President Biden has made it his mission to reinvigorate America’s alliances and mobilize them for a new purpose: competition with China.
The big picture: Biden views U.S.-China competition as the paramount foreign policy challenge of our time, and he considers America’s alliances to be its most significant advantage over Beijing.
Two days later, a massive ship remains lodged in the Suez Canal.
Why it matters: One of the world's biggest vessels carrying important cargo being stuck and the blockage of a critical trade route equals global trade disaster.
The Biden administration today announced the restoration of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, along with $15 million in additional aid for the coronavirus response in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Why it matters: The Trump administration stopped almost all aid to the Palestinians, including for development projects and humanitarian purposes like medical care.
President Biden said on Thursday that it would be "hard" for the U.S. to meet a May 1 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan, but he "can't picture" U.S. troops still being in the country next year.
Why it matters: A deal struck by the Trump administration with the Taliban last year states that all U.S. forces are to withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1. But Biden said during Thursday's press conference that former President Trump's deal doesn't seem to be working, and "in terms of tactical reasons, it's hard to get those troops out."
Lawyers for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Wednesday that they fear his health is deteriorating in prison and that they were denied access by prison authorities when they arrived for a scheduled visit, ABC News reports.
Why it matters: Navalny's supporters fear that new attempts could be made to assassinate him while he is in prison, per ABC News.
Hundreds of Uyghurs filled the streets of Ankara and Istanbul on Thursday, protesting a visit to Turkey by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and calling on the Turkish government to denounce human rights abuses against Uyghurs in China, AP reports.
Why it matters: Despite having one of the largest populations of the Turkic Muslim minority outside of China, Turkey has been reluctant to vocally criticize Beijing on the issue due to the two countries' economic ties, according to AP.
A skyscraper-sized container ship wedged in the Suez Canal could take weeks to unblock, wreaking further havoc on global oil markets and trade, the Financial Times reports.
Background: The 220,000-ton and quarter-mile-long Ever Given container ship, one of the largest in the world, has been stuck in the canal since it was caught in poor visibility and high winds from a sandstorm Tuesday as it was headed from China to the Netherlands.
Exports of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, have been paused as India grapples with a new spike in cases, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: India hasn't exported any doses at all over the past week, according to foreign ministry data — a worrying sign for the COVAX initiative, which aims to send vaccines all over the world and is relying heavily on Indian-made vaccines.
New Zealand's Parliament unanimously passed on Wednesday a law enabling parents who experience a miscarriage or stillbirth to take three days' paid bereavement leave.
Why it matters: Ginny Andersen, the Member of Parliament from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party who drafted the bill, noted NZ "may well be the first country" to pass such legislation, with the law applicable at any time of a pregnancy, per the New York Times.
The Tokyo Olympic torch relay began Thursday in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, one year after the world’s largest sporting event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the record: The relay underscores the Japanese government's resolve to forge ahead with the Olympics despite the pandemic. Confirmed deaths from the coronavirus in Japan remain under 9,000, but officials are still reporting more than 1,000 new cases a day — prompting health experts to warn that "a fourth wave is in sight," per the New York Times.
Brazil became on Wednesday the second country after the U.S. to surpass 300,000 COVID-19 deaths.
For the record: The health ministry confirmed Wednesday another 2,009 Brazilians had died of the coronavirus, taking the total pandemic death toll to 300,685. Brazil's population is much smaller than the U.S., which reached the milestone on Dec. 14, 2020.
Retail chain H&M is facing a potential boycott in China for refusing to use cotton from Xinjiang over concerns about the human rights abuse of Uyghur Muslims in the region.
Driving the news: Influential groups with ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday led an outcry on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, over a statement on the retail giant's website that states it's "deeply concerned" by abuse reports, per Bloomberg. Nike was also attacked on the site for expressing similar concerns, the New York Times notes.
