Prime Minister Sherif Ismail signed an agreement on Tuesday to the establish three solar power plants in the Benban area near Aswan. The signing ceremony was attended by the ministers of electricity, investment and international cooperations. The capacity of each plant will be 50 megawatts at a total of $200 million, funded through a partnership between the Ministry of Electricity, three international companies, and the World Bank, said Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker.

Israel Aerospace Industries says it has formed a joint venture with Korean company Hankuk Carbon to make unmanned aircraft together. It says the new company, called Korea Aviation Technologies, will develop drones with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. Its products will be aimed at both the military and civilian markets in South Korea.

China’s internet restrictions have struck a “new blow” against foreign companies working there, Germany’s ambassador said on Monday, warning that such moves could undermine Beijing’s political and commercial ties with the world. China’s ongoing clampdown on cyberspace has seen WhatsApp, the messaging service run by Facebook, periodically unavailable in the past few weeks ahead of twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress that opens on Wednesday.

Paris s deputy mayor, Christophe Najdovski, told French broadcaster France Info that the mayor s office is planning to ban all combustion-engine cars on the French capital s streets by 2030. Electric cars will not be affected by the ban.

Four Egyptian fin-tech startups reached the final round of Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, and now have the opportunity to secure US$50,000 in funding, according to a press statement released earlier this week. Visa’s Everywhere Initiative is an innovation program designed to encourage the development of the Next Big Thing in Payments industry. The Initiative has three real life business challenges: enabling electronic payment acceptance among smaller merchants and providing secure e-commerce solutions, transforming the transit experience at airports and building customer loyalty through the right offers at the right time.

A digital clock showing the last seconds before impact, a manned space craft whose mission is to stop a massive asteroid and a hero who is going to save Earth from certain destruction – the stuff movies like Armageddon are made of. But could this become reality? Not really! The reason is not that Hollywood calls up the most obscure weapons technologies, but simply that nobody has a ready-made plan what to do in such a scenario. Which methods should one use? Would there be a space mission? Who would take responsibility for it? Would we use rockets to shoot at the asteroid? And finally: who would pay for it all? Lots of unanswered questions.

Silicon Valley graphics chipmaker NVIDIA unveiled on Tuesday the first computer chips for developing fully autonomous vehicles and said it had more than 25 customers working to build a new class of driverless cars, robotaxis and long-haul trucks. Deutsche Post DHL Group, the world’s largest mail and logistics company, and ZF [ZFF.UL], a top automotive parts supplier, plan to deploy a fleet of autonomous delivery trucks based on the new chips, starting in 2019, NVIDIA said.

Who was Alfred Nobel? Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm in 1833. Together with his father, who was an engineer, he developed the explosive nitroglycerine, which proved a commercial success. Despite the danger of the project — Nobel s brother Emil was killed in an experiment in 1864 — he continued his research, patenting what he called dynamite in 1867. The invention proved very useful in the construction industry and Nobel traveled the world selling his product. When not on the road, he diligently conducted research and registered 355 patents in his name.

The governor of Aswan, Major General Magdy Hegazy, announced the start of the designing of a smart model green city in the western desert of the ancient city of Aswan on an area of ​​just over 4000 acres, in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 311 of 2017. Hegazy added during a field tour to the site of the new urban city, accompanied by the directors of Urban Planning, Environment, Health and Manpower departments of Aswan, that the new city will be established as part of future urban expansions to accommodate the population density in the old city of Aswan under the strategic plan, named Aswan 2052.

Marine environment experts and diving centers warned of the disappearance of coral reefs in the red sea due to launch boats, used for diving trips and maritime activities, tying their iron anchors into live coral reefs, especially in the area between al-Gouna and Hurghada where buoys are not available. Dr Hassan al-Tayeb, chairman of Rescue and Environmental Protection Society (REPS) in Hurghada, said tourists and divers sent several complaints to REPS about the unavailability of buoys in several sites where the coral reefs have disappeared.

The European Court of Justice has been asked to consider whether Facebook’s Dublin-based subsidiary can legally transfer users’ personal data to its US parent, after Ireland’s top court said Tuesday that there are “well-founded concerns” the practice violates European law. In a case brought after former US defense contractor Edward Snowden revealed the extent of electronic surveillance by American security agencies, the Irish court found that Facebook’s transfers may compromise the data of European citizens.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) [ISRAI.UL], the country’s largest defense contractor, unveiled on Monday an unmanned helicopter that could be used to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield. The aircraft, dubbed the Air Hopper, has already carried out a test demonstration for the Israeli military, but company officials would not say when it would be ready for market.

KarmSolar, a solar technology and integration company, announced the signing of a US$23 million agreement with two Dakahlia Group subsidiaries: Dakahlia South Valley for Poultry and Dakahlia Wadi al-Natroun for Agriculture to save 75 per cent of their power needs from solar power over the coming 30 years. The agreement stipulates that KarmSolar will have constructed two 26.5 megawatt (MW) solar power plants in Minya governorate and Wadi al-Natrun area in Wadi al-Gaded governorate by 2018.

With a whirling buzz from 18 rotors, the pilotless helicopter gently lifted off the ground and soared up into the afternoon sky, the spire of the world’s tallest building visible behind it. The recent unmanned flight by the German-made electric Volocopter represents the latest step in Dubai’s pursuit of flying taxis, which would not seem out of place among the Gulf city’s already futuristic skyline — imagine “Blade Runner,” with less rain.

Orange Egypt has launched the 4G service under the slogan “4G for everyone” after it received access to its frequencies from the government on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and ICT Minister Yasser El Kady. The subsidiary of French telecoms group Orange has so far invested 8.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($487.53 million) to develop the service and has taken a 750 million euro loan from its parent company to cover the costs, it said in a statement.

Australia says it wants to tap into an annual market worth some 280 billion euros, which is growing at 10 percent per year. Officials have hinted that the new space agency could be based close to the city of Adelaide. Five decades after Australia became only the third country to launch its own satellite, the government on Monday announced it was setting up its own space agency. The announcement, made by South Australia Senator Simon Birmingham, coincided with the week-long space conference in the southern city of Adelaide attended by top scientists and space experts.

With a dream that surfaced five years ago of constructing a sports car designed 100% in Egypt, and after passing obstacles that stood in front of him, the 28-year-old Egyptian Amro Zahran was able recently to unveil the first locally designed sports vehicle — similar to renowned vehicles such as the Ferrari and Lamborghini. The design of the vehicle attracted the admiration of visitors of the recently held Egyptian annual auto show of ‘Automech.’

Those who have experienced a hurricane know the devastation one can wreak when mighty winds bear down, flattening homes, ripping up trees and creating huge storm surges. These storms are powerful. In fact, “during its life cycle a hurricane can expend as much energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs,” says NASA At the halfway point, the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has been defined as “very active” with seven hurricanes. Four of those seven — Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria — have reached Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. That means they are strong — very strong.

Siemens is considering investing in technology solutions for the New Administrative Capital, according to chairperson and managing director Emad Ghaly. In exclusive statements to Daily News Egypt, Ghaly said, “We are in touch with the concerned authorities in the New Administrative Capital to present technology solutions that we can implement in the New Administrative Capital, Building technology, electricity distribution technology, or smart grid solution.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to invest up to $40 million in privately held British biotech company Immunocore to support its development of immunotherapies for infectious diseases. Oxford-based Immunocore has so far concentrated on developing its T-cell receptor medicines to fight cancer, where it has collaborations with Roche, GlaxoSmithKline , AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly.

That mobile phone in your pocket takes pretty decent photos, so no need to get a separate camera for your travels, right? Actually, wrong. The latest point-and-shoot cameras are still smarter than smartphones and have loads of fun options and easy-to-use settings good for amateurs and pros traveling light. And most can now wirelessly pair with your phone to get those pics out quick on social media. But how easy are they to get to grips with, given that no one wants to spend their vacation with their nose in the manual, bamboozled by jargon?