v

6A - Thursday, Feburary 16, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


Foreclosure rate rises

Number of houses
taken by bank still
lower than 2011
levels
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Banks
took back more U.S. homes in
January than in the previous
month, the latest sign that fore-
closures are accelerating after
slowing sharply last year while
lenders sorted out foreclosure-
abuse claims.
Foreclosures rose 8 percent
nationally last month from
December, but were down 15 per-
cent from a year earlier, foreclo-
sure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc.
said Thursday.
Despite the annual decrease
at the national level, some states
posted sharp increases com-
pared to January 2011. In New
Hampshire, foreclosures jumped
62 percent. In Massachusetts, 75
percent.
That trend is expected to
strengthen this year in light of
last week's $25 billion settlement
between the nation's biggest
mortgage lenders and 49 state
attorneys general over the indus-

try's handling of foreclosures.
Many banks and mortgage
servicers processed foreclosures
without verifying documents.
Some employees signed papers
they hadn't read or used fake sig-
natures to speed foreclosures - a
practice dubbed "robo-signing."
Major banks temporarily put
foreclosures on hold after the
problems surfaced in the fall of
2010. Some had to refile previ-
ously filed foreclosure cases and
revisit pending cases to prevent
errors. Those delays and uncer-
tainty over state and federal
probes into the industry's fore-
closure practices led to a sharp
slowdown in foreclosure activity
last year.
The settlement between the
banks and state attorneys gen-
eral helps clarify the rules banks
must follow to foreclose on bor-
rowers, said Daren Blomquist,
a vice president at RealtyTrac.
That will pave the way for more
foreclosures, he said.
"The settlement will accel-
erate the foreclosures that are
happening this year and it will
accelerate the process of lend-
ers catching up on the backlog of
foreclosures that has been build-
ing up over the last year and a
half," Blomquist said.

in January *
Credit rating agency Fitch Rat-
ings also anticipates foreclosures
will climb nationallythisyear, but
not right away, noting it will take
some time for lenders and mort-
gage servicers to make sure they
are in compliance with the rules
set forth in the settlement.
"You probably are going to see
the pace pick up as the year goes
on," said Grant Bailey, a manag-
ing director at Fitch.
RealtyTrac projects foreclo-
sures will rise 25 percent this
year to I million homes. Last
year, lenders took back 804,000
homes
Even so, the rise in foreclo-
sures isn't expected to be uni-
form nationwide. That's because
the settlement isn't likely to ease
the backlog of foreclosure cases
in states where courts play a role
in the process.
In addition, some states have
taken steps to slow lenders down.
Throughout the housing *
downturn Nevada has had the
nation's highest foreclosure rate.
There, a law that went into effect
in October requires that foreclo-
sure documents must be filed in
the county where a property is
located and a lender must pro-
vide a notarized affidavit detail-
ing their legal right to proceed.

HUSSEIN MALLA/AP
In a rally in Beirut, Lebanese anti-Syrian regime protestors hold a sign against Russia on February 5, 2012. Syria's
11-month-old crisis enflames emotions and strains the already deep divisions in neighboring Lebanon.
Assad calls for Syrian
votebut steps up assaults

Constitutional
referendum
criticized in light of
violence
BEIRUT (AP) - As Syrian
forces stepped up their assault
yesterday on rebellious cit-
ies, President Bashar Assad
ordered a referendum on a new
constitution that would create
a multiparty system in a coun-
try that has been ruled by his
autocratic family dynasty for
40 years.
Such a change would have
been unheard of a year ago, and
Assad's regime is touting the
new constitution as the cen-
terpiece of reforms aimed at
calming Syria's upheaval. But
after 11 months of bloodshed,
with well over 5,000 dead in
the regime's crackdown on
protesters and rebels, Assad's
opponents say the referendum
and reforms are not enough and
that the country's strongman
must go.
' "The people in the street
today have demands, and one
of these demands is the depar-
ture of this regime," said Khalaf
Dahowd, a member of the
National Coordination Body for
Democratic Change in Syria, an
umbrella for several opposition
groups in Syria and in exile.

The White House also dis-
missed the referendum. Press
secretary Jay Carney called
the move "laughable" in light
of ongoing brutality by the Syr-
ian military and said it "makes a
mockery" of the uprising.
Assad's call fora referendum,
set for Feb. 26, also raises the
question of how a nationwide
vote could be held at a time
when many areas see daily bat-
tles between Syrian troops and
rebel soldiers.
Regime forces yesterday bat-
tered rebellious neighborhoods
in the central city of Homs,
pushing ahead with one of the
deadliest assaults of the crack-
down that activists say has
killed hundreds in the past two
weeks, aimed at crushing a city
that has been a stronghold of
dissent. Black smoke billowed
from an oil pipeline in the city
that was hit in the fighting, with
each side blaming the other for
attacking it. Activists reported
at least eight killed across the
country yesterday.
Amendments to the consti-
tution once were a key demand
by the opposition at the start of
Syria's uprising, when protest-
ers first launched demonstra-
tions calling for change. Assad
has also talked of holding par-
liament elections after the ref-
erendum. But after months of
the regime's fearsome crack-
down, the opposition dismisses
any talk of reform, saying that

they don't believe Assad will
really loosen his iron grip on
power and that his ouster is the
only solution.
Russia, a top Syrian ally, has
presented Assad's reform prom-
ises as an alternative way to
resolve Syria's bloodshed. Ear-
lier this month, Moscow and
Beijing vetoed a Western- and
Arab-backed resolution at the
U.N. Security Council aimed at
pressuring Assad to step down.
The current Syrian consti-
tution enshrines Assad's Baath
Party as the leader of the state.
But according to the new draft,
"the state's political system is
based on political pluralism and
power is practiced democrati-
cally through voting."
The draft also says the presi-
dent can hold office only for a
maximum of two seven-year
terms. Assad, who inherited
power from his father, has been
in power for nearly 12 years.
His father, Hafez, ruled for 30
years.
The Syrian constitution has
been amended in the past -
most crucially, to allow Assad
to take power in 2000.
After his father's death, Par-
liament quickly lowered the
presidential age requirement
from 40 to 34 so that the rul-
ing Baath party could nominate
Bashar Assad. His appointment
was sealed by a nationwide ref-
erendum, in which he was the
only candidate.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
backs military in dispute with U.S.

Party says pro-
democracy groups
causing unrest
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's Muslim
Brotherhood yesterday threw its
weight behind the country's mil-
itary-backed government in an
escalating dispute with the U.S.
over the funding of pro-democra-
cy groups.
Cairo claims that the groups
are fomenting protests against
the country's military rulers, and
has referred 16 Americans and
27 others to criminal court. Six
Americans are barred from leav-
ing the country.
The dispute has shaken rela-
tions between the two countries,
with U.S. officials and legislators
threatening to cut aid to Egypt
- $L3 billion in military aid and
$250 million in economic assis-
tane - if the issue is notresolved.
On Wednesday, the Brother-
hood - whose political arm con-
trols the largest bloc of seats in
Egypt's parliament - praised

officials carrying out the crack-
down and said it supported their
"nationalist position."
The Brotherhood said it
"rejects all forms of pressure the
U.S. is exerting," the statement
published on the group's website
said.
The statement said the group
"declares that it, and the Egyptian
people, will not tolerate any offi-
cials if they decide to succumb to
the pressure or cover up the accu-
sations or interfere in the busi-
ness of the judiciary."
Egypt's ruling military council
has repeatedly alluded to plots by
foreign powers throughout the
last year. Critics see the allega-
tions as an attempt by the army
to deflect attention from what
they regard as a botched transi-
tion to democracy. The strongly-
worded statement by the Brothers
appears tobe an attempt to outbid
the military position.
The statement comes a day
after the state media published
the four-month old testimony of
the Cabinet minister in charge
of international cooperation in
which she lashed out at the main-

I I

RELEASE DATE- Thursday, February 16, 2012
Los Angeles Times Daily Cross%
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols
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ly U.S.groups.
Minister Faiza Aboul Naga, a
leftover from deposed President
Hosni Mubarak's regime, accused
them ofusingthe foreign funds to
foment pro-democracy protests
against the country's militaryrul-
ers, who took over after Mubarak
was ousted in a popular uprising
a year ago.
The foreign funding affair has
also been interpreted by many
among Egypt's pro-democracy
groups as part of a larger plan to
neutralize rights groups and other
civil society organization, who
have long challenged Mubarak
and continue to challenge what
they say are grave rights viola-
tions by the militaryrulers.
Investigative judges have said a
second phase of the probe is look-
ing into Egyptian groups receiv-
ing foreign funds.
The Brotherhood, itself an
unregistered group, had previ-
ously backed the military's inves-
tigation of pro-democracy and
human rights groups.
"Civil ggoups are as much a
thorn in the side of any religious
group," as they are of an authori-
tarian regime, said Negad Borai, a
human rights lawyer.
The' Brotherhood's political
party swept recent elections,
taking nearly 50 percent of the
seats in the new parliament. Lib-
eral and secular activists who led
last year's popular uprising that
toppled Mubarak failed to win
significant strength in the parlia-
ment, and they are suspicious of
the Brotherhood, suspecting that
the veteran Islamist movement
is working with the military to
divvy up power while excluding
the more secular forces.
The military generals said they
will transferpower to a civilian by
end of June, while a constitution
will be written by a committee
nominated by a Brotherhood-
dominated parliament.
As the transition period nears
an end, many suspect the Broth-
erhood, although it has until now
sought to appease the military
rulers, will start playing hardball
to wrest as much power as pos-
sible from the powerful military
rulers.
, The group's deputy chairman
Khairat el-Shater told Al-Jazeera
television that U.S. aid should not
be conditional and should con-
tinue to flow as a"compensation"
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