The United States will share up to sixty million doses (AP) of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine pending a safety review, the White House said.

The announcement came after weeks of pressure (WaPo) on the Joe Biden administration to do more to help global vaccination efforts and amid a staggering surge of cases in India. The AstraZeneca vaccine is not authorized for use in the United States. U.S. officials say the Food and Drug Administration will need to conduct a safety review before the shots can be shipped abroad, a process that could take weeks or months. The United States has already sent some AstraZeneca vaccines to Canada and Mexico, but officials did not say where the new shots would go (WSJ).

The reported death toll from COVID-19 in Japan passed ten thousand yesterday (Asahi Shimbun) as the country sees a spike in cases in Tokyo and other densely populated areas. Nearly two-thirds of Japan’s COVID-19 deaths occurred this year.

China: A top climate official indicated that Beijing will continue funding coal plants abroad (AFP) despite its pledge to curb carbon emissions. China funded most of the world’s new coal projects announced last year, some of which are part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

CFR’s Jennifer Hillman and Alex Tippett explain how BRI’s fossil fuel investments will make combating climate change more difficult.

The Karen National Union, an ethnic rebel group in Myanmar, said they captured a military base (VOA) near Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand. The group is one of several that have been fighting Myanmar’s military junta since the February coup.

Kazakhstan: Dozens of people were sentenced (RFE/RL) in connection with deadly clashes between Kazakhs and ethnic Dungans that occurred in February 2020. Some defendants were given parole-like sentences, while others received sentences of between five and twenty years in prison.

In a new report, Human Rights Watch said the Israeli government is guilty (AP) of the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution for its treatment of Palestinians within Israel and in the Palestinian territories. Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report as “preposterous and false” and accused the group of having anti-Israel bias.

Iran: Talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement are set to resume (RFE/RL) today in Vienna. Separately, the U.S. Navy said that American and Iranian warships had an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter (Al Jazeera) in the Persian Gulf earlier this month, the first such incident in roughly a year.

This timeline traces U.S.-Iran relations.

Chad’s military rulers named Albert Pahimi Padacke prime minister (Reuters) of the country’s transitional government. Padacke, an ally of the late President Idriss Deby Itno, served as prime minister from 2016 to 2018. Opposition leaders, who believe the military illegally seized power after Deby’s death last week, dismissed Padacke’s appointment.

South Sudan: The country is at risk (Al Jazeera) of falling back into “large-scale conflict,” a UN report warns, due to the slow implementation of a 2018 peace agreement and tensions that have emerged within the government because of a 2020 cease-fire.

The European Parliament is expected to approve a post-Brexit trade deal (BBC) between the European Union and the United Kingdom today. Ahead of the vote, France accused the UK of violating EU fishing rights and warned of retaliation.

Brussels: The EU is suing pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (NYT) over shipping delays for hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses. AstraZeneca has said it can only deliver about a third of the three hundred million doses the bloc was expecting by June.

Brazil’s health regulator ruled out (RFE/RL) using Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, citing “inherent risks” and a lack of information about the shot’s safety and efficacy. Brazilian state governors had requested the vaccine’s approval to combat a surge of cases. A Kremlin spokesperson said Russia is prepared to send any necessary data.

Guatemala: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to speak virtually with community organizations (VOA) in Guatemala today following her virtual meeting with President Alejandro Giammattei yesterday. The United States has announced a $310 million humanitarian aid package for Guatemala and neighboring countries as part of an effort to stem migration from the region.

Due to declines in birth rates and immigration, the U.S. population grew only 7.4 percent (NYT) over the past decade, the lowest rate since the 1930s, according to the latest decennial census. The census also showed the country’s south and west gaining population at the expense of the northeast and midwest, resulting in a shifting electoral map.

This Backgrounder explains why the census matters.