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* Government rolling out stimulus package to ease virus impact (Recasts, adds comments from Taiwan president, details)

Asian markets looked to policymakers on Friday to help ease a liquidity squeeze as cratering stock markets triggered a rush for cash, driving many regional currencies lower and threatening a surge in short-term borrowing costs. Japan's central bank pledged to buy 200 billion yen ($1.90 billion) of five-to 10-year Japanese government...

British travel group Saga said on Friday it was suspending its cruise operations until early May in response to the coronavirus crisis, at an estimated cost to company earnings of about 10-15 million pounds.

European Union industry chief Thierry Breton said on Friday that he had no doubt that the European Central Bank would "take its responsibilities" regarding helping the euro zone deal with the coronavirus crisis that has hit the world economy.

The United States should "think twice" before giving Malaysia back the money recovered from an anti-kleptocracy probe into state fund 1MDB, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday, as the party accused of graft at 1MDB was back in power.

Italy's top insurer Assicurazioni Generali on Friday confirmed all targets set in its strategic plan through 2021 despite the uncertainty caused by a coronavirus crisis, after posting a record operating profit in 2019.

China's oldest peer-to-peer (P2P) lending company FinVolution Group has asked HSBC to seek out potential investors interested in taking the U.S.-listed firm private, two people with direct knowledge of the discussions said.

* Buyback will begin on Monday and will take place over a year

The Bank of Korea and financial regulators agreed that authorities should cooperate in deploying fiscal and monetary policies to tackle an economic crisis caused by a coronavirus, South Korea's finance ministry said on Friday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a special meeting on Friday with the central bank governor and some top ministerial officials to discuss the coronavirus situation, the presidential Blue House spokesman Kang Min-seok said in a statement.

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