Global business

Google stopped censoring the Internet for China by shifting its search engine off the mainland but said it will maintain other operations in the country. Google's decision comes after an impasse pitting the world's most powerful Internet company against the government of the world's most populous country. But it's not clear Google has resolved the standoff.

Four employees of mining giant Rio Tinto pleaded guilty to taking bribes, lawyers and an Australian diplomat said, in an embarrassing case seen as part of a harsh new attitude toward foreign business in China. Rio Tinto is one of China's top providers of iron ore and a key industry negotiator in commodity price talks with the government. The accused include a Rio Tinto executive who was arrested along with three employees last year.

CNOOC, a Chinese oil firm, announced it is paying $3 billion for a 50 percent stake in Bridas, a privately owned Argentinian oil and gas group. CNOOC is eager to expand its reserves to meet increasing domestic demand.

Facebook overtook Google to become America's most popular website. Figures for the week ending March 13 showed the social networking site accounted for 7.1 percent of the country's traffic, compared with Google's 7.0 percent, the first time it has had a weekly lead. However, with revenue of $23.7 billion last year, Google remains easily the more profitable of the two.

America's Federal Reserve indicated it would be keeping interest rates at "close to zero" for the foreseeable future, despite declaring its optimism that the country's economy was slowly recovering. The Bank of Japan, meanwhile, kept interest rates at 0.1 percent and freed up more cash for banks amid fears that its economic recovery was stuttering.

Four banks were charged with fraud following the sale of derivatives to the city of Milan. J.P. Morgan Chase, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Depfa are accused of misleading the Italian city in a $2.3 billion deal. The banks all denied any wrongdoing.

Political economy Standard & Poor's affirmed Greece's sovereign rating of BBB+ as the rating agency backed the government's plans to deal with its debt. Euro zone ministers had earlier agreed to extend emergency loans to the country if required.

Meanwhile, workers in Greece staged a general strike -- the third in a month -- to protest against spending cuts and tax rises. Other European countries offered loans to support the government, but with few details. Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, called for new rules for the euro zone, allowing errant members to be excluded if necessary.

Tensions between the United States and China over exchange-rate policy intensified. One hundred and thirty American lawmakers demanded sanctions unless China allows the yuan to appreciate. Meanwhile, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, warned that any attempt by other countries to depreciate against its currency amounted to protectionism. The American Treasury has until the middle of April to decide whether officially to label China as a "currency manipulator."

The authorities in Iran said six people who took part in opposition demonstrations in December had been sentenced to death for "waging war on God."

Nicolas Sarkozy's governing center-right party fared poorly in the first round of the French regional elections, polling barely a quarter of the votes. The far-right National Front, under the 81-year-old Jean-Marie Le Pen, gained a surprisingly high 12 percent.

In a report drawn up for a donors' conference later this month, Haiti's government said it needed $11.5 billion to rebuild the country after January's catastrophic earthquake.

Allies of Alvaro Uribe, the outgoing president, did well in an election for a new Congress in Colombia. The largest block of seats in the Congress will be held by the party of Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense minister whom polls make the front-runner for presidential election in May.

Cuban police briefly detained the wives and mothers of political dissidents protesting at the death of a hunger striker.