IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Japan

Tokyo seeks record defense budget

Japan will request a record defense budget next year amid growing worries over North Korea and tensions with China, reports said on Friday. The ministry has decided to seek $51.5 billion in spending for the fiscal year starting April 2017, up 2.3 percent from this year's initial budget, Jiji Press reported, citing unnamed government sources. If approved by parliament, the budget package would mark the fifth straight increase and a new high.