the once you have stood poison into this, otherwise a loving gum earlier. well, it might job. many people may use it for different good. the reason that the indifferent students for that would be one of the i'm in all most unfortunate thing that might happen had after must gone, says she's grateful for the support she's received and is confident. the court will rule in favor of those objecting the ban. she plans to go to university next year to fulfill her father's dream of becoming a loyal path. nathan al jazeera cannot gov southern india. ah, i'm elizabeth bronman, john hall with the top stories on al jazeera and the u. s. is evacuating all american staff from its empathy and key if it comes in that increasingly urgent warnings from the international community about a potential russian invasion of ukraine,

which moscow denies natasha butler has more from kia, the u. s embassy, pulling out its diplomatic star from key ever the ukrainian a capital or as the u. s. c. the situation here as ever more critical. we're also, i hearing reports that the russian embassy may be pulling out some of its diplomatic stories. now, earlier in the week, russia's foreign minister said a gay lover of sony, indicated that moscow could consider are pulling out some of its embassy style fair as while we still there have no a confirmation of that yet. and now the news truck drivers in canada are ignoring the judge's orders to stop blocking the largest trade route for the united states. 5 days of disruption to traffic on the ambassador bridge has full some us order factories to shut down because of the lack of parts from canada and a similar but small a protest, zondaway and france. despite a police bad police say they're going to step to around 50 vehicles trying to end

to paris in a so called freedom convoy and around 10000 straightly and protested had condemned clothing 19 vaccine mandates. the demonstration outside parliament and can reform the cancellation of a charity fundraising event. nearby hundreds of prisoners and myanmar have been granted. amnesty is part of the 75th union day anniversary. the celebration for a unity agreement with the ethnic minorities are overshadowed by the repressive life of many on the military vol. thrill uncles, president has declared that health and power work of provide essential services, which means it's illegal for them to take strike action of the health care workers walked off their jobs earlier this week to demand better pay and conditions. well, those are the headlines on al jazeera counting. the cost is coming up next as well. the best athletes prepare for the winter olympics aging is bracing itself for

the arrival of an estimated 11000 people. kind of 0 tolerance corvette strategy work and display different marching boy clothes, which one is which again, client will be the latest for ladies. 2022 winter olympics on al jazeera. i hello, i'm elizabeth rhonda. this is counting the cost on al jazeera, your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week, and energy solution, or a curse. germany's pulling the plug on all it's atomic plants, but the european commission is moving to label them green. so it should nuclear power be ditched or safely used also this week cracking crypto currency wallets un reports as north korea has stolen tens of millions of dollars of virtual currency to help finance is nuclear and ballistic missile program. so

and how can digital exchanges be protected? the race to establish africans. next to unicorns, tech founders, launch a font aimed at finding the next $1000000000.00 african companies. as the continent, a natural home stops. ah, nuclear energy has a notorious reputation for disasters and it can go terribly wrong. but that's been the debate about react as in the past few decades off to 3 major accidents. it seems to be changing. now. industry supporters say atomic power has negligible carbon emissions, and it can be more reliable than renewables and keeping the light song. they insist it's for good reason. the sun doesn't always shine. the when doesn't always blow. now as the climate crisis worsens, the jewelry is out on where the nuclear power be part of the energy transition plan . but europe ian commission is moving to label atomic plants and gas as green

investments under certain conditions. critics consider the step green washing and it's been opposed by many countries. germany is among the nations facing out nuclear energy plans to shot well, it's reactive by the end of the year. there are around $450.00 reactors, supplying at least 10 percent of the world's electricity. and only 15 countries account for more than 90 percent of the global nuclear power production. the u. s. top the list with more than 50 percent of the countries, carbon free electricity produced by atomic plants in 202088 of the countries. 96 operating reactors have received approvals for a 20 year life extension almost 2 years ago. the wall, 2nd largest nuclear power producer, as china. and it's increasingly investing in the energy to achieve its climate goals. the nation plans to build a $150.00 new reactors by 2035 at a cost of more than $440000000000.00. and atomic power makes up 70 percent of

francis alec tricity mix the french president and says he wants to build a new nuclear reactive. but nuclear power takes a long time to build and this is being criticized for its cost overruns. the war nuclear industry status report estimates the price of nuclear energy at up to $189.00 per megawatt hour. while the cost of generating solar power can reach up to $44.00 per megawatt hour. and it's slightly cheaper for on sure. wind power and to discuss all of that on jordan. now from munich by dr. miranda sure. she's the chair of environment and climate policy at the technical university of unit dr. sure is very good to have you with us on counting the cost. so it is said to be too risky, too expensive and too slow. it's why is nuclear power back in the energy debate? i think it's back in the debate and because there are several centuries that has invested so much in the clear in the past, and they haven't taken

a large steps to shift new directions. and therefore they are in the position of problems. they really are struggling. what to do with ultimately a power plant and looking for investment in nuclear power plants. so in many ways, it's a question of which kinds of energy choices have been made in the past and how past dependent are countries. but in germany, we made a very different choice. germany was very dependent on nuclear, but after the nuclear crises and channel and then the decision was made to, to abandon their energy. and do you think that germany is making a brain decision right now, given the possible energy shortages that it could be facing? because of the crisis between russia and ukraine. of course, that's a terrible crisis and we certainly hope it doesn't come any worse. and the

diplomatic solution can be found, and it is true that germany imports a substantial amount of its natural gas from the, from russia. the challenge, however, is not so much this past from russia. it's the question of the speed of the transition towards renewables. and i think that's something that we're going to see happening now. also partly pressured by this new development on rainy and border i think we're going to see an even faster development of renewable energy as well as storage capacity. so yes, in the short term it's, it's a challenge, but in the long term it's actually additional pressure to make the energy transition. and what about, you know, that you labeling both nuclear energy and gas as green, isn't green washing as quick say what is that going to mean for the clean energy transition? well, you know, it's interesting that also within the german government there's a government. now this government is not really so on board with this

classification. we don't see any clear energy as sustainable and actually gas is just another fossil fuel. it's less leading than poles, but it's still a fossil and we still need to face it out. so we have the decisions that were made in the past that are still influencing us today. for those who are concerned about really addressing climate change, then we really need to be investing in alternative energies that can be built to. now nuclear power will take much too long to build. we don't have that time and it's also very centralized energy system. it means that to maintain the old structures and you don't move in the direction of citizen involvement in, in energy production. and that's one of the exciting things about renewable energy . it's, it's a, it's a chance for more energy democracy. it's

a chance for more participation and to find that, you know, there are countries mentioned france, 70 percent of its energy comes from nuclear sources. china is increasing its nuclear power to, i mean, these are 2 of the world's biggest economies. so why into anything that that is so important to them? i think there variety of reasons, one, china growing population, growing demand for energy. they're also expanding renewables. they're the road leader and capacity on renewables. francis also cutting down its share renewable of nuclear. it had 75 percent a few years ago. it's down to 71 percent now and it has a target to reduce nuclear share to 50 percent. you have to remember this countries are also nuclear powers. they have nuclear energy capacity in the civilian sector, but also in the military sector. and capacity is also technical. know,

so all of the countries that are also nuclear, military states with nuclear weapons capacity are pursuing nuclear energy in the conventional sealed. and i think it's partly because they are concerned about maintaining that technical know within the country as well. and you know, the supporters of nuclear energy, or rather the critics of wind or solar that they said that just isn't enough of that to produce enough. attic tricity, you know, to, to make that transition using only renewables. what do you say to that is germany going to have to depend on coal? why that makes the transition away from nuclear? well, that is certainly a legitimate criticism, the transition and germany until now that not enough has been done to reduce the dependency on coal in the past years. but in a few years ago,

a decision wesley to face at home, in addition to phasing out nuclear within timeline of 2038 and the new government is pushing towards 2030. so coal is big problem and yes, there are still dependencies. but germany had 3 percent of its electricity from renewables in 1996 percent in 2020. and now it's over 50 percent. and on good windy days we have 7075 percent of the electricity being produced from wind and solar and geothermal. the mix of alternative energies. so it's doable. it's a question of political will and the aims to become a net 0 carbon emitted by 2050. do think that that still doable as that realistic? how will it get there? it will get this or a combination of developments that are happening very rapidly,

and we're seeing much more offshore wind, which is a more powerful and efficient form of renewables production. we're seeing rapid and development in battery storage capacities. the efficiency of the batteries is really improved. we're seeing steps to interconnect more across country so that when it's windy in one place and sunny and another can complement. but there are many, many hurdles. it's still a big challenge and we really need to have a full out focus on making this transition. the other big area development is hydrogen fuels. the possibility of taking wind energy. for example, on a super windy day, when you're using less wind electricity than you're producing, you take that extra and turn it into hydrogen fuel and that a really nice addition to what we have now. dr. miranda sure. thank you very much for your time. you're very welcome. thank you. the now

one of the world's largest crypto currency, highest was reportedly done for fun of stealing $600000000.00 and digital assets is no joke. and heck, a se was carried out for a serious reason. the heck has exposed while rehabilitation and digital wallets and no wonder virtual corns are increasingly becoming lucrative opportunities for criminals. it's estimated crypto currency theft, increased 516 percent last year from 2020 to $3200000000.00 worth of coins. and such attacks, i believe to be an important revenue source for some governance. a un reports as north korea is funding if misses program through stolen crypto currencies. the nation denies the allegations. north korean hackers are accused of stealing more than $50000000.00 between 2020 and last year. a separate study indicates as much as $400000000.00 may have been stolen. the amount of crypto currency center addresses

the known criminal associations reached a record 14000000000 dollars last year. a block chain analytics firm says it's a large part due to the rise of the centralized finance or the 5 platforms. the protocols allow users to lend, borrow and save crypto currencies, while bypassing traditional gatekeepers, such as bangs, one of the 5 main platforms says it's recently restored funds after a $320000000.00 fist. the threat of illicit activities, among other reasons, has pushed many governments to crack down on crypto currencies and at least 87 countries are exploring digital currencies, which are issued and regulated by bags. china has recently trial the use of a digital you on with foreign visitors athletes, june the 20, 22 when to and then pick gains. it's also launched b e c n y digital. we want apps to expand usage to get into the business of crypto

currency theft on joy now from london by david carlyle, director of policy and regulatory affairs at elliptic block chain analysis provided mr. carlo, thank you very much for your time now forward and money laundering aren't uncommon in the world of crypto currencies. but what does that mean when a government like north korea, is accused of stealing the coins to fund miss hall programs? you well, it certainly raise the enormous concerns. i think it, it elevates the problem from being a mere cybersecurity issue to a matter of genuine international security. given that north korea is involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. now, you know, i think it's very easy to look at this, you like this and conclude that crypto currency to the source of the whole problem . i do think it's important to point out that while north korea has, by many estimates a mass, potentially hundreds of millions or even more in crypto currencies, that represents just a fraction of north korea's sanctions of asian activity. you know,

i'd also point out that the fraud, money laundering are actually quite a small proportion of overall chris up currency activity or research at all the pictures that less than one percent of all calling transactions actually even involved. well, is that activity such as broad accepting cyber crime ability? what sophisticated cyber criminal actors like north korea have been very good at, is dental fighting and exploiting certain security vulnerabilities on crypto currency trading platforms that enable them to conduct the fact that which can be very lucrative. what north korea actually denies the allegations that hackers carry out the attacks? how easy is it to hold government countable? well, in the case of north korea, i do think there's overwhelming evidence that they're engaged in this activity. and there seems to be widespread consensus about this at the united nations at this point. i think when it comes to crypto currency is one of the real challenges is that the technology is evolving very, very rapidly. while policy responses tend to be much slower and aren't always coordinated very effectively. so i think the international community will really

need to find ways to react more with lead to these types of emerging threats. to keep rogue actors from north korea from exploiting emerging technologies like crypto and all forensic investigations keeping up. do you think, you know, as we mentioned, the largest ever confiscation of its kind has just taken and taken place in the u. s. but the heck happened in 2016, we're definitely seeing that law enforcement agencies and in many countries are becoming much more sophisticated in their ability to use techniques like boxing and linux that we've developed at elliptic. as you mentioned earlier this week, us law enforcement agencies announced that they sees more than 2 and a half 1000000000 worth of coin from 2 individuals who are laundering crypto currencies stolen from an exchange called the next back in 2016. it was extremely complex case, which is i think, why it took some time to arrest them and, and sees the funds. but these money loaners undertook very complex transactions, are required, sophisticated analysis to uncover and u. s. law enforcement in an incredible job to track them down. but what it would

really demonstrated is that despite the common notion that crypto currency or anonymous on traceable, they're actually very traceable criminals can't hide. when using them, investigators are able to use the public record of transaction on the block chain to follow the money and bring criminal justice. and in this case, confiscate an enormous amount of funds that had been stolen by the cyber criminal. and on the issue of transparency, i do want to segue to another issue, which is, you know, different governments and looking into many governments and now exploring starting their own digital currencies. china, they viewed the digital want at the beijing winter olympics. i mean, what do you make of central bank digital currencies, especially given that, you know, bitcoin was came along after the 2008 financial crisis to have a digital currency, which would be independent of governments and financial institutions. do these, you know, government crypto currency, do they defeat the point of crypto currencies altogether? well no, i don't believe so. i mean, personally, i believe will eventually see

a future where you have central being digital currency is disease operating and in a more complex digital ecosystem and use alongside crypto currencies and other related innovations like stable coins. i think it's very easy to look at the sort of the emerging landscape and conclude that crypto and cbc as must be in competition with one another. and certainly in some countries like it does appear the aim of the government. there is to make crypto currency trading so that crypto currency can't compete with cbt, c's. i think it a lot of other jurisdictions, places like the u. s. u k. some other major financial sectors. it's still an open question whether retail cbc is will be widespread, but i think if for when they do, you emerge. it's not necessarily the case, but they'll sort of be a war with crypto currencies. i think we'll see, you know, the average person in their digital wallet of the future carrying around, you know, cdc's, as well as crypto currencies. and so i think it all just points to

a very different type of digitally enabled financial sector that will be emerging over that the coming decade and beyond. and what about the issues of privacy when it comes to government issued digital currency is like the long, you know, can central banks, can the chinese government cut off people's access to their digital currency if they don't like their political activities, also even criminal gangs? yeah, well, i mean, certainly there's been a lot of question raised about whether china deploying a cdc might use it to engage in math surveillance of a citizen financial activity. i mean, i do think it is certainly a real concern in particular case. but you know, i think in, you know, in other countries, so they look to develop disease. there are ways to put in place safeguards to ensure that individual users, financial privacy is safe, guarded, and you know, i think it's also important to point out that you cbc, like those, china's developing are effectively closed loop systems. they're very different from

the open decentralized technology that features and bitcoin and other crypto currencies. and, you know, i think in the, in the law enforcement actions, like we were speaking about before, earlier demonstrate is that when it comes to crypto her disease, certainly as possible to leverage the transparency of the block chain to bring criminal justice. but to do so in a way that doesn't harm the private, the privacy of legitimate crypto courtesy users. so i think we'll see different privacy concerns arise, you know, in different countries when it comes to different uses of, of this technology they would call out in london. thank you very much for your time . thank you for having me. now africa as home to a tech savvy and young population and it's set to become one of the most entrepreneurial environments on earth. africans to hop broke funding records last year, raising almost $5000000000.00 worth of investments. and it looks to be even more promising. this year with celebrities like 10000 serena williams, joining a growing number of investors and the business. the founders of leading tech firms,

including klan us, scarf and delivery hero, have launched a fund aimed at finding africa next unicorns. those companies worth more than a $1000000000.00 and investment bankers of targeting technology companies in the continent. african star hops of the creation of 5, so called unicorns including nigeria fluctuate last year, financial services, health care, and e commerce, or the biggest amount of investments, and number of deals among all industries. but african woman still find it harder to sign. financing deals, south africa, nigeria, kenya, and egypt secure the greatest share of the total funding. so entrepreneurship seems to be the right business in africa to discuss that on join from washington, d. c. by all re, ruby and non resident senior fellow with the african center and co founder of insider and africa, expert network. very good to have you with us on counting the cost. so why is

africa so right for stops right now. well, i think historically the region has been under, penetrated by venture capital on a per capita basis. if you look at the u. s. u c on a per capita basis, about $800.00 per person in venture is invested across the united states. whereas if you look at african market, that number, even though it has a record 5000000000 last year, is less than $5.00 per person. so there is a huge amount of value to unlock through investing in startups in the region. and we still have a long way to go before we've been reached the per capita venture penetration of even a market say india as a comparison and who is unlocking that potential. we know that the u. s. europe, the u. k has been investing, but that's starting to change some want as it is. i mean, there's been, has they been more local investment, more recently from african investors themselves?

well, fundamentally, this, the whole ecosystem is driven by african entrepreneurs and they're really and building out these business model. 2 thirds of the venture capital coming into the region has some ties the united states. so there's bill that focus, but the early stage funds that are investing in the feed around many of them are african and we can't forget the friends and family the back beyond or north at the early stages in their, in their development of their businesses. and we've seen fintech e commerce health care as the shining stars. why is that? well, there was always a lot of value to unlock across the region through digitization. and there was a lot of friction in moving money across a region that, that's broken into 54 different country. and so because of that fragmentation, the historical fragmentation of the continent into so many countries, you have

a need to innovate in order to move money and move capital across borders. the theme goes with trade. so there's been a lot of friction and moving capital and will be good. and these start up, start dressing those issues, mainly through digitization on the back of mobile phones, ministration in the region. and how do we get more of that capital to women? you know, why do you think african woman is still struggling to attract deals? well, that's not just an african challenge. globally, women in venture are highly, highly under represented, while an african markets, less than 7 percent of the funding that, that's going into the venture. it goes to women, part of the reason for that is a lack of female fund managers. so less than one percent of, of teams that are investing in venture are all women by about 70 percent of them have a gender mix team which is great. and that's increasing, but we still have

a long way to go. and again, africa not unique in that women are under represented venture globally. absolutely . would you know this countries like niger area, egypt, south africa, kenya, a mainly attract attracting the bigger investment. why would you say batches? well, those are the largest markets. nigeria and south africa are the largest economies on the continent. and kenya is the largest economy in east africa. and egypt unique in that it hasn't had a single recession, negative growth in the last 20 years. these are the largest market in the region. and it's not surprising that they have so much economic activity. they also have large diaspora that are globally connected. and so it's not surprising that there are the anchors of the african venture capital theme, but you do have new, new interests. you really see an increase in investing in francophone west africa.

in particular, i was just reading that banning golf has slowly been growing. but as jump to about receiving 5 percent of all venture, which that seems like a small percentage, but compared to where it was less than one percent, 2 years ago. you do see reader diversification in the market. destination of venture and assigning all has of course, had it 1st so called african unicorn aubrey ruby in washington dc. thank you very much for your time. be appreciated. thank you. it's been my pleasure and that is our show for this week. get in touch with us by tweeting me at this per on him and doing the hash tag a j c t. c. when you do or drop as an email, counting the cost at al jazeera dot net as i address that is more for you online at al jazeera dot com slash ctc. that'll take you straight to our page, which has individual reports, length, and entire episodes theme to catch up on that set for this edition of counting the

cost. i'm elizabeth toronto from the whole team. thank you for joining us. the news on al jazeera is next for the sports style mom flying the flag for her nation. we have been putting, i'm going to embrace them, playing cricket on rugby for her country between ring maximum made dream playing in the word girl. while providing for her family cries in by ways winning games. that's my 0 precious moran gay in the game. my zimbabwe on al jazeera, a unique, endangered biodiversity lies in the heart of one of produced tropical jungles. there was a lot of misinformation about the animals that we have here and now that probably allergies become them by others of conservation in their communities out there,

a journey's deep into the rain forest to follow a scientist and her team's effort to save the flora and fauna, so precious in the region. women make science, ecuador hidden treasure on al jazeera. ah, ah, this is al jazeera ah, hello, i'm rob matheson, this is the news are live from doha, coming up in the next 60 minutes, the u. s. evacuated, says embassy stuff from kiev wanting a russian invasion of ukraine could begin any day now. but moscow accuses the west of lies and misinformation. president putin is set for more talks with nato leaders .