Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word city. 15 news.

CHINA Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Asia's largest refiner, will complete construction of a 12.5-billion-yuan (US$1.7 billion) plant in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao by the end of next month to tap rising fuel demand. The project will help boost the state-controlled refiner's market share, parent China Petrochemical Corp said in its online newsletter Sinopecnews. It didn't say when the plant will start commercial operations.

Air France-KLM has agreed to buy VLM Airlines, the Belgian regional carrier and the biggest operator at London City airport in a surprise takeover coup defeating rival interest from British Airways

Panden Rota, a Nepalese producer of fine rugs, is about to become a Manhattanite, the owner of a sumptuous apartment in the luxurious downtown neighborhood of Battery Park City.

NEW ORLEANS -- The route to the moon and perhaps to Mars now goes through New Orleans _ and the detour couldn't come at a better time in the city's struggle to rebuild its shattered economy after Hurricane Katrina.

THE Shanghai housing authority yesterday put forward nine residential plots of about 810,000 square meters for bidding and another 12 plots partly for residential development, Oriental Morning Post reported today. A total of 4.5 million square meters for residential development has been provided within this year, pushing the year-round total to the highest in recent years. The city has drastically boosted the number of plots for housing projects in the past two months since the government began to hand out land for housing in September, said the report. The plots are in seven districts, including Hongkou, Yangpu, Baoshan and Fengxian, as well as in Chongming County. Nearly 50,000 housing units smaller than 90 square meters will be built in the next two years, accounting for 70 percent of the total residential properties, the report said. The authorities cleared a batch of undeveloped buildings in July and increased a 27 million-square-meter area for constructing small

Charles J. Fiore Co., one of the best-known suppliers in the local professional nursery and landscape business, plans to open a nearly six-acre location on the West Side to meet the growing demand for plants and flowers in the city. The plant wholesaler — whose clients include big ...

Carrollton Bank has filed a complaint in Baltimore City Circuit Court, seeking money from defunct advertising firm Eisner Communications Inc.

The agenda for transit officials in the new year can be summed up in five words: No rest for the weary.

The city of Glendale is moving forward with its plan to annex additional land near Luke Air Force Base and Loop 303 in the West Valley.

During a Dec. 7 symposium conducted by the Urban League of Philadelphia, a panel of public policy makers, academics and opinion leaders talked about the problems facing African Americans and potential solutions. The discussion came on the date of the release of the State of Black Philadelphia report (See highlights on facing page), which assessed the state of blacks in the city in several categories, including economics and health. Panelists pointed out that African Americans are the largest racial group in the city, at 44 percent, followed by whites at 42 percent.

Big-box and national retailers that stood to receive millions in property and sales tax rebates to expand here may not be the only ones stymied by Austin's recent decision to disallow the giving of economic incentives to developers of retail projects. (SPG)

Will they stay or will they go? Bank analysts and Birmingham economic development officials have been asking that question since a Spanish bank bought Compass Bancshares Inc. earlier this year.

As the City's charities give more to education, they have also become more demanding, even employing the tools used by fund managers to make decisions in their work lives