Ban meets with Palestinian President and Arab League chief ahead of summit

On the eve of the League of Arab States summit in Libya, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met tonight with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the way forward in the Middle East.

Iraqi elections an historic achievement, UN says as results are announced

Iraqi parliamentary elections this month were credible and no evidence has been found of any systematic or widespread fraud during the vote count, the top United Nations official in the country said today after authorities announced the final election results.

Nuclear disarmament hinges on missile defence dispute

Russia and the US may have set new targets for the disarmament of their nuclear arsenals, but they are still split over plans for missile defence

Former South African Police Commissioner Files for Acquittal

Selebi files for acquittal

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:21

Former police chief Jackie Selebi has filed the first papers in his application for acquittal, The Star reported on Friday.

His lawyer Wynanda Coetzee said the heads of argument had been submitted to the trial judge and the State prosecutors.

When the trial resumes on 7 April the application will begin.

Such applications are intended to convince a judge that the State has failed in proving its case.

Generally, Selebi’s defence would argue that the evidence presented by the State failed to prove the allegations on the charge sheet.

He is facing a charge of corruption and defeating the ends of justice and has pleaded not guilty.

Despite National Housing Crisis Govt. Programs Fail to Stem Tide ofForeclosures

March 25, 2010

Households Facing Foreclosure Rose in 4th Quarter

By DAVID STREITFELD
New York Times

The ranks of those facing foreclosure swelled by a quarter-million households in the fourth quarter, new government data shows.

Households that are at least 90 days delinquent on their mortgage payment now number at least 1.6 million, according to a report Thursday issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Though more people are in worse trouble, the good news is that fewer households are entering delinquency. The number of people who were only one payment behind actually dropped in the quarter by 16,000.

One reason for the ballooning number of seriously delinquent borrowers is that foreclosure, for better or worse, is becoming an increasingly lengthy process. Many delinquent borrowers are in trial modifications, which keeps the final stages of foreclosure at bay.

The number of foreclosures completed in the fourth quarter rose 9 percent, to 128,859. Another 38,000 owners disposed of their house in a short sale, where the lender agrees to accept less than it is owed.

Starting this month, the Treasury Department is promoting new rules to facilitate short sales. Borrowers who are trying to sell their house in a short sale can also put off the endgame for many months.

Both lenders and the Treasury are under pressure to save many of the homeowners now in foreclosure limbo. Bank of America, the country’s biggest bank, announced this week that it would forgive principal balances over a period of years on an initial 45,000 troubled loans.

Lenders began offering principal forgiveness last year on loans they held in their own portfolios. In the fourth quarter, however, this process abruptly reversed itself. The number of modifications that included principal reduction fell by half.

The Treasury is expected to announce soon adjustments to its mortgage modification plan that will do more to promote principal forgiveness. On Thursday, it detailed smaller changes to improve the program. Loan servicers are now required to pre-emptively reach out to borrowers who have missed two payments and solicit them for a modification.

The quarterly regulators’ report is one of the broadest surveys of loan performance, covering 34 million first-lien loans. It shows about 4.6 million borrowers qualify as distressed, ranging from only one payment behind to those within days of being evicted by the sheriff.

Since the report only covers about two-thirds of American mortgage loans — and the higher quality loans at that — the actual number of the distressed is about seven million households.

March 25, 2010

U.S. Plans Big Expansion in Effort to Aid Homeowners

By DAVID STREITFELD
New York Times

The Obama administration on Friday will announce broad new initiatives to help troubled homeowners, potentially refinancing several million of them into fresh government-backed mortgages with lower payments.

Another element of the new program is meant to temporarily reduce the payments of borrowers who are unemployed and seeking a job. Additionally, the government will encourage lenders to write down the value of loans held by borrowers in modification programs.

The escalation in aid comes as the administration is under rising pressure from Congress to resolve the foreclosure crisis, which is straining the economy and putting millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes. But the new initiatives could well spur protests among those who have kept up their payments and are not in trouble.

The administration’s earlier efforts to stem foreclosures have largely been directed at borrowers who were experiencing financial hardship. But the biggest new initiative, which is also likely to be the most controversial, will involve the government, through the Federal Housing Administration, refinancing loans for borrowers who simply owe more than their houses are worth.

About 11 million households, or a fifth of those with mortgages, are in this position, known as being underwater. Some of these borrowers refinanced their houses during the boom and took cash out, leaving them vulnerable when prices declined. Others simply had the misfortune to buy at the peak.

Many of these loans have been bundled together and sold to investors. Under the new program, the investors would have to swallow losses, but would probably be assured of getting more in the long run than if the borrowers went into foreclosure. The F.H.A. would insure the new loans against the risk of default. The borrower would once again have a reason to make payments instead of walking away from a property.

Many details of the administration’s plan remained unclear Thursday night, including the precise scope of the new program and the number of homeowners who might be likely to qualify.

One administration official cautioned that the investors might not be willing to volunteer any loans from borrowers that seemed solvent. That could set up a battle between borrowers and investors.

This much was clear, however: the plan, if successful, could put taxpayers at increased risk. If many additional borrowers move into F.H.A. loans, a renewed downturn in the housing market could send that government agency into the red.

The F.H.A. has already expanded its mortgage-guarantee program substantially in the last three years as the housing crisis deepened. It now insures more than six million borrowers, many of whom made minimal down payments and are now underwater.

Sources said the agency would use $14 billion in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, some of which it could dangle in front of financial institutions as incentives to participate.

Another major element of the program, according to several people who described it, will be to encourage lenders to write down the value of loans for borrowers in modification programs. Until now, the government’s modification efforts have focused on lowering interest rates.

Lenders began offering principal forgiveness last year on loans they held in their own portfolios. In the fourth quarter, however, this process abruptly reversed itself, for reasons that are unclear. The number of modifications that included principal reduction fell by half.

Bank of America, the country’s biggest bank, announced this week that it would forgive principal balances over a period of years on an initial 45,000 troubled loans.

Another element of the White House’s housing program will require lenders to offer unemployed borrowers a reduction in their payments for a minimum of three months.

An administration official declined to speak on the record about the new programs but said they would “better assist responsible homeowners who have been affected by the economic crisis through no fault of their own.”

The new initiatives would expand the government’s current mortgage modification plan, announced a year ago with great fanfare. It has resulted in fewer than 200,000 people getting permanent new loans. As many as seven million borrowers are seriously delinquent on their loans and at risk of foreclosure.

While fewer people are beginning default, the number of borrowers who are seriously distressed is rising. In the fourth quarter, the number of households at least 90 days past due on their mortgages swelled by 270,000, according to a report issued Thursday by the comptroller of the currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

“The government is seeking to persuade people to stay in their homes by aligning the mortgage debt with the asset value, which is the only viable path to real housing stability,” said one person who was briefed on the government’s plans.

The number of foreclosures in the fourth quarter rose 9 percent, to 128,859. An additional 38,000 owners disposed of their homes in short sales, where the lender agreed to accept less than it was owed.

A person briefed on the new plan said the number of underwater borrowers who qualified for the plan could be in the millions. The government is not planning to solicit loans for the program, stressing that it is voluntary.

The administration recognizes that some people’s finances have deteriorated so far that they are beyond help, the person said. People in that situation simply cannot afford the houses they are living in, the person said, even if the mortgages were reduced.

“All these programs are geared toward people for whom it makes sense, for whom it’s workable when all is said and done,” the person said. “Some people are too far gone.”

Sewell Chan and Louise Story contributed reporting.

Republic of South Africa President Jacob Zuma Addresses the BusinessForum in Uganda

Zuma: Address by the South African President, to the South
Africa/Uganda Business Forum, Kampala, Uganda

Date: 25/03/2010
Source: The South African Presidency

Your Excellency Mr President
Ministers and deputy ministers
Ambassadors and high commissioners
The business delegations of South Africa and Uganda

Distinguished guests

It is a great honour for me to represent the people of South Africa at this important occasion, where we celebrate the warm and fraternal relations between our two countries through a state visit. We once again express, Your Excellency, our heartfelt gratitude for the hospitality and warmth with which my delegation and I have been received, including the business delegation.

In this particular forum, we gather to appreciate and encourage the positive economic activity between our two countries, which shows a lot of potential. These relations do not come as a surprise, since the bond between our two countries and peoples is deeply rooted in our history against social injustice and our quest for freedom and equality.

We meet at this forum, not only to reaffirm this bond, but also to consolidate our ever growing trade and economic relations. Our solidarity during the struggle for liberation must translate into tangible economic ties and trade relations.

We already have vehicles that we can use to achieve these goals.

Our two countries have concluded several bilateral agreements in the economic sphere. These include the bilateral trade agreement, the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investment agreement, the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes and incomes.

Furthermore, we established a Joint Permanent Economic Commission in December 2005. These have been important mechanisms that demonstrate the level and extent of our commitments to each other to promote mutual development.

Already trade relations are sound, and show a lot of potential for further growth. We therefore thank you for welcoming South African investors to contribute to the growing economic activity that is evident in the Republic of Uganda.

We recognise that South Africans are among the top contributors to foreign direct investment flows to Uganda, and South Africa is firmly entrenched near the top of the list of countries from which Uganda sources imports. We further appreciate the extent of investment that the South African private sector is making in the strategic sectors of your economy.

The participation of South African companies in such sectors as finance, telecommunications, retail and agriculture, has undoubtedly given deeper substance to the historical bond we share. The mining, oil and refining of petroleum sector with the discovery of oil in the Lake Albert region also provides new areas of business. We wish you well with this discovery, as it will certainly boost the economy.

Ladies and gentlemen, expanding economic links will promote intra-Africa trade and investment and lay the basis for closer political and economic cooperation in line with our shared commitment to regional economic integration. Ours must be a development partnership for integration.

Our modest successes have largely been the product of hard work across all areas of our bilateral cooperation. We observe progress in trade, investment and cooperation in science and technology. We strongly believe that we have covered much ground under our framework bilateral agreements.

However, much more can still be achieved. Our belief is that the scope for further advances in our bilateral relations is still possible.

The engagement between our private sectors in this business forum, must lead to the discovery of new trade and investment opportunities for our businesses.

We should seriously consider new linkages and joint ventures in key sectors like energy, agriculture and agro-processing, infrastructure development, tourism, information and communication technology (ICT), technology transfer, and mining, alongside other priority sectors identified by Ugandans to promote economic development.

There is much more that can be done in such areas as revenue services as well as financing small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) through collaboration between the Uganda Development Bank and South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation.

There are also opportunities of collaboration on technical standards between the Uganda National Bureau of Standards and the South African Bureau of Standards; and technology collaboration between the Uganda Industrial Research Institute and our Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. All these establish a basis to build our economies and enhance our trade and investment relations, and we must pursue this collaboration.

Your Excellency, we must move towards the full implementation of our trade agreement by establishing without delay, the agreed joint trade committee. This will further increase investment flows by promoting and encouraging joint ventures and partnerships. Such trade committee will potentially strengthen linkages between our private sectors, and foster rural development.

At a private sector level, we must encourage business to look at a possibility of establishing a joint business council, as a platform to collaborate and promote further trade and investments. Our two countries are both strongly committed to contributing to the development of our continent. Indeed, our destinies are inextricably linked to our neighbours and the rest of the continent.

Your Excellency, the challenge that the global economic downturn and slow progress in the conclusion of Doha Development Round has brought about, calls on us as the developing world, to work together in innovative ways to advance an alternative world economic order that support our development.

We need to advance towards the realisation of the objectives we agreed to, as set out in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community and Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tripartite summit. This will require that we ensure that tripartite summit decisions and the roadmap are fully and timeously implemented. A more integrated and economically organised Africa is good for our collective economies and livelihood of our peoples.

Your Excellency, we are doing all this work for one goal; to ensure that we create a better quality of life for all our people. In that regard, I hereby reaffirm South Africa’s commitment to the deepening of our bilateral economic relations. We want to see progress in trade relations, and will encourage our business people in that direction.

Let me conclude by reminding all delegates to this seminar that they are most welcome to attend the greatest soccer spectacular the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup! Let us prove to the world that Africa is capable of hosting such a massive tournament.

I thank you.

Continued support crucial as Guinea prepares for democratic polls - UN official

Guinea requires continued support from the United Nations and its partners now that the West African country is preparing to transition from military rule to a civilian Government once elections scheduled for 27 June are held, a senior UN official in the country said today.

Iraqi elections an historic achievement, UN says as results of vote are announced

Iraqi parliamentary elections this month were credible and no evidence has been found of any systematic or widespread fraud during the vote count, the top United Nations official in the country said today after authorities announced the final election results.

Hundreds of Haitian families moved to first of new campsites - UN

Some 200 Haitian families have been moved into the first of an expected five transitional sites being set up to decongest spontaneous settlements of those left homeless by the 12 January earthquake, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.

Amid Renewed Protests Obama Announces Yet Another Mortgage Program forthe Collapsed Housing Industry

latimes.com/business/la-fi-obama-mortgages27-2010mar27,0,6966492.story

Obama administration ramps up efforts to aid struggling homeowners

Among the major changes made to the much-criticized Home Affordable Modification Program is a set of new incentives for lenders to reduce the principal on so-called underwater mortgages.

By Jim Puzzanghera
10:08 AM PDT, March 26, 2010
Reporting from Washington

Obama administration officials on Friday ramped up their attempts to help struggling homeowners, announcing major changes to the government’s much-criticized $75-billion program to modify mortgages to avoid foreclosures.

The most significant change is a set of complex new incentives for banks and investors to reduce the principal on so-called underwater mortgages — loans for homes now worth less than what is owed.

In addition, the administration announced that many unemployed homeowners could receive three to six months of reduced mortgage payments while they look for a job.

Together, the revisions are designed to spur the Home Affordable Modification Program to reach its target of helping 3 million to 4 million homeowners avoid foreclosure through 2012.

While the changes are significant to a year-old program that so far has helped just 170,000 homeowners receive permanently lowered mortgage payments, administration officials stressed they would only make a dent in the projected 10 million to 20 million foreclosures expected in the next three years.

“It’s really important to recognize we’re not going to stop every foreclosure. It wouldn’t be fair, it would be too expensive and we probably wouldn’t succeed in any case because many people got into homes that they simply cannot afford,” said Diana Farrell, deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council.

Many analysts have said reducing principal on underwater mortgages is the key to helping borrowers stay in their homes. The administration’s program, and other government efforts before it, have tried to do that with little success. The permanently modified mortgages, and about 1 million ongoing three-month trial modifications that could become permanent, have reduced monthly payments by extending the terms of the loan.

To further help people eligible for modified mortgages, the administration said it would require mortgage servicers participating in the program, including such major companies as Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., to reduce monthly mortgage payments for three to six months for unemployed homeowners as they look for new jobs. The payments would be reduced to 31% of the homeowner’s current income.

After the temporary period, homeowners who still have a mortgage payment of more than 31% of their gross monthly income would have to be considered for a permanently modified loan. The program is open to people who live in the home they purchased, took out their mortgage before Jan. 1, 2009, and have a loan balance below $729,750.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said he was pleased the administration decided to provide additional help for unemployed homeowners.

“While clearly there are some people in trouble on their mortgages who bear some of the responsibility for their plight, this is not true of the unemployed who are fully deserving of this help,” Frank said.

To encourage mortgage servicers and investors holding the loans to reduce the principal, the administration announced several steps Friday.

–All banks and servicers participating in the HAMP program are now required to consider principal write-down as part of the modification process.

–The Treasury Department will increase cash incentives to banks and servicers who write down the principal on loans, particularly on second mortgages.

–Allow lenders to refinance underwater first and second mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration, which provides federal guarantees to mortgage loans. The FHA will receive $14 billion from the modification program to cover some of the losses for banks and investors of those write downs — at 10 cents to 20 cents on the dollar — as well as the additional risk faced by the agency for default of the refinanced mortgages.

“It’s actually in the interest of lenders to reduce the loan balance because those will be sustainable, higher quality loans,” Farrell said. “Similarly, it’s in the interest of borrowers to get into a loan that they actually can afford.”

Even when those loans are refinanced by the FHA, the homeowner would still be underwater — just not so deep, said FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens. The standard for the FHA refinancing would be new loans that are no more than 115% of the value of the home. But that level will get a homeowner close enough to break even — with the hope of getting there as home values rise again — that it would significantly reduce the risk of foreclosure.

“If you can get the borrower close to the 115% range and below there’s a much better chance that the borrower is going to be able to stay in their home,” said Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael S. Barr.

John Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, applauded the administration for continuing to try to improve its mortgage modification program. But while the changes will help avoid some foreclosures, Taylor said officials continue to only “tinker around the edges of foreclosure prevention.” He isn’t not optimistic that many mortgage servicers and investors would be lured by the incentives.

“I will be pleasantly shocked if investors step up for half a million borrowers,” he said. “The real acceleration in the number of foreclosures prevented will come with mandatory principal write-downs.”

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com