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A delegation of African leaders said Sunday that their Libyan counterpart, Moammar Gadhafi, accepted their “road map” for a cease-fire with rebels, whom they will meet Monday. They met hours after NATO airstrikes battered Gadhafi’s tanks, helping Libyan rebels push back government troops who had been advancing quickly toward the opposition’s eastern stronghold.

The African Union’s road map calls for an immediate cease-fire, cooperation in opening channels for humanitarian aid and starting a dialogue between the rebels and the government. AU officials, however, made no mention of any requirement for Gadhafi to pull his troops out of cities as rebels have demanded.

“We have completed our mission with the brother leader, and the brother leader’s delegation has accepted the road map as presented by us,” said South African President Jacob Zuma. He traveled to Tripoli with the heads of Mali and Mauritania to meet with Gadhafi, whose more than 40-year rule has been threatened by the uprising that began nearly two months ago.

“We will be proceeding tomorrow to meet the other party to talk to everybody and present a political solution,” Zuma said, speaking at Gadhafi’s private Tripoli compound, Bab al-Aziziya. He called on NATO to end airstrikes to “give the cease-fire a chance.”

Gadhafi has ignored the cease-fire he announced after international airstrikes were authorized last month, and he rejects demands from the rebels, the U.S. and its European allies that he relinquish power immediately.

Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria, the head of the AU’s Peace and Security Council, said the demand to give up power was brought up in Sunday’s talks with the Libyan leader.

“There was some discussion on this but I cannot report on this. It has to remain confidential. It’s up to the Libyan people to chose their leaders democratically,” he told reporters in Tripoli.

Gadhafi enjoys substantial support from countries of the AU, an organization that he chaired two years ago and helped transform using Libya’s oil wealth. So it is not clear whether rebels would accept the AU as a fair broker.

Though the AU has condemned attacks on civilians, last week its current leader, Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, decried foreign intervention in Libya’s nearly two-month-old uprising, which he declared to be an internal problem.

Lamamra was confident the rebel leadership would accept the AU’s proposal when the delegation presents it to them Monday.

“We are convinced that what we have proposed is broad enough to be a base for the launch of peace talks. We are people of goodwill and determined to help Libya overcome this crisis,” he said.

Though the rebels have improved discipline and organization, they remain a far less powerful force than Gadhafi’s troops. Members of the international community have grown doubtful that the opposition can overthrow Gadhafi even with air support, and some are weighing options such as arming the fighters even while attempting diplomatic solutions.

A rebel battlefield commander said four airstrikes Sunday largely stopped heavy shelling by government forces of the eastern city of Ajdabiya _ a critical gateway to the opposition’s de facto capital of Benghazi. NATO’s leader of the operation said the airstrikes destroyed 11 tanks near Ajdabiya and another 14 near Misrata, the only city rebels still hold in the western half of Libya.

An Associated Press photographer saw two burning tanks and dozens of charred vehicles near the western gate of Ajdabiya that looked like they were hit by airstrikes. Another four tanks were destroyed about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Ajdabiya.

NATO is operating under a U.N. resolution authorizing a no-fly zone and airstrikes to protect Libyan civilians.

The fighting in Ajdabiya on Sunday killed 23 people, 20 of them pro-Gadhafi forces, said Mohammed Idris, the supervisor of a hospital in the city. A total of 38 people were killed in fighting over the weekend, including 11 rebels and seven civilians, Idris said.

The main front line in Libya’s uprising runs along a 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) coastal highway from Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, to Tripoli, the capital, where Gadhafi’s power is concentrated. Rebels have been pushed back on two previous advances toward Tripoli, both times as they approached the heavily fortified Gadhafi stronghold of Sirte.

Over the past few days, Gadhafi’s forces have been knocking the rebels back eastward in their most sustained offensive since international airstrikes drove them back last month. If they had taken Ajdabiya, they would have had a clear path to opposition territory including Benghazi, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away along the coast.

“If he controls Ajdabiya, he makes us feel like we are unsafe because he can move anywhere in the east,” said Col. Hamid Hassy, the rebel battlefield commander.

Western airstrikes, initially conducted under U.S. leadership, began on March 19 to repel Gadhafi’s forces just as they were at the doorstep of Benghazi.

Hassy said Gadhafi’s forces fled the western gate of Ajdabiya and by mid-afternoon had been pushed back about 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of the city.

An AP photographer about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Ajdabiya saw Gadhafi’s forces beating a hasty retreat in the afternoon using scores of camouflaged vehicles in which they had streamed toward the city on Saturday. The convoy included at least two heavy vehicles carrying large rocket launchers.

However, sporadic shelling could still be heard around western Ajdabiya late in the afternoon.

A body brought to the morgue, said to be a rebel fighter shot near Ajdabiya’s west gate, had his hands and feet bound. Another body was an Algerian who had been fighting for Gadhafi, Dr. Suleiman Rafathi said at the hospital. He said the man’s ID confirmed his origin, but that rebels took the ID before an Associated Press reporter arrived. Rebels have said many Gadhafi fighters are foreign mercenaries.

Another Gadhafi fighter, about 20 years old, was on a ventilator _ brain-dead but with a beating heart, Rafathi said.

Rebel fighter Sami Kabdi said the young man had been firing out a window of a school. When rebels told him to surrender, he put the muzzle of his AK-47 under his chin and fired, Kabdi and Rafathi said.

Rebels had been growing critical of NATO, which accidentally hit opposition fighters in deadly airstrikes twice this month. They have complained that the alliance was too slow and imprecise, but Hassy, the rebel commander, said it is getting better.

“To tell you the truth, at first NATO was paralyzed but now they have better movement and are improving,” he said.

The commander of the NATO operation, Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, stressed in a NATO statement that the point of the airstrikes was to protect civilians, not to work hand-in-hand with the rebels.

“The situation in Ajdabiya, and Misrata in particular, is desperate for those Libyans who are being brutally shelled by the regime. To help protect these civilians we continued to strike these forces hard,” Bouchard said.

NATO noted that it is enforcing the no-fly zone on both sides, having intercepted a rebel MiG-23 fighter jet that it forced back to the airport Saturday.

In the embattled city of Misrata, the lone rebel outpost in the west of the country, residents said shelling continued Sunday, killing one and wounding two others seriously.

“We woke up at 7 a.m. from the tank fire,” said a doctor working at the local hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Libya’s third-largest city has been pounded without cease for more than a month by Gadhafi’s heavy weapons, but the rebels have managed to hold out.

In Tripoli, Libya’s deputy foreign minister accused NATO of a double standard on the no-fly zone, claiming that government forces shot down two U.S.-built Chinook helicopters being used by rebel forces in the east of the country.

“We have a question for the allied forces _ is this resolution made for the Libyan government only or everyone in Libya?” he asked.

The report could not be confirmed with the rebels, but journalists in the area did describe seeing at least one helicopter apparently fighting for the rebels in the area Saturday, though it lacked the distinctive double rotor design of the Chinook and appeared to be a Russian-built model.

____

Abbot reported from Benghazi, Libya. Altaf Qadri contributed to this report from Ajdabiya, Libya.

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South Korea’s main stock exchange slapped a record fine on the local unit of Deutsche Bank AG over a sharp decline in the benchmark index late last year that resulted in sanctions by the country’s financial regulators.

The Korea Exchange said Friday in a statement that it would fine Deutsche Securities Korea a total of 1 billion won ($888,000) for trading rule violations. It was the biggest fine ever handed out to a member of the exchange, according to KRX spokesman Won Yong-joon.

The exchange, known as KRX, also demanded that Deutsche Securities Korea take disciplinary action against three employees. It called for one to be dismissed or suspended. Two other employees should either have their pay reduced or be reprimanded, it said. The KRX did not identify the employees.

Lee Chul-jae, director of the exchange’s market oversight division, told reporters that additional penalties are possible if the demands are not acted upon, according to Won. Deutsche Securities Korea has a month in which it can appeal the fine and the demands for employee punishment, Won said.

Deutsche Securities Korea said in a statement that it “deeply regrets” the action taken by the exchange, though added it “respects its decision to impose such penalties.”

The exchange’s action came after South Korea’s financial regulators said Wednesday they would ask prosecutors to investigate five Deutsche Bank employees in South Korea, Hong Kong and New York over the purported price manipulation and unfair trading.

The regulators also said that they would suspend some securities and exchange traded derivatives operations by Deutsche Securities Korea for six months from April 1. The local unit was also to be referred to prosecutors.

Regulators and the Korea Exchange had been investigating a steep fall in the Korea Composite Stock Price Index during the final minutes of trading on Nov. 11. The index, known as the Kospi, closed 2.7 percent lower on that day.

The end-of-session plunge came on a so-called triple-witching day when stock options, stock index options and stock index futures all expire. The phenomenon, which occurs four times a year, can lead to heightened volatility in share prices. The regulators said that the alleged manipulation involving spot and futures transactions resulted in illegal profits of 44.9 billion won.

Deutsche Bank said in a statement Wednesday that it was “disappointed” with the findings and expressed regret over the penalties imposed and the referral of its employees and South Korean unit to prosecutors. But it said it would continue to cooperate with South Korean authorities.

The decline came on a day that South Korea was in the international spotlight as a two-day Group of 20 summit meeting began in Seoul, the country’s capital. Coincidentally, Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank’s chairman and CEO, was in Seoul to participate in a business forum held in conjunction with the summit.

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US Airways (LCC, Fortune 500) is increasing fees on a variety of overweight and oversized luggage sizes, a spokeswoman for the airline said Wednesday.

For overweight bags that weigh between 50 and 70 pounds, the price will jump from $50 to $90. For supersized bags that weigh in excess of 70 pounds, customers will have to fork over $175, up from the previous price of $100.

Those fees are in addition to the base price for checked bags, which the airline is keeping static at $25 for the first bag, and $35 for the second.

The new prices will apply to flights purchased on or after Feb. 1st for travel on or after March 1.

And there is more bad news for customers who travel with more than two bags. The prices for checking bags numbered 3 to 9 is increasing from $100 to $125.

In recent years, airlines have been increasing a la carte fees for things like changing flights, more legroom and checking bags in an effort to cope with rising fuel prices and falling revenue. 

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Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman Robert Clayton is stepping down as head of the five-member panel that regulates investor-owned utilities in the state.

Clayton, who sent a letter to Gov. Jay Nixon asking that he be replaced, said he has completed what he set out to accomplish when he was appointed to the post in 2009, including key rulemakings necessary to implement renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.

He plans to remain a member of the commission.

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China’s stocks, the worst-performing equities market among major developing countries this year, are poised to rebound in 2011 as the government keeps inflation under control, according to investor Mark Mobius.

Consumer prices will stay at “tolerable” levels, easing investor concerns about excessive tightening of monetary policy after two interest-rate increases since October, Mobius, who oversees about $40 billion as executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said in response to e-mailed questions.

The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.3 percent to 2,759.58 at the 3 p.m. close. It has plunged 16 percent this year, the most among benchmark equity gauges for the 21 nations in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, on concern tightening measures will slow economic growth. Along with rate increases, the central bank has boosted lenders’ reserve requirements six times this year to tame an inflation rate that climbed to 5.1 percent last month, the highest level in two years.

“We are confident that the Chinese government has the capability to control inflation at a reasonable level in 2011,” Mobius, 74, said yesterday. “If China can keep the CPI at about 4 percent in 2011, the equity market should perform well.”

‘Tolerable’ Inflation

The inflation rate jumped to a two-year high of 4.4 percent in October on rising food prices, spurring the central bank to boost borrowing costs for the first time in three years. The People’s Bank of China acted again on Christmas Day after November consumer prices surged to the highest level in 28 months. The government’s annual inflation target is 3 percent.

Government leaders pledged this month at the Central Economic Work Conference, attended by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, to shift monetary policy to “prudent” from “appropriately loose” next year. Vice Premier Li Keqiang said the country will place more emphasis on inflation controls, China National Radio reported Dec. 28.

China is tightening after a record expansion of credit to counter the effects of the world financial crisis. The broadest measure of money supply, M2, has surged by 55 percent over the past two years and outstanding yuan-denominated loans have climbed 60 percent to 47.4 trillion yuan ($7 installment payday loans.16 trillion).

“Inflation remains a problem but within tolerable levels and will probably not result in excessive tightening,” Mobius said.

Emerging Markets

The central bank may raise rates as many as three times in the first half of next year, according to Morgan Stanley, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. forecasts two increases in that period. Inflation may stay at a “comparatively high level” in the first half, Liu Jianwei, a Shenzhen-based fund manager at Bosera Asset Management Co., said in an interview this week.

China is lagging behind counterparts across Asia that took steps earlier to raise borrowing costs from global recession lows. Malaysia boosted its benchmark rate three times, starting in March, Taiwan began in June and South Korea in July.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index advanced 16 percent this year as investors poured money into developing countries where growth is outpacing the U.S. and the European Union. Russia’s Micex Index has advanced 22 percent, while India’s Sensitive Index has risen 16 percent.

“Emerging markets are now in a secular bull market and we expect this trend to continue into 2011, but with significant corrections along the way,” he said. “Even more money will be directed into these markets as investors around the world are beginning to realize that emerging markets are growing three times faster than developed markets, have more foreign reserves and lower debt-to-GDP ratios than developed markets.”

He favors commodity and consumer stocks because of increasing demand and rising incomes in developing nations.

“The negative impact on sentiment has already been factored in as the Chinese market underperformed,” said Mobius. “Going into 2011, we don’t think the government will significantly tighten liquidity unless there is a hyperinflation, which we think is highly unlikely.”

–Zhang Shidong. With assistance from Irene Shen and Richard Frost. Editors: Allen Wan, Eric Martin

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Zhang Shidong in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-3040 or szhang5@bloomberg.net

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The Department of Transportation awarded $2.4 billion Thursday for high-speed rail projects, though a lot more money is needed to make the project a reality.

The lion’s share of the grants went to California and Florida, according to the department. California is receiving more than $900 million, including $715 million to build a rail through the Central Valley, the nation’s agricultural powerhouse. Florida will receive $800 million to build a high-speed rail from Tampa to Orlando.

Chicago is also being established as a major connector for the high-speed rail project. Iowa received $230 million to build a rail connecting Chicago to Iowa City and the Quad Cities along the Illinois-Iowa border. Michigan received $161 million to connect Chicago with Detroit.

In all, 23 states will receive part of the $2.4 billion .The money will go toward constructing the track and the stations, as well as new passenger equipment and the studies for developing high-speed service.

Demand for the federal funding is high business cards. The Federal Railroad Administration, a division of the department, said it received 132 applications from 32 states totaling $8.8 billion.

However, the grants are a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated total cost. For example, Amtrak has estimated that a high-speed revamp of the Northeast Corridor, the most highly developed rail stretch, would cost $117 billion.

The Obama administration considers high-speed rail to be a necessary component in improving the nation’s infrastructure to stimulate economic growth.

The Recovery Act passed last year has provided a down payment of $8 billion for high-speed rail funding, and the Department of Transportation provided more than $2.1 billion as part of its fiscal year 2009 budget.

In comparison, China’s Ministry of Railways is investing $300 billion in its nationwide high-speed rail project, according to a World Bank report from July. 

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Gold prices climbed to yet another record Friday, continuing a week-long rally fueled by uncertainty over the global economy.

Gold futures for December delivery rose $3.70 to settle at an all-time high of $1,277.50 an ounce. It was the latest in a series of record highs this week. On Thursday, gold closed at $1,273.80 an ounce — the previous high.

Earlier Friday, gold rose to an intraday record of $1,284.40 per ounce. That eclipsed the intraday mark of $1,279.50 an ounce in the previous session.

The surge in gold prices is being partly driven by a "complete lack of confidence in the governments of the world being able to sort out their financial mess," said Gary Mead, senior commodity analyst with VM Group, a London-based commodity strategist firm.

The value of the precious metal has been recognized for thousands of years, so gold is viewed as a safe haven during tough times. It’s considered a low risk commodity that enjoys peak prices during times of volatility, when traders feel queasy about stocks and currencies.

Over the past week or so, Mead said that gold is being fueled by volatility with the U.S. dollar, perceptions about the U.S. economy, fears of inflation, and the possibility of more quantitative easing — referring to the buying of bonds by the U.S. government.

Jono Remington-Hobbs, a precious metals analyst with TheBullionDesk.com in London, said the possibility that the Federal Open Market Committee might make statements about quantitative easing at its November meeting is partly responsible for the rising tide in gold prices.

"The more we’re going to hear talk about the quantitative easing, that’s going to be real beneficial for gold," he said.

Gold isn’t the only metal to ride the wave of economic jitters. Silver continued its upward march, edging up 4 cents per ounce to settle at $20.79. Earlier this month, silver rose above the $20 mark for the first time since 2008.

Remington-Hobbs said that silver was flirting with its 30-month target of $21.36 per ounce, an intraday spike that was hit on March 17, 2008.

But he noted that silver is still far short of its all-time high of $49.45 per ounce, reached in January 1980. Adjusted for inflation, that would be even higher in 2010 dollars: $131.01 an ounce.

Gold hit its true peak on Jan. 21, 1980, when it rose to $825.50 an ounce. Adjusted for inflation in 1980 dollars, that translates to an all-time record of $2,184.08 an ounce, in 2010 dollars. 

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Cascade Financial Corp. said Friday it received a notice from the NASDAQ stock exchange that its common stock price was below $1 for 30 consecutive business days and therefore not in compliance with NASDAQ rules.

The Everett, Wash.-based banking company (NASDAQ: CASB), parent company of Cascade Bank, said it has 180 calendar days, or until January 31, 2011, to regain compliance with the minimum closing bid price requirement. If it doesn't meet that deadline, its shares will be subject to delisting by NASDAQ.

Cascade shares ended the day Friday at 41 cents.

In July, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Washington Department of Financial Institutions issued a consent order, ordering the bank to raise capital within three months, among other requirements.

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Attending school in California and becoming an engineering major can really pay off for college graduates — by thousands of dollars a year.

According to a report released Thursday from salary-tracker PayScale.com, petroleum engineering majors and graduates of Harvey Mudd College are taking home the biggest paychecks.

While mid-career salaries fell 1.5% overall between 2009 and 2010, engineers, scientists and mathematicians continued to rake in the big bucks, as well as students who graduated from Ivy League schools.

"Our society values something practical — that’s why poetry isn’t popping up on the top of the list," said Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale. "As in the past, engineering and [similar] fields with a strong math component plus a physical world component remain on the top, with lots of money to be made in these fields."

The data in the report, collected from 999 bachelor degree institutions in the last year, track median starting salaries of employees who graduated in the last five years and median mid-career salaries of graduates with more than 10 years of experience in a given field.

Follow the money: So where are all the lavishly paid engineers bred? According to PayScale.com, it’s Claremont, Calif., where Harvey Mudd alums go on to earn a mid-level salary of around $126,000.

"Harvey Mudd is the nexus of all good places to be in terms of graduate earnings," said Lee. "Not only do engineering majors make good money and this happens to be a specialized school for engineering, but southern California is an area that tends to have some of the highest wage earners in the country."

Meanwhile, Dartmouth College, which claimed the title as the school with the highest paid graduates for the past two years, was knocked down the list to number two — tied with Princeton — with its graduates receiving a starting salary of $54,100 and a mid-career salary of $123,000.

Since a large chunk of Dartmouth students typically head into financial services post-college, many graduates felt a blow to their wallets in the last year as financial companies cut back on pay, said Lee.

Harvard, California Institute of Technology, Colgate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Duke and Bucknell rounded out the top ten list of schools with the highest-paid mid-career graduates no fax cash advance.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you choose Coker College in South Carolina — the worst-paying school on the list — be prepared for a starting salary of around $28,900 and a mid-level salary of $40,300.

Majors that pay: Topping the list of best-paying degrees this year, petroleum engineers earn a starting salary of $93,000 and a mid-level salary of $157,000.

That’s $49,000 more than the next most lucrative majors, aerospace engineering and chemical engineering, which both produce graduates earning a salary of around $108,000.

"Petroleum engineering has been an incredibly profitable sector for the last few years," said Lee. "It’s a very cyclical field and depends largely on the price of oil, and we’re very much on an up cycle right now."

Electrical engineering was the third-highest paying major on the list, with mid-level pay of $104,000 per year, followed by nuclear engineering, applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, physics and computer engineering.

But I don’t want to be an engineer! If science and math aren’t your thing, don’t worry. There are plenty of other majors — many you wouldn’t expect — that will put you on the money-making track.

"People always think they have to be an engineer if they want to make good money down the line, but there are a lot of other majors that will help you find good careers with salaries that anyone would be comfortable living on," said Lee.

A building construction major typically leads to a mid-career salary of more than $94,000, while mid-level government majors earn $87,300 on average. International relations, supply chain management and urban planning also boast average salaries of more than $80,000 a year.

Even majors like film production and zoology can help you land a good-paying job. While film-makers earn a starting salary of only $36,100 and recently-graduated zoology majors tend to make about $34,600, mid-level salaries come in at about $77,800 and $68,800, respectively. 

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Alibaba.com’s first U.S. acquisition will be small-business sales software company Vendio Services Inc. of San Mateo.

Terms of the deal, announced Thursday, were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close next month.

Alibaba, the giant Chinese Internet company based in Hangzhou, said the acquisition is part of its $100 million investment plan for AliExpress, a wholesale transaction platform operated by Alibaba.com.

With the deal, Alibaba picks up a company with more than 80,000 small-business customers in the United States that use Vendio software to sell across multiple online marketplaces.

Alibaba.com CEO David Wei called Vendio a “strong strategic fit” for the company.

“We continue to look for synergies and investment opportunities to grow our customer base, acquire additional technology and add new applications that will help our customer base grow and prosper,” Wei said in a press release.

Vendio will become a new business unit within Alibaba.com and will retain its own brand name and operations. Mike Effle, Vendio’s COO, will assume the role of CEO while current CEO, chairman and co-founder Rodrigo Sales becomes a strategic advisor to the company.

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