Ideologically diverse leaders of Israel’s opposition reached a deal (FT) to form a government that could unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after twelve years in power.

The new coalition, which still needs parliamentary approval, would have far-right nationalist Naftali Bennett serve as prime minister for two years before secular centrist Yair Lapid takes over. It would also include an independent party of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the United Arab List, for the first time in history, though no Palestinians would hold cabinet seats. The opposition figures united around disapproval (NYT) of Netanyahu’s treatment of corruption allegations against him and his drive to remain in power, as well as a fractious political environment that prevented basic government functions (NYT) such as passing a budget. Netanyahu has vowed to dissuade legislators (Haaretz) from supporting the coalition when it is up for approval in the coming days.

Countries and other donors pledged $2.4 billion (Bloomberg) to shore up the COVAX global COVID-19 vaccination drive during a summit hosted by Japan and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which co-coordinates COVAX. Aiming to distribute two billion vaccine doses this year, the initiative has so far shipped only seventy-seven million.
 
Hong Kong: Authorities forced (CNN) a museum commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests to close just before the anniversary of the event tomorrow. A national security law China imposed on Hong Kong last year could deter protesters from defying a ban on Tiananmen Square vigils.
 
This Backgrounder looks at China’s crackdown in Hong Kong.

India’s government signed a deal to domestically manufacture three hundred million doses (TOI) of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Canada’s Providence Therapeutics Holdings Inc. that is still in clinical trials. The vaccine should be available to Indians in a few months, the health ministry said.
 
Afghanistan: The Pentagon is drawing up plans to evacuate (DefenseOne) thousands of Afghans who worked for U.S. forces and could be endangered by the Taliban after the United States withdraws from Afghanistan. But evacuation is not being “actively pursued,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.

Fires sank Iran’s largest warship (NYT) and damaged part of an oil refinery, the latest in a string of mishaps at Iranian military and nuclear facilities apparently targeted by Israel. The cause of the fires is unknown.

Twitter removed a tweet (BBC) by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to treat those “misbehaving” in “language they will understand.” He was referring to a spate of attacks blamed on regional secessionists. Twitter said the post violated its rules.
 
For Foreign Affairs, CFR’s John Campbell and the World Peace Foundation’s Robert I. Rotberg discuss how separatism fits into Nigeria’s security challenges.
 
CAR/Chad: The Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad called on the United Nations and the African Union to help investigate (Reuters) an altercation on the two countries’ border in which at least six Chadian service members and three Russians assisting CAR forces were killed.

Countries including the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, agreed to share information (Bloomberg) on how to determine emerging health threats ahead of a meeting of Group of Seven (G7) health ministers today in the UK.
 
Bulgaria: The United States sanctioned three Bulgarians (Treasury Dept.) and sixty-four entities connected to them for their “extensive roles in corruption.” It is the largest action in a single day under the Global Magnitsky Act, an anticorruption and human rights law.

Police in Nicaragua detained opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro (Guardian) on money-laundering charges. Chamorro has said the charges are trumped up in order to prevent her from challenging President Jose Daniel Ortega Saavedra in the November election. Prosecutors said they requested she be barred from running.
 
Canada: The government called on Pope Francis (AP) to formally apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system—in which Indigenous children were taken from their families to be forcibly assimilated into Canadian culture—after the bodies of 215 Indigenous children were discovered at a former residential school last week. The government will help search for more such unmarked graves at former schools across Canada.

The United States set and then suspended (WSJ) tariffs of 25 percent on nearly $2 billion worth of goods from Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the UK to pressure those countries to reach a multilateral solution surrounding digital service taxes. Washington argues the taxes unfairly target U.S. tech firms, which have increasingly been hit with digital services taxes set by individual foreign countries in recent years.
 
This January 2020 Foreign Affairs article by Georgetown University’s Itai Grinberg explained the battle over digital taxes.