Vaccine venture

Swiss drugmaker Novartis has announced plans to build a $600-million, state-of-the-art production plant for flu vaccine in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The plant — more than a third of which will be paid for by the US government — will be the first in the United States to derive vaccines from cell culture rather than the chicken eggs commonly used at present. The company says its facility is designed to produce 50 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine annually, and up to 150 million doses of avian-flu vaccine if required.

China crisis

Amnesty International, the human-rights watchdog, has accused Google, Yahoo and Microsoft of contributing to 'Internet repression' in China by cooperating with the country's authorities. “The apparatus of Internet repression is considered to be more advanced in China than in any other country and companies are particularly willing to cooperate with the Chinese government,” Amnesty says in a report issued on 20 July. Yahoo has faced a consumer backlash in the West, after giving the police the identities of two dissident Chinese writers, who are now in prison.

Green focus

The Ford motor company has said that it will spend £1 billion (US$1.9 billion) over six years in Britain on research and development into cleaner engines. The company says that 9,500 engineers will be deployed in the effort. It intends to create a version of its most popular car — the Ford Focus — that delivers 70 miles per gallon. The announcement has been welcomed by the government, but unions note that it involves the redeployment of existing resources, not fresh investment.