Asian nations finalize $120 billion crisis funds (Reuters)

Ministers from across Asia agreed to set up an emergency $120 billion liquidity fund that 13 Asian nations can tap to help counter the global financial crisis.

Japan and 12 other Asian countries will likely agree to double the amount of funds available under a regional currency swap pact amid uncertainty over the European debt crisis, according to a report.Japan, China, South Korea and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are to agree to double the fund from the current $120 billion this month, Japan's Nikkei daily reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

Finance ministers of the ASEAN members plus China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to set up a crisis fund worth up to 120 billion dollars to help the region fight off a credit crunch and overcome the global financial crisis.

Kenya, Australia, Poland and now South Korea. The country, whose net exports represent nearly 60% of GDP, and which have been deeply impacted by the recent collapse in the Yen, finally threw in the towel overnight and cut the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate from 2.75% to 2.50%, as only 6 of 20 economists predicted.

China is to carry out a geographical survey of islands in the East China Sea at the centre of a bitter dispute with Japan, state media said. The survey of the Diaoyu islands -- known as Senkakus in Japan, which controls them -- was part of a programme to map China's "territorial islands and reefs", the Xinhua news agency said, citing a state geographical agency.