Tokyo  - Japan and Indonesia signed an agreement on bilateral currency swap to increase the amount from 6 billion dollars to 12 billion dollars under an initiative to stabilize the financial state of the South-east Asian region, Japanese Finance Ministry said Monday.

Under the agreement, Indonesia would be able to swap rupiah worth up to 12 billion dollars when short-term liquidity support is needed.

Tokyo  - The Japanese government plans to draw up a supplementary budget for fiscal year 2009 with an economic stimulus package of more than 10 trillion yen (100 billion dollars), Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said Monday.

During a meeting with Yosano, Prime Minister Taro Aso ordered him to draft a fresh stimulus plan amounting to more than 2 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product, Jiji Press quoted the finance minister as saying.

The government was expected to finalize the largest-ever spending package in detail on Friday.

Paris  - The world will begin to emerge from the economic crisis in the first quarter of 2010, and the recovery will start in the US housing market, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was quoted Monday as saying.

"The crisis began in the United States, in the housing sector. The recovery will announce itself first in the United States. Therefore we must keep an eye on American real estate prices. The end of the fall in prices will be an important sign," Strauss-Kahn told the daily Le Figaro.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong faces its gravest economic test since World War II and might see its economy contract by more than 3 per cent this year, the city's leader said in an interview published Monday.

Beijing-appointed Chief Executive Donald Tsang told the Financial Times newspaper that he would consider dipping into government reserves to launch a mid-year stimulus package to tackle the problem if the economy worsened.

Chisinau - Moldova's best tipples are good enough for Queen Elizabeth, but the former Soviet republic's wine industry needs more than royal favour to keep the vintages coming.

The Negru de Pucari 1990 is the top end of Moldova's wine industry. The ruby dark dry red is a mix of Cabernet Souvingon, Saperavi, and Moldova's own Rara Neagra grapes.

Rome  - Tens of thousands of people gathered in Rome Saturday to protest what they say is the inadequate response to the country's economic woes by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Demonstrators set off through the city's streets on five separate marches organized by the country' largest labour union confederation, CGIL.

Participants included several political leaders including Dario Franceschini who heads the main centre-left opposition Democratic Party.