Norway to add millions more to historic increase in defense spending announced last month

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Norwegian center-left government says it wants to add 7 billion kroner, or $630 million to the Scandinavian country’s armed forces over the next 12 years amid increased tensions in the region. The announcement came on top of plans announced last month of a “historic increase” of $54 billion in the oil-rich country’s defense budget over the same period. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Thursday that the combined budget increase meant that Norway would be able to reach NATO’s goal of military spending of 2% of each member country’s GDP this year.