WORLD ROUNDUPUS, Japan Military Alliance to Get Biggest Revamp Since 1951 | Why Russia Doesn’t Want War Between Israel and Iran | Global Stockpile of Cholera Vaccine Is Gone as Outbreaks Spread, and more
· US, Japan Military Alliance to Get Biggest Revamp Since 1951
Washington and Tokyo plan to upgrade defense ties to maintain security and peace in the Asia-Pacific region. President Joe Biden and PM Fumio Kishida have said the alliance between the two countries is “unbreakable”
· Lost at Sea: New Constraints Hinder Mediterranean Rescuers
Last year was the deadliest stretch for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea since 2017. In March, DW accompanied a migrant rescue mission and found out what makes the crossings so dangerous
· Why Russia Doesn’t Want War Between Israel and Iran
While Russia would prefer the West distracted from Ukraine, a direct Israel-Iran conflict would expose its vulnerabilities in the Middle East
· Building a Foundation for Strategic Stability with China on AI
U.S. negotiations with Beijing on AI today could lay the foundation for the moment when both countries’ leaders realize how much they stand to gain from shared commitments
· Global Stockpile of Cholera Vaccine Is Gone as Outbreaks Spread
One company is going to great lengths to build it up, but it will be years before it returns to the minimum level
US, Japan Military Alliance to Get Biggest Revamp Since 1951 (Julian Ryall, DW)
US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have reached agreement on a wide range of issues at the outset of the Japanese leader’s weeklong visit to the US. The common ground includes the importance of support for Ukraine, the joint development of emerging technologies and plans for the two nations’ space agencies to work together to put a Japanese astronaut on the moon.
For Kishida, however, nothing was more important than securing Biden’s renewed commitment to the security and stability of northeast Asia at a time when China continues to expand its military capabilities and confront neighbors in territorial disputes while, simultaneously, North Korea develops more advanced ballistic missiles and reinforces its ties with Russia.
Biden welcomed his Japanese counterpart to the White House on Wednesday by underlining the “unbreakable” and “global” alliance uniting the two nations, and applauded Japan’s commitment to increasing defense spending and reinforcing the alliance.
Lost at Sea: New Constraints Hinder Mediterranean Rescuers (Clare Roth, DW)
In the eight years since the so-called “migrant crisis” of 2015, EU ships have halted nearly all operations in the search-and-rescue zones between the southern coasts of Europe and the coasts of North Africa. Ships like the Life Support have taken their place.
Critics of NGO sea rescue operations have said they offer a “pull factor” for irregular migrants looking to enter EU countries whose asylum systems are already overwhelmed. Migrants who set off to sea — and particularly those who embark unseaworthy vessels that could not feasibly make the entire journey on their own — place their bets in getting rescued by European NGOs, they said.
No research has conclusively proven this is the case, but it represents one of the main arguments against sea rescue missions debated in Europe’s halls of government.
