BANGKOK - ASIAN finance ministers will consider expanding a currency swap scheme to US$120 billion (S$184.3 billion) at a meeting this weekend to help protect their economies from the global economic downturn.

The gathering of the finance chiefs of the 10 member Asean grouping, plus Japan, China and South Korea on the Thai island of Phuket on Sunday will also discuss how they can cooperate to help the region get through the crisis.

TAIPEI - TAIWAN'S embattled ex-leader Chen Shui-bian suffered a fresh blow on Friday as the High Court rejected his appeal to replace the presiding judge in his corruption trial.

Chen, currently in custody pending the trial, had demanded through his lawyers the removal of judge Tsai Shou-hsun, who was ordered by the Taipei district court to take over his case in December.

HIRAKATA (Japan) - YASUO Igarashi spends a lot of time these days on the jungle gym with his daughter, after his employer joined the growing ranks of Japanese companies adopting 'work-sharing' to ride out the global slump.

Common in parts of Europe, work-sharing means slashing employees' pay and hours instead of firing people outright. Two or three people might share what previously was one person's job.