US wants tough European sanctions on Gadhafi

The United States is pressing its European allies to set tough sanctions on the Libyan government, to turn up the heat on Moammar Gadhafi and convince his remaining loyalists to abandon the regime, U.S. officials said. The Obama administration also declared it stood ready to aid Libyans seeking to oust their longtime leader.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will make the administration's case for stronger action to foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany and Italy when she holds a series of high-level talks Monday in this Swiss city.

Clinton will also look to coordinate future U.S. sanctions on Gadhafi's government with senior officials from Russia, Australia and the European Union so that the international community presents unified opposition to the attacks that have killed hundreds of people in the North African country, senior administration officials said Sunday.

They spoke after Clinton said the U.S. could offer "any type of assistance" to anti-Gadhafi Libyans organizing in the east of the country, though she made no mention of any U.S. military help to a provisional government that is organizing or of a no-fly zone over the country - as called for by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent.

Libyan security forces switch sides as Gadhafi hangs on

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi seemed increasingly cornered Sunday as security forces defected to the opposition in a town near the capital and the United Nations Security Council voted for tough restrictions on and possible war crimes charges against the Libyan regime.

Former security forces said they had switched sides and joined the opposition in Zawiya, a town about 55 kilometers (35 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. Some buildings in Zawiya showed signs of damage, including a freshly burned-out police station.

CNN's Nic Robertson, on a government-organized trip to Zawiya, saw armed civilians taking defensive positions on rooftops to prepare for a possible effort by Gadhafi loyalists to retake the town.

About 2,000 people took part in an anti-government protest there, some standing atop tanks or holding anti-aircraft guns. They said they wanted the government overthrown, calling Gadhafi a "bloodsucker."

Later in the day, CNN witnessed two smaller pro-government rallies that had apparently been organized by government officials for international journalists to see, Robertson reported.

The opposition now controls several Libyan cities after weeks of protests inspired by demonstrations that toppled longtime leaders in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.

Gadhafi criticized the U.N. Security Council resolution Sunday, telling private Serbian station Pink TV by phone that council members "took a decision based on media reports that are based abroad."

He added, "If the Security Council wants to know about something, they should have sent a fact-finding committee."

Madoff: Son tried to get out

Convicted Ponzi king Bernie Madoff persuaded his son Andrew not to leave his securities firm in 2005, although he himself desperately wanted to escape what had become a massive scheme, according to a new report.

The tense relationship between Madoff and his younger son was one of the revelations in a prison interview published yesterday in New York magazine.

Andrew wanted to pursue his own venture, but his father got him to stay -- an act of "deep selfishness" Madoff admitted since he knew the firm would ultimately collapse.

Madoff said his epic $65 billion Ponzi scheme started in "earnest" in the early 1990s by borrowing from his investors' capital to maintain high returns, and blames his largest clients for not figuring it out.

"The chairman of Banco Santander came down to see me, the chairman of Credit Suisse came down, chairman of UBS came down.

"I wouldn't give them any facts, like how much volume I was doing. I was not willing to have them come up and do the due diligence they wanted. I absolutely refused to do it. I said, 'You don't like it, take your money out,' which, of course, they never did."

He further casted blame onto the victims by saying "everyone was greedy."

"Look, none of my clients, even if they lost every penny they put in there, can plead poverty.

"I'm sure it's a traumatic experience to some, but I made a lot of money for people," he insisted.

Infant boy the first NZ quake victim laid to rest

A 5-month-old boy was laid to rest Monday at the first funeral for victims of New Zealand's devastating earthquake, as the death toll rose to 148 and the government said the economic cost could be $15 billion.

Dozens of family and friends gathered at a small chapel in the stricken city of Christchurch for Baxtor Gowland, who was sleeping at home when he was struck by masonry shaken loose by the magnitude 6.3 quake last Tuesday. He died in a hospital, the family said in a statement read to The Associated Press by the child's great-uncle, Peter Croft.

Inside the chapel, a slideshow of the smiling infant's photographs flashed on a screen, as Sarah McLachlan's song "Angel" echoed throughout the room.

"We have all been thankful of the support and good wishes expressed from New Zealand and around the world," Croft said, his voice shaking with emotion as he read the statement. "However, we would like to think that today is for family and friends so that we can farewell Baxtor with peace and dignity."

India’s economic growth slows to 8.2%

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — India’s economic growth slowed to 8.2% in the last three months of 2010 from the year-earlier period, as the manufacturing sector was held back in the wake of multiple interest-rate increases by the central bank amid rising prices.

The expansion was below the 8.6% growth estimated in a survey of economists by Reuters, and also lagged the 8.9% increase recorded in the previous quarter ended Sept. 30.

The agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors, which together employ a majority of India’s workforce, grew as much as 8.9% during the latest quarter, due to a sharp increase in the production of coarse cereals and pulses, according to official data released Monday.

But the manufacturing sector lagged behind, growing at a relatively modest 5.6% during the period.

The slowdown came after the Reserve Bank of India raised its benchmark lending rates in seven equal installments of 0.25 percentage point since the beginning of 2010 to check rising prices.

Indian stocks and the rupee advanced, however, as investors awaited details of the federal budget for the new fiscal year beginning April 1, 2011.

The 30-stock Sensitive Index, or Sensex /quotes/comstock/29m!sensex (XX:SENSEX 17,790, +88.98, +0.50%) , rose 1.4% to 17,940.16, while the U.S. dollar /quotes/comstock/21o!2220413 (USDINR 45.1800, -0.0750, -0.1657%) slipped to 45.21 rupees from 45.32 rupees the previous session.

Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.