Japan to proclaim right to 'collective self defence'

TOKYO: Japan's government will Tuesday proclaim the right to send soldiers into battle even when the country is not under direct attack, the most significant change in military policy since the pacifist constitution was written.

Conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to crown months of political horse-trading when his cabinet formally endorses a reinterpretation of rules that have banned the use of armed force except in very narrowly-defined circumstances.