Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1000 GMT, March 2

KUALA LUMPUR -- The United States' plan to impose tariffs on steel imports is credit negative for Moody's-rated Asian steel producers, but the impact will not materialize, said Moody's Investors Service Friday.

"The impact of the tariff would be manageable for the Asian steel sector and Moody's-rated steelmakers in the region, because exports to the U.S. account for relatively small portions of their total steel production," the rating agency's analyst Sean Hwang said in a statement.(Moody's-US-Steel tariffs)

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NEW DELHI -- At least 10 Naxals and a policeman were killed Friday in an area located on an inter-state border between Telangana and Chhattisgarh in India, officials said.

The gunfight broke out inside the forest area on the border dividing states of Telangana and Chhattisgarh.(India-Naxals-Gunfight)

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KABUL -- At least four civilians were injured in an explosion ripping through a main road in eastern side of Kabul, capital of Afghanistan on Friday, an official said.

The blast occurred in Qabil Bai area along Kabul-Jalalabad road roughly at 08:50 a.m. local time after explosives in a vehicle belonged to a foreign forces' contractor company detonated, Najib Danish, spokesman of Interior Ministry, tweeted.(Afghanistan-Explosion)

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TOKYO -- Tokyo prosecutors on Friday arrested an official of Kajima Corp. and a former executive of Taisei Corp. for their suspected involvement in bid-rigging over construction work for an Osaka-Tokyo maglev train project.

A special investigation squad from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office looking into the antitrust breach, arrested Takashi Okawa, 67, a former Taisei management director and Ichiro Osawa, 60, Kajima's division manager.(Japan-Bid-rigging) Enditem