Most people who contract the Zika virus from a mosquito bite just need to rest and they are healed in 5 to 7 days but there have been a large number of cases in South America where pregnant women who are infected suffer a miscarriage or their babies are born with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.8bn of special funding to help accelerate efforts to find a vaccine for Zika – following the World Health Organisation’s decision to designate it a global health emergency, with four million at risk of infection.
41% of the YouGov First Verdict panel hoped that Congress should meet the President’s request in full and a further 2% think it should authorise more than $1.8billion. 34% supported “partial funding” – and most interesting in my opinion, 15% wanted no funding to be given at all. This is despite reasonably well-advertised fears that the Zika virus might reach the USA in the warmer, summer months. The 49% wanting only partial funding or no funding may fit with the general hostility to overseas aid spending but it is also true that funding for humanitarian emergencies and vaccines is often broadly supported.
The World Cup starts today and for the first time in over 30 years it is being held in North America. Not only is this exciting news for football fans, it should also be of interest to free trade enthusiasts, as the last time it was held there the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) […]
On July 27, 2025, the US President Donald Trump invited the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials to his golf course, Trump-Turnberry on the West Coast of Scotland. Their meeting sealed a trade deal, which von der Leyen described as ‘huge’, but which critics described as a […]
The British are coming! The British are coming! As the United States celebrates 250 years of independence from the British, millions of Californians wish to put themselves under British rule. The primary is taking place tomorrow, and Steve Hilton, a British-born former adviser to David Cameron, is not only expected to make it through to […]
