President Obama asked Congress on Monday for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus, The Associated Press reports. The money would be used to expand mosquito control programs, support low-income women, and develop a vaccine and diagnostic test.
The World Health Organization has declared the mosquito-borne virus a public health emergency. It's thought to be linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, which is marked by abnormally small heads.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: 'Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land' and 'No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson'Feature A promised land in Texas and the takedown of a healthcare giant
-
Silicon Valley's military ambitionsFeature Tech companies are replacing military contractors with AI, drones and battlefield systems
-
Deportations: Miller's threat to the courtsFeature The Trump administration is considering suspending habeas corpus to speed up deportations without due process
-
Starving Gazans overrun US-backed food aid hubspeed read Israeli troops fired warning shots at the Palestinians
-
Israel's Western allies pull back amid Gaza escalationspeed read Britain and the EU are reconsidering allegiance with Israel as the Gaza siege continues
-
Trump drops ceasefire demand after Putin callspeed read Following a phone call with Russia's president, Trump backed off an earlier demand that Putin agree to an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine
-
Pro-EU centrist beats Trump acolyte in Romania votespeed read The mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, defeated hard-right nationalist George Simion in the race for Romania's presidency
-
Kurdish PKK militia to disband for Turkey talksspeed read The Kurdistan Workers' Party will disarm after four decades of armed conflict with Turkey, putting an end to 'one of the longest insurgencies in the Middle East'
-
US, China agree to lower tariffs for 90 daysspeed read US tariffs will fall to 30% from 145%, while China will cut its tax on US imports to 10% from 125%
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmirspeed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Israel approves plan to take over Gaza indefinitelyspeed read Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is 'on the eve of a forceful entry'
