers out of the way egypt's president abdullah fattah el-sisi is poised for a second term in power. a series of short stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds as president putin dominates the russian political scene his reelection becomes more apparent we assess what direction russia might take. with media trends consummate changing listening post analyzes how the news is being covered. and as more people around the world struggle to find clean drinking water leaders and researchers gather in brazil to address a critical issue march on al-jazeera the only nation ever hit by an atomic bomb once again braces for the worst. when he explores life in japan under north korea's nuclear threat at this time on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera. where ever you are. this is al-jazeera. and welcome to the al-jazeera news our life for my headquarters and me as the prana coming out of the next sixty minutes i'm going to merkel's political rivals confirm

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