Axios

Brazilian health regulators said this week they will not recommend importing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, citing unknowns and safety concerns about the shot's development and manufacturing.

The big picture: Brazil has seen a recent surge in COVID-related cases and deaths, driven by relaxed mitigation measures and a more contagious local variant that has overwhelmed the country's health system. To date, roughly 6% of Brazil's population has been inoculated against the coronavirus, Bloomberg reports.

Brazil's Senate officially launched an investigation Tuesday into the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a move that could bring political consequences for President Jair Bolsonaro, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: Brazil has suffered the world's second-highest death toll from COVID-19, with roughly 400,000 deaths, per Reuters.

Chloé Zhao's historic Oscar win to become the first Chinese person and woman of color to win for Best Director on Sunday has gone nearly unmentioned in Chinese media, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: The Chinese government typically loves to flaunt when its citizens excel on the world stage. But Zhao has been critical of China's communist government, and her win for the film "Nomadland," which also won Best Picture, has largely been censored in the country.

Between Jan. 20 and April 25, the percentage of respondents expressing favorable views of the U.S. rose in 13 out of 14 countries polled, according to a new survey by Morning Consult.

Driving the news: China was the only country where positive views of the U.S. decreased among respondents.

The British government can't make taking action on genocide dependent on international courts, Luke de Pulford, London-based coordinator for the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), tells Axios in an interview.

Why it matters: China's enormous sway at the UN and the lack of jurisdiction of international courts over China's actions in Xinjiang make it more difficult for the international community to take measures to stop the atrocities there.

Chinese sports retailer Anta is continuing to use Xinjiang cotton, rebuffing international scrutiny of forced labor in the Xinjiang cotton industry as the Chinese government denies allegations of human rights violations there.

Why it matters: Anta is the official Olympics uniform supplier and refuses to say if it uses Xinjiang cotton in them. Its products have not been directly tied to forced labor. Due to the opacity of supply chains in China and the secrecy surrounding forced labor factories, it's very difficult to determine which products are tainted.

An Israeli cabinet meeting exploded into a shouting match today after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to install a loyalist as justice minister despite the attorney general’s determination that such a move was illegal.

The latest: The Israeli supreme court issued an injunction to block Netanyahu's move on Tuesday night. The court will convene on Wednesday for a hearing on the matter.

The world has now crossed 1 billion total vaccines administered.

Breaking it down: Nearly half of those have come in the U.S. (29%), EU (13%) and U.K. (5%), with other rich countries also sprinting ahead. Another 22% have come in China and 14% in India. Africa, meanwhile, represents just 1.6% of vaccinations to date.

The Biden administration took its biggest step yet toward becoming a global supplier of coronavirus vaccines, announcing that it would export 60 million AstraZeneca doses over the next several weeks.

Why it matters: President Biden has been under intense global scrutiny for his "Americans first" approach. Alone among the four major producers, the U.S. has kept nearly its entire supply up to now.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the Biden administration Monday for designating the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces in 1915 as an act of genocide, telling the U.S. to "look in the mirror," Reuters reports.

Why it matters: Erdoğan has previously warned a genocide declaration would harm U.S.-Turkey relations. On Monday, he threatened to retaliate by recognizing the U.S.'s long history of violence against Native Americans as genocide.

The U.S. will begin sharing its full inventory of AstraZeneca vaccine doses with countries around the world once an FDA safety review is complete, AP reports.

Why it matters: The Biden administration had been under intense global pressure for refusing to share its stockpile of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is critical to vaccine rollouts in countries like India but not approved for use in the U.S. Per AP, the administration now expects to be able to share around 60 million doses in the coming months.

With 88 days until the Tokyo Olympics, a "fourth wave" of the pandemic has hit Japan.

Driving the news: Bars, department stores and theaters across Japan will remain closed for 17 days, after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three other prefectures.

The European Commission has launched legal proceedings against AstraZeneca for providing only a third of the supply of coronavirus vaccines agreed to in its contract, a spokesperson confirmed Monday.

Why it matters: It's the latest in a string of controversies related to the European Union's vaccine rollout, which has been plagued by supply shortages, a slow pace of distribution, and concerns about potential rare blood clots linked to AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Sanofi announced Monday it will manufacture up to 200 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine at its site in Ridgefield, New Jersey, from September.

Why it matters: The agreement between Sanofi and Moderna should not only boost the U.S. coronavirus vaccine rollout, it should also help global efforts as the doses will likely be exported.

A Russian court on Monday approved a request by prosecutors to suspend all activities at the regional headquarters of Alexei Navalny's political organization, pending a ruling on whether to label his networks as "extremist."

Why it matters: It's the latest and most sweeping attempt by the Russian state to crack down on the influence of the imprisoned opposition leader, who recently ended a three-week hunger strike after warnings from doctors that he could die within days.

The Biden administration has pledged to send vital resources and supplies to India, as the country set a new global daily COVID-19 cases record for a fifth straight day Monday.

The big picture: As hospitals continued to be overwhelmed with coronavirus patients amid a widespread oxygen shortage, India's health ministry reported 352,991 more infections, taking the total past 17 million. A record 2,812 deaths were confirmed Monday, taking the total to 195,123 since the pandemic began.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced Sunday an urgent investigation into a fire at a hospital in southeastern Baghdad that killed at least 82 people and wounded 110 others a day earlier.

Driving the news: Kadhimi has given investigators 24 hours to report back over the fire, which started on a floor designated for the pulmonary intensive care unit of the Ibn al-Khatib hospital after an accident caused an oxygen tank to explode, according to officials.

Indonesian navy officials said Sunday the submarine that went missing last week had been found "cracked apart" on the seabed near the island of Bali, as they declared all 53 crew members dead, per Al Jazeera.

What they're saying: "There were parts of KRI Nanggala-402 — it was broken into three pieces," Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono told reporters. "The hull of the ship, the stern of the ship, and the main parts are all separated, with the main part found cracked."