Zambia has been careening towards a debt debacle for months, even years. Now it has become the first African nation to default on sovereign payments since the pandemic began. That’s bad news for everyone involved, from the bondholders who refused to agree to a standstill, to Chinese lenders, multilateral institutions and the government. A protracted restructuring lies ahead. More transparency ...

The administration of the 2020 election wasn’t the calamity some had feared. Warnings of armed violence and voter intimidation came to nothing. Polling sites were sufficiently staffed, the system coped with the Covid-related surge in mail-in ballots, and Election Day lines remained manageable even in historically underserved areas. With few exceptions, voting equipment functioned properly. In the most encouraging sign ...

Bloomberg Ian Babcock used to take the bus from his home in northern Michigan to get groceries, a trip that was inconvenient before the pandemic made it dangerous. For the last several months, he’s been using his food-stamp benefits to get groceries delivered by Amazon. “It potentially is a lifesaver for me,” he said. Babcock is among one million-plus US ...