UK to boost funding for fight against Ebola

Brussels

WITH the World Health Organization warning that Ebola is still spreading "exponentially" in the hardest hit countries of West Africa, Britain on Thursday indicated it would sharply increase its funding to fight the disease and pushed fellow European countries that have been less willing to contribute to the battle against a virus that has already killed nearly 5,000 Africans.

The scale of the health crisis pushed Ebola to the centre of a gathering of European Union leaders in Brussels that was focused on trying to reach a deal on cutting greenhouse gases and bolstering cleaner forms of energy after 2020. Leaders late on Thursday hashed out an agreement but were forced to juggle those complex negotiations with the more immediate threat posed by the Ebola outbreak.