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Some of Africa's top scientists and policymakers have gathered in Dakar for a landmark forum they hope will start transforming African science, unleashing hidden potential for innovation and world class research.
Delegates attending the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) held in Senegal's capital Dakar say the goal is clear: To give African scientists the infrastructure they need to support their work and keep them on the continent, as well as offering them the visibility they need to expose their ground-breaking research.
Some 700 mathematicians and scientists from 80 countries including Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon and Zimbabwe attended the forum. It was named after the German-born scientist Albert Einstein who revolutionized the way we view space and time in the early years of the 20th century.
Being visible
Thierry Zomahoun, NEF chairman and founder, gave delegates one example of an African scientist who was not enjoying the visibility he deserved.
"You know there's a guy here that everyone should be running after who has solved a 70 year problem in immunology. 70-year problem! That will help improve vaccines," he said.
Zomahoun was referring to Wilfred Ndifon, a Cameroonian scientist who is using a mathematical approach to develop a flu vaccine and who believes his method could also be used to design vaccines for other viral diseases such as yellow fever, dengue and even Zika.
Zomahoun, who is also CEO of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, complained that there were more African engineers in the United States than in the whole of Africa. He also deplored the miniscule size of Africa's contribution to the world research effort, which accounted for just 1 percent.
"We need to reverse that trend," he said.
Infrastructure
There was widespread agreement at the forum that scientists across Africa needed to be able to develop global scientific solutions without having to send their data, or themselves, abroad to complete their research.
But that difficulty will only be resolved once Africa invests more in higher education. John Silvanus Wilson Junior, President of Morehouse College in the United States said higher education was booming in sub-Saharan Africa.
"In the first decade of this century enrollments doubled to 5 million, we should be proud that it doubled to 5 million. The problem is we need 22 million to keep pace with the world. 22 million in higher education. We don't have the infrastructure for it right now," Wilson added.
Neshwa Issa, an assistant professor of physics from Sudan, shares this frustration at the lack of resources, which she has experienced first hand.
"If we don't have the infrastructure to produce something, how can we come up with something. We need the basics, at least we need the labs," she said.
Grace, a Nigerian student at the African Institute for Scientific Sciences in Senegal, said studying abroad was unavoidable, explaining that she had no choice but to finish her PhD abroad.
"But of course I'm planning to come back to Africa," she told DW.
Getting a grant for scientific research can be very difficult. But strategies are being put in place by individuals for individuals. Usually they are associated with social or personal endeavors and include
crowd-funding. Dr Jane Kengeya Kayondo from the Africa Research Excellence Fund says they focus on post-doctorate fellowships, people who have got their PhD but only within the last five years and are therefore too early in their careers for anyone to have noticed them. There are also African scientists who have abandoned research and gone on to do other things, or who left for Europe or the US at the first opportunity.
"We want to retain them in Africa so they can use their excellent ideas here," Kayondo said.
(DW)
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- Elangwe Pauline
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Several U.S. technology giants have formally backed Apple in its high-profile legal battle with the FBI over whether the company must weaken the security features of an iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino terrorist attackers.
Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo were among the companies that filed a joint legal brief Thursday in support of their competitor, the California-based Apple.
"If the government arguments prevail, the Internet ecosystem will be weakened, leaving Internet users more vulnerable to hackers and other bad actors," the statement said.
The FBI has asked Apple to write new software that would help unlock the iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last December.
Apple refused the request, saying it cannot be asked to hack one of its own devices. The company says the creation of a "backdoor" could endanger a wide array of devices while raising privacy concerns.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Wednesday he opposes "a single technical approach" as a solution to the complex legal battle.
"I don't think we ought to let one case drive a general conclusion or solution," Carter said in remarks at a San Francisco tech event. "We have to work together to work our way out through this problem."
Carter also warned that legislation written by Congress to deal with the issue "may be written in an atmosphere of anger and grief" and it may not contain the necessary understanding of current security technology to create an effective law.
Apple filed a formal objection to a federal order to assist the FBI on March 2.
On Thursday, six relatives of victims of the San Bernardino attack filed their own legal brief in support of the U.S. Justice Department.
"One does not enjoy the privacy to commit a crime," the statement said.
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- Rita Akana
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A senior Facebook Inc executive was released after nearly 24 hours in a Brazilian jail due to a disputed court order demanding data from the company's WhatsApp messaging service for a confidential drug-trafficking investigation.
An appeals court judge handling the case in Sergipe state overturned a lower court decision to arrest Diego Dzodan, Facebook's vice president for Latin America, court officials said on Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials withheld further information about the nature of their request to the messaging service acquired by Facebook in 2014, saying it could compromise an ongoing criminal investigation.
"Diego's detention was an extreme, disproportionate measure, and we are pleased to see the court in Sergipe issue an injunction ordering his release," a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The arrest came as technology companies face mounting pressure from governments around the world to help them eavesdrop on users. Apple Inc and U.S. law enforcement officials are in a standoff over unlocking the iPhone of a shooter in the San Bernardino, California, attacks.
Court officials said the judge in Brazil resorted to the arrest after issuing a fine of 1 million reais ($250,000) to compel Facebook to help investigators get access to WhatsApp messages relevant to the confidential drug-trafficking investigation.
The move is likely impossible because WhatsApp began using end-to-end encryption technology in 2014 that prevents the company from monitoring messages that travel across its network, according to Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist with the American Civil Liberties Union.
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- Rita Akana
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It seems the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is backing out from a fight with Apple, but still arguing that it is no big deal for the company to help unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack.
On February 16, a federal judge ordered the giant tech company to assist the FBI in opening Syed Rizwan Farook’s phone.
In response, the Justice Department filed a motion seeking to force Apple to comply with the judge's order to unlock the encrypted iPhone, pushing back on the company's characterization of the request as a "back door" threatening the privacy of all iPhones.
FBI Director James Comey on Sunday night attempted to defend his agency's handling of the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting.
"We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it," Comey said in a statement.
"We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land," Comey insisted. "I hope thoughtful people will take the time to understand that."
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were shot dead in a shootout with police hours after the massacre in a Department of Public Health training event and holiday party on December 2, 2015, which left 14 dead and 22 injured.
A senior Apple executive, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said Friday that the US Congress is the right place for a debate over encryption not a courtroom.
The intensifying battle between the US government and America’s most valuable company has spread to the race for president, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump calling for a public boycott of Apple until it complied with the order.
Apple has argued that helping crack the phone in question would lead to less secure iPhones for all customers and that current law does not force the company to comply.
The Justice Department framed Apple’s refusal to comply as a "marketing strategy."
FBI experts fear losing the data on the phone after several failed attempts to enter the password, arguing only Apple can solve the problem.
A federal court hearing on the issue has been scheduled for March 22 in California.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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It seems the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is backing out from a fight with Apple, but still arguing that it is no big deal for the company to help unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack.
On February 16, a federal judge ordered the giant tech company to assist the FBI in opening Syed Rizwan Farook’s phone.
In response, the Justice Department filed a motion seeking to force Apple to comply with the judge's order to unlock the encrypted iPhone, pushing back on the company's characterization of the request as a "back door" threatening the privacy of all iPhones.
FBI Director James Comey on Sunday night attempted to defend his agency's handling of the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting.
"We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it," Comey said in a statement.
"We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land," Comey insisted. "I hope thoughtful people will take the time to understand that."
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were shot dead in a shootout with police hours after the massacre in a Department of Public Health training event and holiday party on December 2, 2015, which left 14 dead and 22 injured.
A senior Apple executive, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said Friday that the US Congress is the right place for a debate over encryption not a courtroom.
The intensifying battle between the US government and America’s most valuable company has spread to the race for president, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump calling for a public boycott of Apple until it complied with the order.
Apple has argued that helping crack the phone in question would lead to less secure iPhones for all customers and that current law does not force the company to comply.
The Justice Department framed Apple’s refusal to comply as a "marketing strategy."
FBI experts fear losing the data on the phone after several failed attempts to enter the password, arguing only Apple can solve the problem.
A federal court hearing on the issue has been scheduled for March 22 in California.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
- Hits: 1975
- Details
- Technology
It seems the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is backing out from a fight with Apple, but still arguing that it is no big deal for the company to help unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack.
On February 16, a federal judge ordered the giant tech company to assist the FBI in opening Syed Rizwan Farook’s phone.
In response, the Justice Department filed a motion seeking to force Apple to comply with the judge's order to unlock the encrypted iPhone, pushing back on the company's characterization of the request as a "back door" threatening the privacy of all iPhones.
FBI Director James Comey on Sunday night attempted to defend his agency's handling of the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting.
"We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it," Comey said in a statement.
"We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land," Comey insisted. "I hope thoughtful people will take the time to understand that."
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were shot dead in a shootout with police hours after the massacre in a Department of Public Health training event and holiday party on December 2, 2015, which left 14 dead and 22 injured.
A senior Apple executive, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said Friday that the US Congress is the right place for a debate over encryption not a courtroom.
The intensifying battle between the US government and America’s most valuable company has spread to the race for president, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump calling for a public boycott of Apple until it complied with the order.
Apple has argued that helping crack the phone in question would lead to less secure iPhones for all customers and that current law does not force the company to comply.
The Justice Department framed Apple’s refusal to comply as a "marketing strategy."
FBI experts fear losing the data on the phone after several failed attempts to enter the password, arguing only Apple can solve the problem.
A federal court hearing on the issue has been scheduled for March 22 in California.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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