Leaders of Group of Twenty (G20) nations will attend a virtual summit (Reuters) today, convened by Saudi Arabia, to discuss a united response to the coronavirus pandemic.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expected to address the group on the need to cooperate on the production of personal protective equipment for health workers, while leaders such as South Korean President Moon Jae-in have planned briefings on successful response measures (Yonhap). A similar virtual meeting of Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers yesterday ended without a joint statement (CNN) because of resistance to a U.S. push to use the phrase “Wuhan virus.” Washington and Beijing are expected to call a truce (SCMP) on their diplomatic tensions during today’s meeting.

The man who killed fifty-one people in shootings at two Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques last March admitted to the murders (NZ Herald) after previously pleading not guilty.
 
Australia: The Great Barrier Reef suffered its third mass bleaching (BBC) in five years due to heat-related damage (CNN).

The Afghan government and the Taliban agreed to begin prisoner releases by the end of March, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted.
 
CFR’s Max Boot discusses the riskiness of the U.S. deal to leave Afghanistan.
 
India: India banned exports (STAT) of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, a potential but unproven coronavirus treatment, to better supply its own population.
 
CFR’s Yanzhong Huang discusses how the coronavirus pandemic could affect the U.S. drug supply.

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that parliament must elect (AP) a new speaker today after former Speaker Yuli Edelstein, an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, resigned (FT) over the legislature’s decision to allow Benny Gantz the opportunity to try to form a government.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Asad Ghanem looks at how Israel’s Joint List of Arab parties is tackling the country’s leadership impasse.
 
Iran: U.S. officials concluded that former FBI agent Robert Levinson, believed to be the longest-held American hostage in Iran, has died (The Hill), his family said.

Reforms in Somalia have qualified (Reuters) the country for a reduction in its external debt from $5.2 billion to around $557 million, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank said. Somalia has spent thirty years outside the international financial system.
 
Uganda: Opposition leader and pop star Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, released (NPR) an Afrobeat music video with advice for avoiding the coronavirus and recognizing symptoms. Liberian President George Weah also released a song (Guardian) about the virus.         

Kosovo’s government collapsed (NYT) after part of the ruling coalition sided with the opposition in a no-confidence vote. The United States encouraged the vote due to Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s opposition to a U.S. peace deal in the region, while France and Germany condemned the decision to bring down a government during a pandemic.
 
UK: Over five hundred thousand people volunteered to aid (Guardian) the National Health Service response to the coronavirus with tasks such as delivering food and medicine and calling people in self-isolation. Prime Minister Boris Johnson originally asked for 250,000 volunteers.

Costa Rica is transferring about 2,600 U.S.-bound migrants (Reuters) from its southern border with Panama to its northern border with Nicaragua, aiming to lower the risk of the migrants spreading the coronavirus.

The Pentagon ordered a halt (Reuters) to military travel abroad, except for the drawdown underway in Afghanistan, for up to sixty days to prevent coronavirus spread. It also restricted large gatherings and increased social distancing measures at all of its bases.