Rich countries at the OECD ministerial meeting on development cooperation have failed to collectively commit to a massive scale-up in aid budgets to help developing countries face the devastating and widescale impact of COVID-19. 

Very low spending on public healthcare, weak social safety nets and poor labor rights meant the majority of the world’s countries were woefully ill-equipped to deal with COVID-19, reveals new analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) today.

There has been a catastrophic failure by the international community to forge a global ceasefire in order for countries in conflict – and the world at large – to stop the coronavirus and save millions of lives, said Oxfam today.

International agency Oxfam today called on governments meeting at today's Iraq donor conference to generously fund both urgent efforts to help victims of ongoing violence and longer-term support. 

Finance Ministers from the 11 EU countries that agreed to implement a financial transactions tax again failed to strike a deal on the critical substance on the scope of the tax.