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Japan's government is set to raise defence spending by 1 trillion yen ($7.34 billion) to around 6.5 trillion yen in the next fiscal year as part of efforts to earmark 43 trillion yen for the five-year defence build-up plan, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The budget increase is aimed at procurement of ammunition and expenses related to long-range missiles, the sources said on condition of anonymity as the plan has not yet been finalised.

The fiscal 2023 budget spending on defence would compare with a record 5.4 trillion yen earmarked for the current fiscal year.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced plans to lift defence spending to an amount equivalent of 2% of gross domestic product within five years, from 1% now, to cope with an increasingly assertive China and unpredictable North Korea.

As part of the plan for 43 trillion yen in defence spending over the next five years, Kishida's government would spend 5 trillion yen on stand-off missiles and another 5 trillion yen for ammunition purchases, the sources said. One of the sources said the defence budget "would increase by 1 trillion yen every year over the next five years." (Reuters)

Chinese regulators and state-owned banks are taking steps to split staff at their workplaces in Beijing, sources told Reuters, as businesses brace for a possible spike in COVID cases after China relaxed virus restrictions in a major policy shift.

The arrangements highlight how lingering anxieties created by Beijing's three-year 'zero-COVID' policy are likely to hamper a quick return to health for the world's second-largest economy, despite its pivot away from strict containment measures.

China's top securities regulator has this week moved to a closed-loop system, which refers to a bubble-like arrangement commonly imposed as part of virus prevention measures in China, where employees sleep, live and work isolated from the wider world, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) plans to allow only a couple of employees in each department to come to headquarters, and has asked some of them to prepare for a prolonged stay on the premises, the sources said.

Other staff are required to work from home, they added.

Manufacturers and eateries keen to stay open in China are also preferring to err on the side of caution, by retaining COVID-19 curbs until they get a clearer picture of just how workplaces will be affected by the easing of stringent measures.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) this week also issued instructions to its staff based in Beijing and plans to implement split shift working arrangements from next week, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has informed its staff that it would split them into two groups, with each returning to the workplace on alternate weeks, said another person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The CRSC, CBIRC and NDRC did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

Chinese government bodies and banks in Beijing have been operating at normal office staffing capacity this year as the city stuck to a stringent zero-COVID protocols, with staff generally not allowed to leave the city for nonessential reasons.

Among China's big four state-owned banks, Bank of China (BOC) (601988.SS) has released a notice to staff that it would split its Beijing workforce into three groups, working in the office on alternate weeks, said a person with direct knowledge.

But the bank has yet to decide when to start such rotations, the person added.

BOC declined to comment.

Other large state banks have also made similar arrangements - splitting up staff into rotating shifts while maintaining a maximum of 10%-20% of staff occupancy in their headquarters in Beijing, said two other people with knowledge of the matter.

"Fear among staff of getting COVID appears to be incredibly high in Beijing at present, as one can assume the virus will move through the city very quickly," said Tom Simpson, managing director and chief representative of the China-Britain Business Council.

"There is a new fear among people from getting COVID, and that is putting people off from going into the office, and companies are generally not forcing people to go in, either," he added.

According to a representative from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, its members are now planning for scenarios where they may be able to continue their general operations in spite of a rise in cases.

"This is not an easy task at the moment, as there is still significant discrepancy between the pandemic-related guidelines of different cities and regions...Given we are now three years into the pandemic, most companies have taken steps to facilitate their staff to work remotely," said the representative. (Reuters)

The chief executive of BAE Systems (BAES.L) said that Japan, Britain and Italy's fighter jet project has enough partners to proceed as it is, but he didn't rule out a future partnership with a rival French, German and Spanish fighter jet project.

Asked about the potential for joining forces with the rival project CEO Charles Woodburn told reporters on a call on Friday: "I wouldn't rule out one thing or another at the end of the day. These are political decisions."

He also said three partners was enough.

"Yes, it is enough partners, but the door is not closed to others and ultimately, these will be political decisions," he said. (Reuters)

A team set up by the Pakistani government to probe the killing of a well-known Pakistani journalist in Nairobi said it found several contradictions in the version given by Kenyan authorities, and believes it was a case of pre-meditated murder.

TV journalist Arshad Sharif, who had fled Pakistan citing threats to his life, was shot dead in Nairobi in October. Kenyan officials said it was a case of mistaken identity and police hunting car thieves opened fire on his vehicle as it drove through a roadblock without stopping.

A two-member fact-finding team from Pakistan that travelled to Kenya and conducted a number of interviews, examined and reconstructed the crime scene and examined the deceased's phones and computers, said in a 600-page report that Sharif's killing was a pre-planned murder.

"Both the members of the (fact-finding team) have a considered understanding that it is a case of planned targeted assassination with transnational characters rather than a case of mistaken identity," said the report, copies of which were submitted to Pakistan's Supreme Court.

"It is more probable that the firing was done, after taking proper aim, at a stationary vehicle," it said.

Kenyan authorities declined comment on the specifics of the report.

"The investigation into the matter is still ongoing, so there is not much I can tell," said Resila Onyango, spokesperson for the Kenya National Police Service.

A multi-agency team is conducting the investigation, she said, adding that the team will apprise authorities when they are done with the probe.

The chairperson of the Kenyan police watchdog Independent Police Oversight Authority, Anne Makori, also told Reuters investigations were still ongoing.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said before the release of the report that Sharif's body had bruises and torture marks, suggested it was a targeted killing.

The fact-finding team highlighted one wound in particular on Sharif's back, saying it appeared to have been inflicted from relatively close range.

The report noted there was no corresponding penetration mark of a bullet on the seat on which Sharif was sitting when the shooting purportedly took place, calling it a "ballistic impossibility".

"The injury had to have been caused either before the journalist got into the vehicle, or the shot was fired from a relatively close range, possibly from inside the vehicle, and almost certainly not a moving vehicle," the report said.

CASE OF TREASON

Sharif had fled from Pakistan citing threats to his life after the government registered several treason cases against him.

One of the treason cases stemmed from reporting Sharif did that led to an accusation he had spread a call from an official in a previous government, led by former cricket star Imran Khan, for members of the armed forces to mutiny.

Both Sharif and the official in the previous government denied inciting mutiny.

Former prime minister Khan said Sharif had been murdered for his journalistic work. He and his successor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, not related to the journalist, had called for a judicial investigation.

The fact-finding team's report also pointed out apparent contradictions in the autopsy reports in Kenya and Pakistan.

The post-mortem report in Pakistan identified 12 injuries on Sharif's body whereas the Kenyan report identified just two injuries pertaining to gunshot wounds.

The fact-finding team report said doctors believed the injures may be the result of torture or a struggle, but it could not be established until verified by the doctor who conducted the post mortem in Kenya. (Reuters)