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Japan

Japanese New Deal? Tokyo Unveils Massive Stimulus To Boost Economy

DAILY YOMUIRI, KYODO (Japan), DOW JONES NEWSWIRES,AFP

Worldcrunch

TOKYO – The Japanese government has formally approved a massive 20.2 trillion yen ($227 billion) stimulus package during a cabinet meeting on Friday morning, reports the Daily Yomuiri.

The national government will spend 10.3 trillion yen ($116 billion), with nearly the same amount kicked in by local governments and the private sector, according to Kyodo.

"We need to say good-bye to the shrinking economy and aim to achieve a strong economy where innovation and new demand lead to more jobs and income," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a press conference after the cabinet meeting.

According to Dow Jones Newswires, the stimulus package will focus heavily on upgrading ageing infrastructure and making more schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and tunnels earthquake-resistant. It also includes increased investment in reconstruction projects in the coastal region devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The stimulus plan also includes beefing up Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, with 180.5 billion Yen ($2 billion) going to new missiles, fighter jets and helicopters, reports the AFP.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index jumped 1.5% following Abe’s announcement.

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Geopolitics

Senegal's Democratic Unrest And The Ghosts Of French Colonialism

The violence that erupted following the sentencing of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison left 16 people dead and 500 arrested. This reveals deep fractures in Senegalese democracy that has traces to France's colonial past.

Image of Senegalese ​Protesters celebrating Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Protesters celebrate Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — For a long time, Senegal had the glowing image of one of Africa's rare democracies. The reality was more complicated than that, even in the days of the poet-president Léopold Sedar Senghor, who also had his dark side.

But for years, the country has been moving down what Senegalese intellectual Felwine Sarr describes as the "gentle slope of... the weakening and corrosion of the gains of Senegalese democracy."

This has been demonstrated once again over the last few days, with a wave of violence that has left 16 people dead, 500 arrested, the internet censored, and a tense situation with troubling consequences. The trigger? The sentencing last Thursday of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison, which could exclude him from the 2024 presidential elections.

Young people took to the streets when the verdict was announced, accusing the justice system of having become a political tool. Ousmane Sonko had been accused of rape but was convicted of "corruption of youth," a change that rendered the decision incomprehensible.

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