Japan's defense ministry on Friday made its biggest ever budget request, as Tokyo bolsters its military amid worries over China's expanding naval reach.

The ministry wants 5.05 trillion yen ($48.7 billion) for the year, with the focus on boosting protection of a string of southern islands that stretches from Kyushu to waters near Taiwan.

Oil prices rose in Asia Friday supported by renewed Russia-Ukraine tensions and upbeat U.S. economic data, analysts said.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery was up 27 cents at $94.82 while Brent crude for October advanced 33 cents to $102.79 in afternoon trade.

France's new economy minister touched off a political storm Thursday, only one day into the job, with comments made before he was appointed about the controversial "35-hour" labor law.

Emmanuel Macron, a former Rothschild banker and ex-adviser to President Francois Hollande, told Le Point weekly he was open to allowing companies and sectors of the economy to "depart from" the law limiting French employees to a maximum 35 hours of work per week.

Dubai-based port operator DP World said Thursday its profit rose 26 percent in the first half of the year as it was able to process more cargo thanks to new capacity and a pick-up in global trade.

The government-backed cargo handler said it earned $332 million in profit attributable to its owners during the first six months of 2014, up from $264 million during the same period a year earlier.

Australian flag carrier Qantas on Thursday posted a record annual net loss of Aus$2.84 billion (U.S.$2.65 billion), but chief executive Alan Joyce insisted clearer skies lie ahead after aggressively cutting costs.

The worse-than-expected result compared with a wafer-thin profit in the previous year, with one-off restructuring and redundancy payouts hammering the bottom line.

The Philippine economy rebounded to post 6.4-percent growth in the second quarter and regain its status as one of the strongest in Asia, authorities said Thursday.

The private sector took the lead as the economy recovered from a relatively modest expansion of 5.6 percent in the first quarter, which was partly due to the impact of devastating natural disasters, economic chiefs said.

Americans are more anxious about the economy now than they were right after the Great Recession ended despite stock market gains, falling unemployment and growth moving closer to full health.

Seventy-one percent of Americans say they think the recession exerted a permanent drag on the economy, according to a survey being released Thursday by Rutgers University. By contrast, in November 2009, five months after the recession officially ended, the Rutgers researchers found that only 49 percent thought the downturn would have lasting damage.

The average income of German women is around half that of their male counterparts, a new study showed on Wednesday.

In the first-ever gender-specific analysis of income and tax distribution in Germany, the DIW think tank found that the average income of women "is only half that of men".

Premier Narendra Modi has put a pledge to give bank accounts to all Indians on a war footing, but experts say taking banking to rural areas where many people have no identity papers will be a huge challenge.

In developed nations, bank branches are everywhere. But banking services in India leave out nearly half the 1.2 billion population, putting poor people at the mercy of moneylenders who charge usurious interest for emergency loans for sickness or routine purchases such as buying seeds.

Irish budget airline Ryanair has launched a new business service targeting companies wanting to cut costs, it said on Wednesday.

The Dublin-based airline announced in a statement that its new Ryanair Business Plus would offer business travelers various benefits including ticket change flexibility, greater baggage allowance, priority boarding and premium seats.