Ivorian pro-Gbagbo groups rampage against foreigners (Reuters)

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Youth supporters of Ivory Coast's incumbent Laurent Gbagbo rampaged through the business district of Abidjan on Tuesday, pillaging shops owned by foreigners.

The violence followed a call on Friday by Ble Goude, the head of Gbagbo's youth wing, to resist an insurgency seeking to depose Gbabgo and install rival Alassane Ouattara, winner of a November 28 poll according to U.N.-certified results.

Security in the world's top cocoa grower is deteriorating, with gunbattles erupting for most of last week and hostilities resuming across a north-south ceasefire line that had been largely quiet since a 2002-3 war ended in stalemate.

Gbagbo's Young Patriots have long been notorious for xenophobic violence, including attacks against the country's French community in 2004, on its large Burkinabe and Malian communities and on northern Ivorians with cultural ties to them.

United Nations staff have also been attacked and robbed by pro-Gbagbo gangs this week after repeated broadcasts on state television accusing them of backing pro-Ouattara rebels. Gbagbo is furious with the mission for recognizing Ouattara's win.

U.N. investigators are trying to confirm whether Gbagbo breached an arms embargo by importing helicopters from Belarus. They had to abandon their search in the capital Yamoussoukro after his forces fired at them on the weekend.

A source at U.N. headquarters said information on the helicopter deal came from the intelligence services of one of the five permanent Security Council member states.

He said two helicopter gunships the U.N. mission urgently needed had arrived, which he called a "game changer" that would make it harder for Gbagbo's forces to attack U.N. patrols.

ANTI-FOREIGNER SENTIMENT

November's election was meant to heal divisions sown by a 2002-3 civil war that left the country divided into a rebel-run north and government-run south, but the dispute has worsened divisions and killed well over 300 people since November.

The U.N. says the number of Ivorian refugees in Liberia had reached 68,000, with another 40,000 internally displaced.

Anti-foreigner sentiment is at the core of the troubles that have dogged Ivory Coast for years and has worsened as most nations recognize Ouattara's win. Ouattara was twice barred from running in past polls because his father is from Burkina Faso.

"I don't understand what happened. The youths arrived ... and starting destroying the things in my shop. They looted everything and now I have nothing left," Senegalese shopkeeper Ismael Bah told a Reuters reporter.

"What did I do? I'm not involved in politics," he added.

Mobile phone retailer Mamadou Barro, also from Senegal, fell victim to a similar attack. "Everything I owned was invested in this business. Now it's gone," he said.

Insurgents believed to back Ouattara now control most of the northern Abidjan suburb of Abobo after the clashes, and a huge number of refugees have streamed out of it.

"The situation is now calm, with everything under control of the invisible commandos," said Abobo resident Vasseriki Sumaro, a teacher. "All the security forces have left."

Elsewhere in Abidjan, Young Patriots armed with guns, clubs and machetes have set up roadblocks and in some cases killed suspected rebels, local press and residents say.

In the rebel-held northern half of the country, residents complained that Gbagbo's forces, which seized the electricity and water distribution company last month, had cut both off since Monday morning.

"We consider this a grave violation of human rights." said the rebels' civilian spokesman Felicien Sekongo.

There was no immediate comment from Gbagbo's camp.

Separately, thousands of civil servants were anxiously waiting on Tuesday to see if they will be paid for the month of February, after an exodus of international banks.

"They promised us Friday, but I'm really afraid the money is going to run out," health ministry official Mathias Gosse said.

Gbagbo's government nationalized two French banks, saying they would reopen them soon, but analysts doubt it will work, as West Africa's central bank has cut ties with him.

Nine newspapers that either support Ouattara or are independent shut this week in protest at threats and harassment by Gbagbo's camp, press freedom watchdogs said.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations, Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan and Charles Bamba in Bouake; writing by Tim Cocks; editing by Andrew Roche)

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SEC may file charges against Freddie Mac exec (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top executive at mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) received a "Wells Notice" from the Securities and Exchange Commission that the agency was considering filing an enforcement action against him, according to an SEC filing released on Thursday.

The filing said Executive Vice President Donald Bisenius, who heads the single-family mortgage unit, may have violated federal securities laws and related rules in 2007 and 2008.

(Reporting by Corbett B. Daly and Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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AP source: Feds drop criminal probe against Mozilo (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Federal prosecutors have ended a criminal investigation of Countrywide Financial Corp. co-founder Angelo Mozilo, a person close to the investigation said Friday.

The federal official told The Associated Press that the probe launched in 2008 into the actions of the former chief executive of the housing giant during the mortgage meltdown has been closed with no indictments. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was never publicly announced, and the Department of Justice as a policy does not announce the closing of investigations.

In October, Mozilo agreed to a $67.5 million settlement to avoid civil trial on fraud and insider trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but prosecutors pursuing the criminal case against him found that his actions did not amount to crimes.

The SEC's charges alleged that the 72-year-old Mozilo and two other former Countrywide executives who also settled profited from doling out risky mortgages while misleading investors about the dangers.

The three men admitted no wrongdoing under the settlement, and it allowed them to avoid the risk of a verdict that could have been used by the prosecutors who would eventually drop the investigation.

Mozilo attorney David Siegel said he could not speak directly to the federal criminal investigation or the SEC charges, but maintained that Mozilo had done no wrong in the cases the former chief executive still faces.

"We continue to litigate various matters in which Mr. Mozilo has maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing, and we continue to believe that the facts bear that out," Siegel said.

That litigation includes several civil lawsuits, some filed by investors in Countrywide's mortgage-backed securities.

The shelving of the investigation was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

The son of a Bronx butcher, Mozilo co-founded Countrywide 41 years ago and watched it grow into the nation's largest home loan originator, writing one in six of the nation's mortgages totaling more than $490 billion by 2006.

But the Calabasas, Calif.-based company spiraled into disaster as investors suddenly realized many homeowners wouldn't be able to repay mortgages that required no proof of income or down payment, and offered adjustable rates that quickly made monthly payments unaffordable.

Bank of America Corp. bought Countrywide and inherited its scores of toxic mortgages in July 2008.

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Berkeley votes against welcoming Gitmo detainees (AP)

BERKELEY, Calif. – The Berkeley city council has narrowly rejected a measure that would have welcomed freed Guantanamo Bay detainees to resettle in the California college town.

The resolution was rejected late Tuesday in a 4-1 vote, with four abstentions.

The measure would have asked Congress to allow Guantanamo prisoners cleared of wrongdoing to resettle in the U.S. — and invite "one or two" of them to live in Berkeley.

City Manager Phil Kamlarz recommended the council take no action because "federal law explicitly prohibits the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States."

At least two other U.S. cities, including Amherst, Mass., have approved similar resolutions.

Critics say the resolution is an empty gesture that distracts from the city's more pressing issues.

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Hariri rallies supporters against Hezbollah-backed government (The Christian Science Monitor)

Beirut – In a gathering Monday to commemorate Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination, his son sought to rally his supporters against a new government that he says will lead Lebanon deeper into the embrace of Iran and Syria.

Saad Hariri, whose coalition government was toppled last month, used the occasion to formally announce his opposition to the new administration now being formed. Led by his successor, Najib Mikati, the dominant partner is the militant Shiite Hezbollah movement.

Speaking to several thousand supporters, he also called for an opposition rally for March 14 – an attempt to rekindle the huge demonstration on that date six years ago that drew some 1 million protesters and was the pinnacle of the Beirut spring protests against Syria's domination of Lebanon.

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“We are going on March 14 to say no,” said Hariri. “No to the betrayal of coexistence … no to the armed internal tutelage [of Hezbollah], no to moving Lebanon to an axis rejected by the Lebanese,” he added, referring to the so-called "axis of resistance," which groups Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah, among others, against Israel and Western influence in the Middle East.

Hariri based his movement's opposition to the new government on its continued support for the United Nations-based tribunal investigating his father's assassination and to protect Lebanon from the "predominance of weapons," a reference to the arms held by Hezbollah.

Uphill battle for popular supportBut Hariri faces an uphill struggle to recreate the wave of popular support that followed the assassination of his father. At that time, a series of mass demonstrations in central Beirut toppled the pro-Syrian government and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

Since then, however, Lebanon has been wracked by internal crises, assassinations, a war with Israel, and political deadlock, culminating in the collapse of Hariri’s coalition government last month when ministers allied to Hezbollah resigned.

The resignations came after Hariri refused to yield to pressure to cease cooperation with the Netherlands-based tribunal. The first set of indictments, which are expected to be released in the coming weeks, reportedly will name members of Hezbollah. Hezbollah denies any involvement in Hariri’s assassination.

In his speech today, Hariri revealed that negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Syria prior to his government’s collapse had centered on the idea of holding a national reconciliation conference in which Lebanese leaders would confess and apologize for past crimes going back three decades or more. The conference, which was to be held in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, was intended to help dilute the fallout from the tribunal’s investigation.

“We negotiated in all honesty for the sake of Lebanon’s interest, but we were met once again with a request to surrender, and not to reconcile, by those who don’t want a dialogue because they consider themselves bigger than Lebanon,” he said, explaining why the talks had failed.

Hariri's successor backed by HezbollahHariri was replaced as prime minister by Najib Mikati, a Sunni billionaire businessman from the northern Lebanon city of Tripoli who won the backing of Hezbollah and its allies.

Many Lebanese, even those unhappy with Hariri’s fall from the premiership, say they are willing to give Mikati a chance. Mikati is regarded as a moderate and as politically neutral, despite his close personal ties to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria, along with Iran, is a backer of Hezbollah.

Mikati had hoped to form another coalition government, a goal that appears to have been dashed by Hariri’s announcement that he and his allies plan to stand in opposition.

Hezbollah, reassured that its formidable military wing will be protected by Mikati, is likely to play a limited role in the new government. Sheikh Nabil Qawq, a senior Hezbollah official, said Sunday that the new government “should help remove Lebanon from the American minefield.”

“The party [Hezbollah] does not oppose the participation of any side in government,” he said, “but it opposes American conspiracy plans and its attempts to threaten Lebanon’s stability and national unity.”

New PM under pressure not to cooperate with tribunalThe tribunal set up to investigate Hariri's assassination is partly funded by Lebanon and includes Lebanese judges. If Mikati’s new government halts the funding and withdraws the judges, it could plunge Lebanon into confrontation with the UN and Western powers.

Given that Hezbollah endorsed Mikati for the premiership, analysts say it will be difficult for the new prime minister to maintain Lebanon’s support for the tribunal in opposition to the wishes of the powerful Shiite party.

Still, so far, Mikati has been vague on his plans for the tribunal. Last week, he angered some of Hezbollah's allies by backing a statement released by a gathering of Lebanon’s top Sunni religious and political figures which, in part, called on the Lebanese government to continue cooperating with the tribunal.

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