Japan cuts forces

Tokyo - Japan's Cabinet yesterday adopted a new defence outline that calls for slimming down the military, but expanding its roles in anti-terrorism and disaster relief operations. The outline calls for efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons and reaffirms the importance of the defence alliance with the United States.

More contentious phrasings on maintaining Japan's arms export ban and calls for reducing US troops in Okinawa were not included in the main outline, and were shunted off to a separate non-binding statement by the chief Cabinet secretary. AP