UK panel does not recommend COVID vaccines for healthy 12- to 15-year-olds

UK advice contrasts with United States and Israel

LONDON - Britain's vaccine advisers said they were not recommending the vaccination of all 12- to 15-year-olds against COVID-19, preferring a precautionary approach in healthy children due to a rare side effect of heart inflammation.

The advice could see Britain pursue a different approach to the United States, Israel and some European countries, which have rolled out vaccinations to children more broadly.

However, a final decision has not been taken, as the British government said it would consult medical advisers to look at other factors, such as disruption to schools.

Many politicians and some scientists have spoken out in favor of vaccinating more children amid concern that COVID-19 could spread in schools that are reopening after summer holidays, further disrupting education.

Britain has reported more than 133,000 deaths from COVID-19 and nearly 7 million cases, and while transmission among children can be high, they are rarely severely ill from the disease.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on Friday said children with underlying conditions that made them more at risk from COVID-19 should get vaccinated.

For healthy children, there was still a small benefit from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and advisers said the risk-benefit was "finely balanced".

However, the JCVI said it wanted more information on the long-term effects of rare reports of heart inflammation, known as myocarditis, in young people following vaccination with Pfizer's shot.

Myocarditis is rare and normally mild, with patients usually recovering in a few days.

"Of course these vaccines do work and would be beneficial to children in terms of preventing infection and disease, but the number of serious cases that we see of COVID in children this age are really very small," JCVI member Adam Finn told Reuters.

"There are uncertainties about the long-term implications of (myocarditis), and that makes the risk-benefit balance for these children really quite tight and much tighter than we would be comfortable to make the recommendation."

UK health minister Sajid Javid, who sets policy for England, and his counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, wrote to the chief medical officers (CMOs) of the four nations, asking for further advice, "including on educational impacts".

"Given the importance of this issue, we would be grateful if you could provide your advice as soon as possible," the four health ministers said in a letter to the CMOs.

The JCVI is also expected to advise on a potential booster vaccine program for the elderly and vulnerable which could start this month.

JCVI member Finn said there would be an update on boosters "within the next few days."

-reuters-

This 'Walking Dead' actress loves Pinoy food

NEW YORK - Celebrities from around the world, including the Philippines, walked the International Emmys’ red carpet on Monday.

Two of them are stars of America’s number one television show -- The Walking Dead -- a horror drama series about survival in a post-apocalyptic world run by zombies.

Michael Cudlitz, AKA Sergeant Abraham Ford, was a presenter at the iEmmys.

"Hello Filipino Channel, how are you in the Philippines," he said.

Four episodes ago, fans took their anger to social media, unable to accept the 'death' of their favorite character "Glenn Rhee," played by Korean-American actor Steven Yeun.

But last Sunday, social media exploded with joy after it turned out that the only Asian character in the show is still alive.

"Obviously we knew, but I think it’s great for the audience to wonder and put in that suspense. We need to feel the pain of loss, so we can celebrate the joy of arrival and I think the show does that really really well," Cudlitz said.

Tovah Feldshuh added, "Everyone comes to The Walking Dead to die, and eventually that’s one of the reasons why the show is number one, because it’s really a metaphor for what we’re doing in life."

Feldshuh, who plays Deanna Monroe, leader of safe zone 'Alexandria' in the zombie apocalypse series, also plays Mrs. Bunch, the singing mother in the television series "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend."

The guy is played by Fil-Am Vincent Rodriquez III and the crazy ex-girlfriend is played by Rachel Bloom, whose character recently cooked and served 'dinuguan' in one of its recent episode.

"I love Filipino food and I love Filipinos coz you know the highest paid nannies in New York and nursing care is for the Filipino citizens. They usher us into our lives and usher us out with such grace and love and respect. My mother-in-law’s over 97 and her life is surrounded by fine Filipino women," said Feldshuh.

Walking Dead creators left fans on a cliffhanger last Sunday when a horde of walkers stormed into Alexandria after a tower fell and knocked over a big portion of Alexandria's wall, leading to Sunday’s mid-season finale.

The Walking Dead Season 6 will go on a break and make its mid-season return on Valentine’s Day.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LeBron James arrives in Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Four-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) LeBron James of the Miami Heat arrived in Manila late Monday afternoon.

James was on board a private jet and arrived in the country at around 5:45 p.m. He and his entourage embarked from a private hangar and went straight to a hotel.


James, who won a second straight NBA championship with the Heat last June, will meet the media in a press conference on Tuesday.

He will also make a special public appearance, although Nike has yet to provide details of the event.

An event at the Mall of Asia Arena, dubbed “Witness History,” will be the culmination of James’ one-day visit to the Philippines.

Last week, thousands of fans lined up at the Nike Store at The Fort in Taguig to get free tickets for the “Witness History” event. -- Report from TJ Manotoc, ABS-CBN News

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Warren Buffett maps out hopes for Berkshire without him

OMAHA, Neb. - Warren Buffett on Saturday gave the most extensive comments to date about the future of Berkshire Hathaway Inc after he is gone, saying he still expects the conglomerate to be a partner of choice for distressed companies.

Buffett, 82, also defended his plan to install his son, Howard, who has little investing experience, as nonexecutive chairman, saying the younger man's role would be to ensure that Berkshire had the right CEO in place.

During the financial crisis and its immediate aftermath, Berkshire helped prop up a number of companies, among them blue-chips such as General Electric and Goldman Sachs . Buffett's investments were viewed by many shareholders as a seal of approval from one of the world's most respected businessmen.

Short-seller Doug Kass, invited by Buffett to Berkshire's annual meeting on Saturday to offer contrarian points of view, asked whether a successor would have the same heft. Buffett said it would not matter.

"Berkshire is the 800 number when there is really some panic in the markets, and people really need significant capital," Buffett said.

"If you come to a day when the Dow has fallen 1,000 points a day for a few days and the tide has gone out and you find some naked swimmers, those naked swimmers ... will call Berkshire," he added.

Whoever ultimately takes over Berkshire will run a conglomerate that employs more than 280,000 people in dozens of businesses worldwide, covering everything from ice cream to insurance and retail to railroads.

Kass later asked what qualified Howard Buffett, a 58-year-old farmer and philanthropist, to step in as Berkshire's non-executive chairman when his father is gone. The elder Buffett insisted his son was ideal for the task at hand.

"He has no illusions at all of running the business. He won't get paid for running the business," Warren Buffett said. "He'll only have to think about whether the board ... needs to change the CEO."

As in the past, Buffett talked about his successor as CEO without actually identifying him. Speculation usually focuses on a small group of top Berkshire executives, among them insurance boss Ajit Jain and railroad leader Matt Rose.

One long-time Buffett-watcher said the legendary investor seemed to handle the pressure from Kass and others well.

"Buffett hasn't broken much new ground, but he's handled Doug's question well ... and, as always, reinforced the Berkshire culture every chance he's had," said Jeff Matthews, founder of hedge fund Ram Partners LP and a Buffett biographer.


ECONOMIC INDICATOR

Berkshire's breadth means that its performance is seen as a barometer for the broader economy. On Saturday, Buffett said he still stands by the actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy, even as he cautioned that the program could be "very inflationary."

"This is like watching a good movie, and I do not know the end," he said. "We have benefited significantly, and the country has benefited significantly, by what the Fed has done."

Buffett also endorsed the last four years of deficit spending by President Barack Obama's administration, saying it is a problem to get off that program but much less of a problem than if the government had followed a strict austerity program instead.

"We are seeing some recovery in housing prices which has psychological effects," he said. "(By the next annual meeting) I think we will have moved forward ... I don't think there will be a surge of any sort, but I don't think we will stall."

Earlier Saturday, one of Buffett's top lieutenants said things were picking up but could improve further.

"It feels like a 2 percent economy. If we want to see GDP click up to 3.5 percent, 4 percent, you need to see more consumption," said Rose, CEO of the railroad Burlington Northern, in an interview.

Rose said Burlington Northern was seeing "across the board" increases in demand to ship things like concrete, roofing tiles and cars.

NO TWITTER, THANK YOU
Buffett may be optimistic about the economy, but he is decidedly more cautious about technology. Earlier this week he joined Twitter, taking the handle @WarrenBuffett - but insisted he only knew enough about it to press a button when told to.

On Saturday he said he disagreed with the recent guidance from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission that lets companies release material information on Twitter. Some see that as a threat to Berkshire's press release service, Business Wire.

"The key to disclosure is accuracy and simultaneity ... I do not want it, if I am buying Wells Fargo, to keep hitting up their web page and hoping I'm not 10 seconds behind someone else for some important announcement," he said.

He also stuck by one of Berkshire's more controversial investments, its recent acquisition of a number of newspapers. The annual meeting crowd applauded when CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin asked a critical question about the stable of papers.

"It's not going to move the needle in Berkshire ... we are buying the papers at very, very low prices with (regard to) current earnings," Buffett said, adding that he expected to meet or beat a 10 percent rate of return, after-tax.

Yet as much as investors want to hear about Berkshire's growth potential and the state of the economy, some also attend the meeting just for a good laugh.

The meeting opened, as it does every year, with a video montage. This year's included a duet between Buffett and singer Jon Bon Jovi and a take-off on the TV series "Breaking Bad."

Some of the best comedy, though, usually comes in the verbal sparring between Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger over the course of the day. The two are close - they shared an oversize box of peanut brittle during the meeting - but Munger's acerbic tongue pops out from time to time.

"I come to see Charlie Munger needle Warren Buffett - only he can," said Sherman Silber, a doctor and shareholder.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Chinese military cracks down on licence plates and corruption

BEIJING - China's new leadership is seeking to dismantle a system of privilege which has allowed the drivers of military vehicles to do as they please on the roads.

On Sunday the Chinese military began replacing licence plates on its cars and trucks to crack down on legions of vehicles, many of them plush luxury brands, which routinely break traffic laws and fill up with free gas.

The People's Liberation Army General Logistics Department began supervising the removal of current military licence plates that will expire on Tuesday, the PLA Daily newspaper reported.

Luxury sedans and sport utility vehicles with PLA and People's Armed Police licence plates gliding through red lights or flashing lights and sirens to push aside cars in front of them are a common sight in China.

Newly named President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission and thus the top military official, has tried to make fighting corruption a cornerstone of his administration, saying he will go after corrupt officials high and low.

Luxury German, American and Japanese cars and SUVs with military plates -- often given to friends and family members as favours -- are one of many manifestations of corruption in China that regularly irk ordinary citizens.

Family members of retired military officers and who have military plates have even claimed free gasoline.

FIGHTING CORRUPTION

"Xi Jinping has a very strong sense of crisis," said Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics at Beijing Institute of Technology and an anti-corruption researcher.

"He has the lofty intention to use the iron fist of the state to fight corruption," Hu said in a telephone interview.

"Of course the fight against corruption is like a violent storm, and the more you persist in going after something by putting your career on the line, the more you encounter resistance," Hu said. "As for results, we will wait and see."

A number of high-end auto brands will be banned from receiving the new military license plates, including sedans from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar, Porsche, Ford's Lincoln, General Motors' Cadillac, Volkswagen -owned Bentley and the Volkswagen Phaeton, Xinhua said.

Absent from Xinhua's published list were Audi sedans, the clear preference among Chinese officials with access to government cars.

Audi A7 SUVs however were listed as off-limits, along with Porsche Cayennes and other unspecified SUVs. Range Rover and Lexus SUVs with such plates are also common in Beijing.

Private and local government vehicles will also be ineligible for the plates, as well as any car costing more than 450,000 yuan (about $73,000), Xinhua said.

The policy will further decrease sales of foreign brands into Chinese government fleets. Beijing has moved to bar certain government agencies from buying foreign cars at all, potentially excluding global auto brands from a market of between 70 billion and 80 billion yuan ($11.1 billion to $12.7 billion).

The new licensing system is also meant to weed out fake military plates by using embedded electronic technology, the state-run news agency Xinhua said.

"The move is meant to crack down on the creation, sale and use of counterfeit military vehicle plates and root out loopholes in military vehicle management, so as to maintain social harmony, stability and the reputation of the military," Xinhua quoted the PLA General Logistics Department as saying in a statement.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Strong quake hits China; 71 dead, 2,200 injured

A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, killing at least 71 people and injuring about 2,200 close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008.

The earthquake occurred at 8.02 a.m. (0002 GMT) in Lushan county near Ya'an city and the epicenter had a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake was felt by residents in neighboring provinces and in the provincial capital of Chengdu, causing many people to rush out of buildings, according to accounts on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging service.

The official Xinhua news agency said 71 people had been confirmed dead with more than 2,200 injured, 147 of them seriously.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang said all efforts must be put into rescuing victims to limit the death toll. Li was on his way to Ya'an, state media said.

"The current most urgent issue is grasping the first 24 hours since the quake's occurrence, the golden time for saving lives," Xinhua quoted Li as saying.

Xinhua said 6,000 troops were heading to the area to help with rescue efforts. State television CCTV said only emergency vehicles were being allowed into Ya'an, though Chengdu airport had reopened.

Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan, where water and electricity were cut off. Pictures on Chinese news sites showed toppled buildings and people in bloodied bandages being treated in tents outside the hospital, which appeared only lightly damaged.

Rescuers in Lushan had pulled 32 survivors out of rubble, Xinhua said. In villages closest to the epicenter, almost all low rise houses and buildings had collapsed, according to footage broadcast on state television.

"We are very busy right now, there are about eight or nine injured people, the doctors are handling the cases," said a doctor at a Ya'an hospital who gave her family name as Liu.

The hospital was seeing head and leg injuries, she added.

'SHAKES AND TREMORS'

A resident in Chengdu, 140 km (85 miles) from Ya'an city, told Xinhua he was on the 13th floor of a building when he felt the quake. The building shook for about 20 seconds and he saw tiles fall from nearby buildings.

Ya'an is a city of 1.5 million people and is considered one of the birthplaces of Chinese tea culture. It is also the home to one of China's main centers for protecting the giant panda.

"There are still shakes and tremors and our area is safe. The pandas are safe," said a spokesman with Ya'an's Bifengxia nature park, a tourism park that houses more than 100 pandas.

Shouts and screams were heard in the background while Reuters was on the telephone with the spokesman.

"There was just an aftershock, an aftershock, our office is safe," he said.

Numerous aftershocks jolted the area, the largest of which was magnitude 5.1.

Sichuan is one of the four major natural-gas-producing provinces in China, and its output accounts for about 14 percent of the nation's total.

Sinopec Group, Asia's largest oil refiner, said its huge Puguang gas field was unaffected.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the magnitude at 7, but later revised it down.

The devastating May 2008 quake was 7.9 magnitude.

(Additional reporting by Melanie Lee and Lu Jianxin in SHANGHAI; Editing by Jonathan Standing and Robert Birsel)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Pope Francis leads first Easter celebrations

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis led his first Easter Sunday celebrations in front of tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square at a mass marking the holiest day in the Christian calendar.

The pope will then deliver a special blessing for Rome and the world from the same balcony where he made his first public appearance after being elected this month.

The "Urbi et Orbi" message is expected to be read out in around 60 languages and could include appeals over various crises around the world.

At an Easter Vigil in St Peter's Basilica, the first pontiff from outside Europe in nearly 1,300 years of Church history reached out to non-believers and lapsed Catholics, urging them to "step forward" towards God.

"He will receive you with open arms," said the 76-year-old Argentine pope, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who has called for the Roman Catholic Church to be closer to ordinary people and the needy.

"Let us not close our hearts," he appealed to the congregation in a mass in which he also baptized four converts.

He added: "Let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no situations which God cannot change."

The Church is struggling with rising rates of secularization, particularly in Europe where mass attendances are falling sharply.

Easter Sunday celebrates the Christian belief in Jesus's death and resurrection.

It is preceded by a series of ceremonies during Holy Week, which evokes the last days of Christ's life.

On Holy Thursday, Francis celebrated an unprecedented mass in a youth prison in Rome in which he washed the feet of 12 inmates including two girls and two Muslims -- a gesture of humility towards the 12 apostles attributed to Jesus.

Previous popes had only ever performed the ritual with priests or Catholic laymen.

On Good Friday, Francis presided over a torch-lit ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome, where Christians are believed to have been martyred. There, he prayed for peace in the Middle East and urged dialogue with "our Muslim brothers".

The new pope has said he wants a "poor Church for poor people" and has adopted a less formal style than that of his predecessor Benedict XVI, already breaking with several Vatican traditions in his first few weeks in office.

Bergoglio, a moderate conservative on Catholic doctrine, was known in Argentina for his humble lifestyle, his outreach in poor neighborhoods and his strong social advocacy during his homeland's devastating economic crisis.

Vatican experts say he is yet to begin tackling key problems for the Church, however, including reform of the scandal-ridden Vatican bureaucracy.

Analysts will keep a particularly close eye on his appointments to top Vatican positions after Easter amid calls for a radical overhaul.

The status of the powerful Vatican bank, which is under investigation in Italy for money laundering but has made efforts in recent years to reform itself, is also a pressing issue.

His predecessor Benedict XVI's troubled eight-year reign was often overshadowed by the scandals, including an embarrassing leak of hundreds of confidential Vatican papers last week that revealed cloak-and-dagger intrigue.

Benedict stunned the world by announcing his resignation last month -- the first pope to do so in more than 700 years.

The 85-year-old admitted he no longer had the physical or mental strength to carry out his papal duties.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Pope holds historic meet with Benedict XVI

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Pope Francis flew in to a papal residence near Rome on Saturday for an unprecedented encounter with "pope emeritus" Benedict XVI -- the first time a pontiff has met his predecessor.

The talks round off a historic few weeks for the Roman Catholic Church after Benedict became the first pope to resign in over 700 years and only the second to do so by choice in 2,000 years.

The last pope to resign -- Celestine V in 1294 -- was locked up and perhaps killed off by his successor Boniface VIII and there is no record of the two ever meeting post-resignation.

Highlighting the unusual nature of the encounter, both men are expected to wear white papal vestments since Benedict has been allowed to continue wearing his pontifical robes as well as using the title "Your Holiness".

Cardinals in a conclave in the Sistine Chapel last week elected Francis as his replacement -- Latin America's first pontiff and the first non-European pontiff in nearly 1,300 years.

The Vatican said Benedict followed television news coverage of Francis' election from Castel Gandolfo, the lakeside residence where he has been staying ever since he stepped down.

The talks are private and the Vatican has said very little is likely to emerge about their content -- with any number of urgent issues for a troubled Roman Catholic Church possibly on the agenda.

Francis's helicopter was seen landing at near the palace, which has been the papal summer residence for centuries.

The Vatican said Benedict was there to greet Francis along with household staff and that the two would have lunch.

The two men -- Francis is 76 and Benedict is 85 -- have very different styles but important core similarities on matters of doctrine and ways forward for the Church after Benedict's often troubled eight-year pontificate.

Francis has paid homage to Benedict and has called him twice since becoming pope.

Analysts say he will rely heavily on the theological legacy of the former pope.

Benedict, before he stepped down, pledged allegiance to whoever his successor might be.

The two leaders of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics are both preoccupied with issues ranging from rising secularism in Western countries, to the reform of Vatican bureaucracy, to the ongoing scandal of clerical child abuse.

The two could also discuss "Vatileaks" -- a scandal that broke last year over the leaks of hundreds of confidential papal documents that revealed allegations of intrigue and corruption inside the secretive Vatican.

Benedict has said he will live "hidden from the world" as a "simple pilgrim" on life's last journey and is expected next month to move back and live in a former nunnery on Vatican grounds in a life of quiet contemplation and academic research.

But the Vatican has said he could also provide "spiritual guidance" to his successor.

Benedict is living temporarily in Castel Gandolfo with his secretary Georg Gaenswein -- who confusingly is also the head of his successor's papal household -- and with the four housekeepers who looked after him when he was still pope.

Francis, formerly Jorge Bergoglio, has known Benedict for a long time.

At the 2005 conclave, Bergoglio was the main rival to Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, and represented a more socially progressive current among the cardinals but reports at the time indicated that he pulled out of the race.

While Ratzinger was reserved in public, Bergoglio is more spontaneous and people-friendly and has shunned some of the trappings of papal office.

Ratzinger was more a follower of tradition and never liked innovation.

But the two are very alike on doctrine and several of Francis's remarks in the first days of his papacy have been borrowed from his predecessor.

Both are opposed to gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia -- which Catholic believers considers a form of interference with God's "creation".

Francis's popularity is being seen with bitterness in some quarters in the Vatican where the memory of Benedict still shines strongly, unlike for many ordinary Catholics who have said they prefer the new pope's more direct style.

When he takes up residence in the Vatican, Benedict will be just a stone's throw from Francis -- an unexpected and delicate situation for the Church.

"This papacy will be rooted in Benedict's teachings," Samuel Gregg from the US-based Acton Institute religious think tank said earlier.

"For the past 25 years, he has been the main intellectual force in the Church," he said.

But at least for some people, Benedict is already being written out of the record.

Postcards on sale around the Vatican in recent days show a smiling Francis next to a picture of the ever-popular John Paul II -- with no depiction of the pope in between, Benedict.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Local celebrities hail new Pope

MANILA, Philippines -- Local celebrities joined the estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics all over the world in welcoming Pope Francis, the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, was elected to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday.

On the microblogging site Twitter, celebrities such as Ruffa Gutierrez, Bianca Gonzales and Anne Curtis hailed the new pope.

Below are the tweets of our local celebrities about Pope Francis.

Actress Ruffa Gutierrez: "Habemus Papam...a new pope has been chosen! I might be asleep when he is introduced to the world so please update me from the Vatican."

Host Tim Yap: "All hail Pope Francis the First, the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church! May you serve the people &bless them with your benevolence."

Talent manager Pia Magalona: "Good morning! We have a new Pope: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires. He takes the name Francis <3 br="">
ABS-CBN reporter Ginger Conejero: "Woke up to news of our new Pope and how humble and brilliant he is #historyunfolding #PopeFrancis"

Actress Ara Mina: "Our new Pope Francis I. Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio SJ, of Argentina (kapangalan ng mommy ko hehehe Francis Marie)"

Actress Anne Curtis: "Goodnight to the new Pope. Pope FRANCIS."

Actor Ping Medina: "I like the Jesuits. And I like the vibe of this new dude, Pope Francis :)"

Basketball player Chris Tiu: "Woke up to d news that we have a new Pope!! This is great news for us all!! God Bless Pope Francis! Let's pray for Him & d Church!"

Actress Nikki Valdez: "Good morning tweeps!.. New day, new Pope!"

Singer-actor Guji Lorenzana: "Congrats Pope Francis! Please guide the Catholic Church well. I pray that in  taking on St. Francis' name, you take his values and apply it."

Actress-host KC Concepcion: "Habemus papam" - Catholic world's got a new Pope! ...I quite like the aura of Pope Francis. Just sayin. (He just gave a blessing to all men & women of Goodwill.)"

Host Lucy Torres Gomez: "A kind face that is quick to break into a smile. God bless Pope Francis."

source: abs-cbnnews.com