Business Briefing

San Diego has filed a civil complaint asking a state court to block mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. from foreclosing on subprime borrowers.

The filing in San Diego County Superior Court claims Calabasas-based Countrywide engaged in predatory lending by selling borrowers loans they could not repay and failing to adequately explain the risks of adjustable-rate loans.

The complaint names Countrywide and its new owner, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp., along with four former executives and unnamed loan officers and securitization agents.

Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said she had not seen the complaint and could not comment.

BIOFUELS

County officials OK ethanol plant

Los Angeles County officials have approved construction of an ethanol production plant in Lancaster.

Members of the county's regional planning commission voted to issue a permit to BlueFire Ethanol of Irvine to build the $30-million facility.

BlueFire President Arnold Klann said the plant would be the first commercial facility in the U.S. to make ethanol out of wood chips, paper and other biowaste.

AIRLINES

Domestic fares up 4.4% in quarter

Average domestic airfares rose 4.4% in the first quarter of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier, the government said in an analysis that was based on a small sample of itineraries and excluded some high-priced destinations.

The Transportation Department said its numbers represented the largest year-to-year rise in domestic airfares since the second quarter of 2006. The average domestic itinerary fare was $332.

THE ECONOMY

Late credit card debts rise in June

Overdue debts at the six largest U.S. credit card lenders rose in June after falling the two previous months as the effects of tax rebates faded, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Loans on which payments were late by at least 30 days averaged 4.03% of all credit card debt in June, 0.05 percentage points higher than May.

PHARMACEUTICALS

New Amgen drug still under review

Biotechnology company Amgen Inc. said U.S. regulators would take additional time to review Nplate, a new drug for a bleeding disorder that affects 60,000 Americans.

The Food and Drug Administration had been expected to decide whether to approve the drug by Wednesday, Amgen said. The Thousand Oaks company didn't say why regulators postponed the decision or when it might come.

ENTERTAINMENT

Shine Group in movie venture

Elisabeth Murdoch's London-based production company Shine Group has formed a joint venture, Shine Pictures, with Arnon Milchan's New Regency to make broad-appeal movies for global release.

The films, to be co-financed by Shine and Regency, will be distributed through 20th Century Fox, whose parent, News Corp., is controlled by Murdoch's father, Rupert Murdoch.

The new outfit will have a multimillion-dollar development fund and will be run in London by Paul Webster and Stephen Garrett of Shine's Kudos Pictures, which will be folded into the new label.

From Times Staff and Wires