Citigroup: US to sell its stake in bailed-out bank

The US government is preparing to sell its 27% stake in Citigroup, in what would be one of the largest share sales in history.

Some 7.7 billion shares in the bailed-out bank will be sold in tranches throughout 2010, the US Treasury said.
It will mark another stage in Wall Street's recovery, and could make the US taxpayer $8bn (£5.3bn) in profit.
Citigroup, which has posted more than $100bn in write-downs, required three government rescues in 2008 and 2009.
At Citigroup's opening share price of $4.39 on Monday, the Treasury's stake would be worth just over $33bn, giving an $8bn profit to the US taxpayer.

The bank has received a total of $45bn in bail-out money from the Treasury's $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp). It was the largest amount given to a bank (and was equal to the sum given to Bank of America).
Citigroup was given $25bn in return for 7.7 billion in shares, and was loaned another $20bn in two tranches. This $20bn was repaid in December.
The bank, once one of America's most illustrious financial institutions, has seen its share price collapse 90% since late 2006 as fears about its financial health grew.
Its shares fell after the Treasury confirmed the sale, falling 4% to $4.11. Before the credit crisis they were worth more than $50.
Morgan Stanley has been chosen to underwrite and advise on the sale, though the US Treasury emphasised that the disposal was subject to market conditions.
A Treasury statement said that it "intends to sell its Citigroup common shares into the market through various means in an orderly and measured fashion".
It is thought that the share sales will begin after Citigroup reports its results next month.
Citi follows other Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, who have repaid the government investment.
Although the bank rescues now seem likely to be profitable, other financial aid will probably cost the taxpayer money, including the insurer AIG and the carmakers General Motors and Chrysler.
According to the latest official report on the state of Tarp at the end of 2009, 67 recipients had repaid all or part of their bail-out money, totalling more than $165.2bn.
The Treasury had also received by the end of December $16.9bn in additional payments such as interest and dividends on its investments.

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Gaddafi says Nigeria should split into several states

Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi says Nigeria should become several states, despite Nigerian fury after he earlier said it should become two countries.

He said he was wrong to have said earlier this month that Nigeria should be divided into Muslim and Christian areas to end communal clashes.
Instead, he now says several different Nigerian groups want independence.
Nigeria recalled its ambassador to Tripoli after his previous statement, which it branded "irresponsible".
'Mad man'
"His theatrics and grandstanding at every auspicious occasion have become too numerous to recount," said a foreign ministry statement.
A Nigerian senator called Col Gaddafi, until recently head of the African Union, a "mad man".
The Loc in Tripoli says the dispute appears to have become a tit-for-tat game.
Col Gaddafi initially suggested the split to prevent any more bloodshed between rival groups in central Nigeria.
Hundreds have died this year in ethnic and religious violence around Jos.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation, with some 130 million people, and has more than 250 different ethnic groups, broadly divided into a largely Muslim north and mainly Christian south.
Yugoslav example
"It became clear... that Nigeria does not consist of two parts," Col Gaddafi said in a statement.
"The Yoruba people in the west and south demand independence, while the Igbo people live in the east and south.
"It became clear that the Ijaw people demand independence and the [Hausa] people in the north call for the establishment of the [Hausa] state."
In his original comments, Col Gaddafi said that Nigeria should be divided - comparing it to the partition of British India into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim Pakistan, which led to at least 200,000 deaths and possibly as many as one million.
But the Libyan leader now suggests Nigeria should follow in the footsteps of Yugoslavia.
He says the most bloody conflict in the former-Yugoslavia - in Bosnia - arose because that was a multi-ethnic state, while the other countries seceded "peacefully".
An attempt by Nigeria's Igbo people to gain independence in 1967 sparked a war which left more than one million people dead.

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Moscow Metro hit by deadly suicide bombings

At least 38 people have been killed after two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow Metro trains in the morning rush hour, officials say.

Twenty-four died in the first blast at 0756 (0356 GMT) as a train stood at the central Lubyanka station, beneath the offices of the FSB intelligence agency.
About 40 minutes later, a second explosion ripped through a train at Park Kultury, leaving another 14 dead.
The FSB said it was likely a group from the North Caucasus was responsible.
A news channel in Moscow says no group has yet said it carried out the attacks, but past suicide bombings in the capital have been carried out by or blamed on Islamist rebels fighting for independence in Chechnya.
In February, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov said "the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia... the war is coming to their cities".
At an emergency meeting with senior officials, President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to uphold the "policy of suppressing terror and the fight against terrorism".
"We will continue operations against terrorists without compromises and to the end," he said.
Federal security forces have scored a series of successes against militants in the North Caucasus in recent weeks. In February, at least 20 insurgents were killed in an operation by troops in Ingushetia.

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