Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Dec. 11

TOKYO -- The Japanese government is finalizing plans to increase corporate and income tax rates to fund its plan to nearly double defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Kyodo News cited sources as saying on Wednesday.

The government is targeting April 2026 for a 4 percent hike in corporate tax rates, while the income tax rate is expected to rise by 1 percent starting January 2027, accordi