Environmental upturn

US engineering firm General Electric (GE) says it has doubled sales of environmentally friendly products, to $12 billion annually, in the two years since it announced that it was 'going green' (see Nature 435, 410–411; 2005). At an event in Los Angeles with California governer Arnold Schwarzenegger, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt said that the company was on track to meet its target of $20 billion in sales of such products by 2010. The goods in question range from energy-efficient light bulbs to railway locomotives — GE also introduced what it says is the world's first diesel-electric hybrid locomotive at the event.

Copycat catch

Sun Pharmaceuticals, India's biggest drug maker, has confirmed that it will purchase Israeli generics maker Taro for US$454 million. The purchase, which reflects an increasingly acquisitive streak among Indian drug makers, will help the Mumbai-based company make inroads in the United States, where Taro has most of its sales. The Israeli company has been in financial difficulties, but Sun's shares rose by about 5% when the deal was announced on 21 May.

Grounded NASA

Computer company Hewlett-Packard has won a mammoth contract, worth up to $5.6 billion, from NASA, to supply computers and other equipment to parts of the federal government. The unusual contract enables any government agency to buy the kit within a framework agreed between the space agency and the computer maker, which is based in Palo Alto, California. It's a follow-on from two far smaller contracts that have run since 1992.