Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

March 22 (Reuters) - Japan reacted angrily on Tuesday after Russia withdrew from peace treaty talks with Japan and froze joint economic projects related to the disputed Kuril islands because of Japanese sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia and Japan have not formally ended World War Two hostilities because of their standoff over islands, seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two, just off Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.

The islands are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories.

TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Japan's industry ministry said on Tuesday that a power outage could occur at around 8 p.m. local time, with as many as 3 million households affected in Tokyo and other areas in Japan's east and northeast.

The latest warning from the government follows Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda earlier Tuesday urging people living in Tokyo and eight other prefectures to lower the amount of electricity they consume due to a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck last week knocking out some thermal power plants.

NANNING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers are making all-out efforts to retrieve the black boxes of a passenger plane with 132 people aboard that crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said Tuesday night.

The plane was severely damaged and the investigation is very difficult, Zhu Tao, head of CAAC aviation safety office, told a press briefing.

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday demanded that the United States immediately revoke sanctions imposed against Chinese officials for so-called human rights violations, warning that otherwise the U.S. will face reciprocal countermeasures from China.

BEIJING (AP) — Alibaba Group, the world’s biggest e-commerce company, increased a share buyback to $25 billion from $15 billion on Tuesday to prop up a stock price that has fallen by more than half since the ruling Communist Party tightened control over tech industries by launching regulatory crackdowns.

The increase is a “sign of confidence in the company’s continued growth,” Alibaba said. The company said it has paid out $9.2 billion so far in the buyback announced earlier.

KUNMING, China (AP) — No survivors have been found as rescuers on Tuesday searched the scattered wreckage of a China Eastern plane carrying 132 people that crashed a day earlier on a wooded mountainside in China’s worst air disaster in more than a decade.

“Wreckage of the plane was found at the scene, but up until now, none of those aboard the plane with whom contact was lost have been found,” state broadcaster CCTV said, more than 18 hours after the Monday afternoon crash.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian government through the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is committed to ensuring that its business ecosystem will grow from strength to strength, augmenting even deeper the current robust trade and investment ties between Malaysia and Vietnam.

BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - A China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in mountains in southern China on a domestic flight on Monday after a sudden descent from cruising altitude. Media said there were no signs of survivors.

The airline said it deeply mourned the passengers and crew, without specifying how many people had been killed.

PHNOM PENH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Japan on Sunday agreed to ensure the full implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement for the benefit of all, according to a Cambodia-Japan joint statement.

The statement was released after a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Peace Palace in capital Phnom Penh.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader Monday said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the U.S., as well as reduce quarantine time for travelers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateaus.