Many low-income nations are having to spend more on interest payments than vital sustainability goals. That needs to change Blighted by the effects of global heating, beset by food insecurity and rising poverty, and hobbled by dollar-denominated debt that leaves no fiscal room for manoeuvre, some of the world’s poorest nations are enduring a perfect storm. In the wake of Covid and then the war in Ukraine, inflation and high interest rates have tipped many over the edge: between 2020 and 2023 there were 18 sovereign defaults in 10 developing countries – more than in the previous two decades. Ot ..read more

Four years on from the start of the pandemic, the drama may have subsided but the lingering effects go on. Are we suffering from political long Covid? By David Runciman ..read more

Expert says immunity from vaccines and Omicron infections have combined to reduce severe disease Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Australia has recorded its lowest Covid death rate for more than two years, according to federal health department data that dates back to January 2022. The latest data on the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System shows that between Thursday 29 February and Saturday 2 March, and on 5 and 6 March, the seven-day rolling average for Covid deaths was zero. One de ..read more

Exclusive: Extensive polling ordered by the then chancellor, documents reveal, but scientific advisers not consulted Rishi Sunak ordered multiple taxpayer-funded focus groups and polls to craft the messaging of his planned “eat out to help out” campaign in July 2020, despite keeping the UK’s top medical and scientific advisers in the dark about the scheme. The Treasury negotiated five public opinion contracts worth more than £2m from June 2020 throughout the pandemic, while Sunak was chancellor, including those to establish how best to “sell” the hospitality scheme to voters ..read more

Former PM tells podcast he got vaccinated so as not to give anyone ‘an excuse for keeping us locked up any longer than was absolutely necessary’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The former prime minister Tony Abbott has described the Morrison government’s Covid response as a “grotesque overreaction” to a “relatively mild pandemic”, adding he reluctantly got vaccinated because he “didn’t want anyone to have an excuse for keeping us locked up any longer than was absolutely necessary”. Abbott, who al ..read more

Remember the good old days when you could get on a train or go to a party without wondering if it was worth the risk? It’s time for a revival In a series of deft manoeuvres that remain fascinating to me, my 16-year-old son managed to barter me down from a four-day trip to Devon to 13 hours in Broadstairs on the Kent coast, during which every train, meeting and arrangement was a white-knuckle ride, as to miss one would render the entire thing, plus the weeks either side of it, some variation of pointless. But we caught every train, we made every meeting, and he watched Match of the Day with his ..read more

Exclusive: Multi-dose vials could push up charge per patient, with experts warning cost could widen inequalities Cheaper private Covid jabs could end up being just as expensive as their pricier alternative because the vaccine must be given in groups of five, experts have warned. Boots and pharmacies that partner with the company Pharmadoctor are offering Pfizer/BioNTech jabs to those not eligible for a free vaccination through the NHS, with the former charging almost £100 a shot. The latter is also offering the latest Novavax jab, a protein-based vaccine, at a cost of about £50 ..read more

Four years ago, about 11.7 million UK employees were furloughed, their jobs and wages protected by a government scheme. Those who had just changed job were left out – and that hardship still affects them today In March 2020, Mark Edwards was excited to start a new job running a venue that hosted weddings and hospitality events. Before that, the 47-year-old had been working as a general manager at an independent group of hotels for the past nine years. He was living with his partner and dog in Norwich. “My life was on track. I felt everything was in my hands, but that flipped on its head,” he s ..read more

When it comes to studies, work or social abilities, some fared better than others. But the pandemic left its mark on all of us, whether we realise it or not I recently came across a folder on my laptop labelled “Covid”. Inside I found screenshots I had taken of the government website, showing daily cases, ICU admissions and deaths from Covid-19. These reports were released every weekday during the first lockdown, and each afternoon I would collect them in this folder and study them, trying to understand what was happening in the wider world – before I began a busy evening of Zoom birthday quiz ..read more

Company says TGA regulations prevented it from responding to incorrect claims about its vaccine in 2021 Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast AstraZeneca has called for reforms to Australia’s rules around discussion of medicines, saying public confusion over its Covid vaccine was created because the company was restricted in explaining health warnings by the nation’s medicines regulator. The call is contained in more than 2,000 submissions to the federal government’s inquiry into Australia’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Sign up for Guardian Austra ..read more