Global business

The British Treasury revealed details of its Asset Protection Scheme, in which a bank's riskiest assets will be "ring-fenced" and under which the government will cover up to 90 percent of future losses. Royal Bank of Scotland was the first to join, placing $430 billion of assets in the scheme. The bank, which is majority state-owned, reported a net loss of $34.5 billion for 2008, the biggest in British corporate history.

Northern Rock offered to provide $20 billion in new mortgage loans. The announcement came a year after the bank was nationalized. The British government, which will help fund the loans, is taking further steps it hopes will boost lending.

J.P. Morgan Chase slashed its shareholder dividend from 38 to 5 cents a share. The news surprised investors. The bank maintained that its first-quarter performance so far is "solidly profitable" and capital is "strong." The decision will save it $5 billion a year.

After less than two years in the job, Marcel Rohner resigned as chief executive of UBS. The new boss of the troubled Swiss bank is Oswald Grubel, the former head of Credit Suisse. UBS has reported massive write-downs and the biggest-ever Swiss loss. It was recently forced to divulge the names of some clients to U.S. tax authorities, igniting a row between American and Swiss banking regulators over Switzerland's secrecy rules.

China's Hunan Valin Iron & Steel took a 16.5 percent stake in Fortescue Metals, the third big investment by a Chinese firm in an Australian mining company in as many weeks.

General Motors reported a net loss of $9.6 billion for the last three months of 2008, and $30.9 billion for the year. Its liquidity position worsened in the quarter. Meanwhile, Saab, the Swedish unit that GM has put up for sale, filed for bankruptcy protection after Sweden's government refused a bailout.

Political economy Japan's exports fell by 45.7 percent in the year to January. The country's exports to the United States dropped by 53 percent, to Europe by 47 percent and to China by 45 percent. Japan's car exports declined by 69 percent. Many Japanese manufacturers have cut jobs as they adjust to the downturn.

The police chief in Ciudad Juarez, on Mexico's border with America, resigned after drug gangs, who had murdered his deputy, threatened to kill one of his officers every 48 hours until he quit.

As Raul Castro marked his first anniversary as Cuba's leader, The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure easing sanctions. It now goes to the Senate. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has urged a rethinking of policy.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited China, where she stressed the importance of cooperation on combating climate change and the economic crisis. She refrained from public condemnation of China's record on human rights or Tibet. But the State Department's human-rights report subsequently accused China of a worsening human-rights record in some areas, despite last year's Olympics.

Exiled Tibetans called for a boycott of celebrations of the Tibetan New Year in memory of those who died in unrest a year ago. Foreign tourists planning to visit Tibet were told that the region would be closed to foreigners until the end of March.

Italy and France signed a deal that is meant to pave the way for a revival of nuclear power in Italy. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, said he wanted to begin construction of nuclear power plants.