Japan ruling bloc, small opposition party near deal to pass budget

Japan's ruling coalition and a small opposition party on Friday reached an agreement among their policy chiefs, sorting out their differences on free high school education and social security reforms, in a move that would ensure parliamentary approval of a state budget.The working-level agreement comes after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito party, took heed of demands from the Japan Innovation Party. The opposition party has demanded expanding financial support for households with high schoolers regardless of their incomes and cutti…READ FULL ARTICLE