World

Far right suffers Dutch surprise as EU vote begins

Published

7 years ago

Friday, May 23, 2014

Legacy Phuket Gazette

Far right suffers Dutch surprise as EU vote begins | Thaiger

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH

– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

Dutch Eurosceptic party stumbles in European elections

Reuters / Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: The Eurosceptic party of far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders slumped into a surprise fourth place in European Parliament elections on Thursday, according to exit polls which showed his Freedom Party behind three pro-European groups.

Wilders’s anti-immigration, anti-Islam party, which opinion polls had indicated would win the Dutch part of the vote for the European Union’s parliament, took only 12.2 percent, the final exit poll showed.

That would give it three out of the 26 Dutch seats in the assembly, down from four in the last elections held in 2009, when it came in second place.

Two pro-European parties, the centre-right Christian Democrats and the centrist Democrats 66 party were vying for first place, with both on around 15 percent and expecting four seats each, according to the poll of 40,000 voters conducted by Ipsos for Dutch TV.

“Everyone had the chance today to vote for the European Parliament and the Netherlands overwhelmingly chose for Europe,” said Alexander Pechtold, party leader of Democrats 66, which led the exit polls.

Official results will not be released until Sunday when most other EU countries elect their members of the bloc’s parliament.

Wilders’s party, which plans to forge an alliance with France’s far-right National Front and other European hardliners, had been expected to take up to 23 percent of the vote.

Andre Krouwel, a political science professor at Amsterdam’s VU University, said Wilders had failed to get enough of his supporters to turn out.

“His support isn’t down, around one third of the electorate agrees with him – but that one third didn’t show up,” he said. “That’s bad news for him, because he wanted to portray himself as a victor … That would have given him status in Europe.”

The Liberal party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte increased its share of the vote slightly to 12.3 percent, just ahead of the Freedom Party, and would hold onto its three seats despite a sluggish economic recovery which has cost his government much public support.

Before the voting, Wilders’s party briefly lost its opinion poll lead after he called for there to be “fewer Moroccans” in the Netherlands, a remark that was widely seen as racist.

The party has been competing with another fringe, anti-European party, the far-left SP, which is set to gain a third seat in the parliament and 10 percent of the vote, according to the exit poll.

The Netherlands has traditionally been one of the most pro-European countries in the 28-member EU. But falling economic growth rates and anxieties about the country’s changing social complexion have led to a cooling of that enthusiasm, with a quarter of respondents to a survey by Ipsos believing the Netherlands should leave the EU.

The EU has also been widely blamed for painful government spending cuts designed to bring the budget deficit below the EU’s target of 3 percent of annual economic output.

Even traditionally pro-European parties, such as Rutte’s, have made more Eurosceptic noises in recent years, as Wilders’s anti-European message made inroads into their voter base.

Turnout in the Netherlands, the fifth largest European economy, was virtually unchanged from 2009 at 37 percent.

— Phuket Gazette Editors

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News Categories: World

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Covid-19 vaccine CEOs say 3rd dose may be needed along with annual jabs

Published

13 hours ago

Friday, April 16, 2021

Ann Carter

Covid-19 vaccine CEOs say 3rd dose may be needed along with annual jabs | Thaiger

Stock photo of Pfizer vaccine via Flickr

The CEO for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines says it is likely that people will need a 3^rd dose of the vaccine and to receive it annually. Albert Bourla, told CNBC, that the booster, or 3^rd dose, will be needed less than a year after being fully vaccinated.

“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a 3rd dose, somewhere between 6 and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role. It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus.”

Bourla’s comment echoes that of Johnson & Johnson’s CEO when he stated in February, that people may need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 annually, just like seasonal flu shots. Both statements reflect the fact that since the vaccine is new, and testing periods are shorter than most vaccines in the past, researchers are still unclear about how long the vaccine will protect against the virus.

Pfizer says that its Covid-19 vaccine was more than 91% effective at protecting against the coronavirus and more than 95% effective against severe diseases up to 6 months after the 2nd dose. Moderna’s vaccine, which uses technology similar to Pfizer’s, was also shown to be highly effective at 6 months.

Just yesterday, the Biden administration’s Covid response chief science officer, David Kessler, noted that new Covid variants could “challenge” the effectiveness of the shots.

“We don’t know everything at this moment. We are studying the durability of the antibody response. It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge … they make these vaccines work harder. So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.”

Late last month, the National Institute of Health started testing a new Covid vaccine from Moderna in addition to the one it already has, designed to protect against a problematic variant first found in South Africa. The variant is similar to that of the UK one that has recently made landfall in Thailand.

Recent findings, by The Lancet, however, have stated that the UK variant, known as B117, has a higher reproductive rate than other strains, and it’s more transmissible. However, it refuted earlier reports that the strain is more severe. Meanwhile, Thailand’s health minister is confirming his commitment to making AstraZeneca the nation’s chosen vaccine.

SOURCE: CNBC

Economy

China grows 18.3%, the only major economy to grow in 2020

Published

13 hours ago

Friday, April 16, 2021

Neill Fronde

China grows 18.3%, the only major economy to grow in 2020 | Thaiger

PHOTO: China - the second largest economy, and only major economy to grow last year.

China’s economy set a record for growth in Q1, 2021, marking an 18.3% jump in year-on-year figures, the biggest quarterly growth in almost 30 years. China only started publishing growth statistics in 1992, and this drastic increase is the fastest growth recorded since then.

The figures, however impressive, are mainly due to what is called a “low base effect” where the change from a low starting point translates into big percentage statistics. Because of the devastating economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Q1 2020 figures were dismal, allowing the big gain over the last year.

Quarter to quarter, the last 3 months saw only a 0.6% growth, but in the last quarter of 2020 China recorded an economic boom of 6.5% according to the Chinese government. Still, the figures are admirable, as China was the only major economy in the world to achieve growth in 2020. Most of the planet struggled to contain global Covid-19 outbreaks, crippling economies across the globe. But China, now the second-largest economy in the world, managed a 2.3% overall expansion. Even Chinese officials called the impressive statistics “better than we had expected.”

China has been growing in terms of imports and exports as well, with exports expanding nearly 31% and imports up 38% by price over last years.

SOURCE: CNN

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Denmark becomes first country in Europe to ditch AstraZeneca vaccine

Published

2 days ago

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Maya Taylor

Denmark becomes first country in Europe to ditch AstraZeneca vaccine | Thaiger

PHOTO: Flickr

Denmark has announced that it is abandoning the AstraZeneca vaccine, the first European country to do so, amid concerns about very rare but serious blood clots. The rollout of the vaccine has run into problems in several countries, with its use either temporarily suspended or restricted to older age groups.

When concerns first arose over the vaccine’s rare side-effects, Denmark was the first country in Europe to suspend its use. In Thailand, use of the vaccine was suspended last month, before officials judged it safe to proceed, with Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul going on to confirm it would become the Kingdom’s primary Covid-19 vaccine.

Both the European drugs regulator and the World Health Organisation are standing by the jab, saying the benefits outweigh the risks. However, health officials in Denmark have now decided to ditch it for good.

“Denmark’s vaccination campaign will go ahead without the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

Denmark has reported 2 cases of thrombosis (blood clotting) linked to administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine, one of which proved fatal. The blood clot incidents arose after 140,000 people had received the jab. The Bangkok Post reports that 8% of Denmark’s 5.8 million inhabitants have been fully vaccinated and 17% have received their first dose.

The country plans to continue its rollout using the Modern and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. Officials say they are confident that the availability of other jabs, coupled with the fact that Covid-19 is relatively under control in Denmark, means the country’s mass inoculation can continue without issue.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has released a statement acknowledging the decision taken by Danish health authorities.

“We recognise and respect the decision taken by the Danish Health Authority. Implementation and rollout of the vaccine programme is a matter for each country to decide, based on local conditions. We will continue to collaborate with the regulators and local authorities to provide all available data to inform their decisions.”

SOURCE: Euro News | Bangkok Post