Smith Electric Vehicles Corp, a manufacturer of all-electric commercial vehicles, is expanding its US operations by adding a manufacturing facility in New York State, creating up to 100 new direct local jobs.

A package of city and state incentives of approximately $11 million will augment Smith's private investment.

Talisman Energy (UK) has awarded Wood Group PSN £500 million of North Sea contracts, it has been announced.

Under the terms of a new five-year contract, which includes an option to extend for a further five years, Wood Group PSN will provide operations and maintenance services on all 11 of Talisman's UK offshore assets and at the Flotta Oil Terminal on Orkney. The contract will be worth £90 million per annum and will begin today.

Boeing has announced an order from the Dubai-based Emirates Airline for 50 Boeing 777-300ERs (extended range) plus options for an additional 20 of the popular twin-aisle commercial jetliner.

Valued at $18 billion, this is the single largest commercial airplane order by dollar value in Boeing's history. It also makes 2011 the best-selling year for the 777 program, surpassing the previous record of 154 orders set in 2005.

Cargill has signed a memorandum of understanding underlining its support for cocoa farmers and the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa.

The company has announced it will invest $3.25 million into its farmer training programme and support activities to enable cooperatives to obtain independent UTZ and Rain Forest Alliance certification.

The initiative includes a partnership with ANADER, Côte d'Ivoire's national rural development agency, to support farmer training and the distribution of 600,000 cocoa tree seedlings to participating cooperatives.

SunPower Corp., together with NRG Energy and community leaders, have officially marked the start of construction at the 250 MW California Valley Solar Ranch.

Situated in San Luis Obispo, California, the plant is one of the first and largest central station solar power plants in the world.

The utility-scale solar project is creating 350 construction jobs, driving $315 million into the local economy and generating clean, renewable electricity to PG&E for 100,000 homes.

The first 25 MW is expected to go online in the spring of 2012.

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has announced the creation of 1,000 new jobs in Solihull, West Midlands.

The car maker referred to the scheme as its “most ambitious growth plan in recent history”, as it embarks upon the delivery of 40 significant product actions over the next five years thanks to a multi-billion pound investment in product creation.

The new jobs will be located at Jaguar Land Rover’s advanced manufacturing plant in Solihull.

Sweden’s SCA has made a binding offer to acquire the EMEA operations of US-based manufacturer Georgia-Pacific, it has been announced.

The price offered by SCA is €1.32 billion.

The proposed transaction includes Georgia-Pacific's consumer and away-from-home tissue paper products and personal care businesses and manufacturing assets across Europe, including consumer brands as well as away-from-home and private label products.

After several years studying renewable energy resources, the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories has announced that construction has begun on a wind farm at the mine site.

Diavik currently relies on diesel fuel for all its energy needs, but the construction of four 2.3 megawatt turbines will provide a capacity of 9.2 megawatts of electricity.

Fortune Minerals Limited and the Tlicho Government have signed a co-operative relationship agreement for the NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Village Main Reef Limited has offered to acquire the Blyvooruitzicht gold mine from DRDGold for R150 million.

Village said the acquisition would be an opportunity for it to apply specialist skills to unlock further value from Blyvoor going forward, as well as providing Blyvoor with access to Village’s significant management and operational skills, thereby creating a platform for sustainable and socially responsible future development.