JapanThe Japanese government passed a stimulus plan of 92 trillion yen on Wednesday in an effort to boost the long-floundering economy from its worst slump since WWII. “Creating a virtuous circle in which a growth strategy spurs employment and demand will help combat deflation,” said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in a NYT report. As part of the stimulus agenda, Hatoyama plans to provide cash handouts to families with young children and more support for agriculture. While this plan is popular among the people, there are concerns that this increase in public spending may only further compound Japan’s already mammoth national debt.

United States

With the Nevada senatorial elections around the corner, all eyes are turning to the state’s growing Tea-Party, which according to a report from the LA Times, could have decisive influence on whether or not Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) gets to keep his seat in Washington for another term. Although recent elections polls show Reid in the lead, the top Republican nominee is only 4 percent behind, with 32 percent of the vote. The challenge for Republicans, analysts say, will be to gain the favor of the Tea Party’s 11 percent by getting them to coalesce around a common GOP candidate. The general lack of unity between the GOP and Tea Party of Nevada may allow Reid to walk away with another term.

France

Following the crushing defeat of Sarkozy’s UMP party on Sunday by the Socialist alliance, the French government decided to withdraw from its long-anticipated plan for a domestic tax on carbon emissions. Fearing the tax would weaken the French economy in the face of competition from foreign (particularly German) industry, lawmakers nullified the bill this Wednesday. “I would like to indicate the decisions we are going to take regarding sustainable development have to be better coordinated with all European countries,” said Prime Minister Francois Fillon in a statement to Parliament. According to the German newspaper Deutsch Welle, French industrialists were relieved to be spared from this “handicap to competitiveness.”

Siberia, Russia

According to the BBC, scientists have recently uncovered evidence of an extinct form of human-like creature in a single segment of a finger found in a Siberian Cave. This discovery will force scientists to view human evolution in light of one more species, that of the X-Woman, which may have lived alongside homo sapiens and Neanderthals for a brief slice of geological time. “Whoever carried this mitochondrial genome out of Africa about a million years ago is some new creature that has not been on our radar screens so far,” said Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology Svante Paabo to the BBC.