Latest news with #TonyYang
Boston Globe
11-08-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
RFK Jr.'s next target: the federal vaccine court
He said in a social media post last month that the vaccine court had 'devolved into a morass of inefficiency, favoritism and outright corruption.' Parents who believe their children were injured by vaccines are 'facing the monumental power and bottomless pockets of the US government,' he said. Kennedy has also claimed, falsely, that the compensation program prevents families from suing vaccine makers in traditional courts. (This is true of the COVID-19 vaccines, however, which are adjudicated in a separate program.) Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up And Kennedy has claimed that the vaccine court punishes and intimidates expert witnesses and petitioners' attorneys. Advertisement Experts fear that some of the changes Kennedy has hinted at could lead to an onslaught of lawsuits, jeopardizing the manufacture of vaccines and undermining their use. 'Kennedy can fix this system without burning it down,' said Tony Yang, a health policy expert at George Washington University. But Kennedy sounds 'more like a frustrated lawyer who lost cases than an eager secretary trying to fix things.' Indeed, allies of the secretary have fared poorly in the vaccine court. Their litigation in traditional courts -- including a 2022 lawsuit in which Kennedy delivered closing arguments -- also has fallen short. Advertisement The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Public health officials in the United States have been tracking vaccine safety for decades and have long said that shots routinely given to children are safe. But all vaccines have at least occasional side effects, and there are rare instances of serious injury. Congress set up the vaccine court in 1986 after a spate of lawsuits began to drive vaccine makers out of the market. So-called special masters judge claims of injuries from vaccines, weighing the available evidence. The program covers most routine immunizations given to children and pregnant women, and is funded by a small tax on each shot. The vaccine court has paid $5.4 billion in claims since its inception, awarding compensation in about 42 percent of the roughly 28,000 claims filed. But in accordance with a great body of scientific evidence, the court's special masters have denied thousands of claims that childhood vaccines are linked to autism. Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, believes that there is such a link and has long accused government officials of hiding the risks. Some reforms widely seen as necessary would require Congress to intervene. Among them: more of the special masters who preside as judges over cases. Kennedy said in an interview last month that he wanted to ensure families seeking compensation 'get it very quickly, and they get it without the kind of adversarial impediments that have now been erected over the past 40 years.' A new fast-track system for rare injuries that studies have definitively linked to certain vaccines could speed up the process. In the current system, government lawyers sometimes fight families over settled links, said Altom Maglio, an attorney who has represented people in the vaccine court for 25 years. Advertisement 'Fighting tooth and nail is just not appropriate, and doesn't meet the goals,' he said. At the same time, special masters sometimes make awards even when the connection between a side effect and vaccine is tenuous, said Dr. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 'There are a lot of things that are being compensated where there's inadequate evidence,' Salmon said. 'We need more science.' Kennedy has also suggested that injury claims regarding COVID-19 shots should be moved to the vaccine court. At present, those claims are piling up in a parallel federal system called the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program. Of more than 14,000 injury claims filed regarding COVID vaccines, only 69 have been paid out. More than 9,400 are pending, and about 4,800 have been dismissed. Congress would need to act to move those claims to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. But adding the large COVID backlog to the vaccine court's own poses huge challenges, Yang said: 'You're complaining about your kitchen sink, it's clogged, and then you try to wash your bike in it.' There are some aspects of the program that Kennedy can change without Congress. That includes altering the official table detailing the injuries presumed to be linked to certain vaccines. Changing the table to say that certain vaccines cause autism or asthma, months or years after shots, for example, could hobble the system, opening the doors to tens of thousands of new claims that would previously have been dismissed. Advertisement 'He's talking about opening a can of worms that could result in Americans losing access to some vaccines and huge expenditures in court fees,' said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kennedy has said, falsely, that the vaccine court is the 'exclusive remedy' for families seeking compensation. In fact, claimants can sue vaccine makers in traditional courts if the government does not respond to them within 240 days or if they are dissatisfied with its offer of compensation. But the traditional courts have not been any more generous to Americans who believe they were injured, said Renee Gentry, director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic at George Washington University. 'The idea that going to straight to civil litigation means you're going to win is absurd,' Gentry said. 'These are incredibly difficult cases.' She believes her clients are better off in the vaccine court. Some experts are concerned that Kennedy may open the door to at least one proposal already pending in Congress -- to abolish the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program altogether. 'I think he's been really clear,' said Richard Hughes IV, a lawyer who represents vaccine makers. 'He would be fine with the total collapse of the program.' This article originally appeared in
GMA Network
09-07-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Tony Yang, arrested for several charges including falsification of public document
The brother of former Presidential Economic Adviser Michael Yang, Tony Yang, has been arrested based on an arrest warrant for falsification of public document, perjury, and violation for the use of aliases, according to the Pasay City Police. Tony Yang o Yang Jian Xin was arrested through the joint Operation of Pasay City Police Station led by Police Col. Joselito M. de Sesto, Pasay CPS, Police Major Remedios L. Terte, ACOPO, Police Major Allan V. Valdez, IDMS, Police Captain Rafael S. Siguan Jr., Chief SIS, and Police Captain Roque S. Villaruel Jr. Chief WSS. The warrant of arrest was issued by Hon. Eleuteria Apdian Badoles-Algodon, Presiding Judge of Supreme Court, Municipal Trial Court in Cities, 10th Judicial Region, Brach 2, Cagayan De Oro City dated November 22, 2024 with P36,000.00 recommended bail for Falsification of public document, P18,000.00 for Perjury and P30,000.00 for violation of C.A. No. 142 as amended by R.A. No. 6085 (An Act to Regulate the use of Aliases). In October 2024, the National Bureau of Investigation filed 16 complaints for falsification of public documents, perjury, and violation of the Anti-Alias Law against Yang Jian Xin or Tony Yang, brother of former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang. The complaints were filed after the NBI allegedly discovered how Yang used several of his aliases to establish and register several corporations with the Securities & Exchange Commission in Cagayan de Oro City. 'Respondent concealed his identity as a Chinese national, obtained a Filipino birth certificate, and used his Filipino name/s as incorporator of these corporations, thus committing falsification in the corporations' Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws. He was also charged for committing Perjury and illegal use of alias,' the NBI statement read. He is currently detained in the Pasay City Jail. — BAP, GMA Integrated News
Straits Times
11-06-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Starbucks' rise and fall in China: How it went from status symbol to cutting tea prices
In a rare move, the US coffee giant has cut prices for its tea-based beverages this summer. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG Once a status symbol, Starbucks cuts prices on its tea-based drinks to woo Chinese consumers – 'If I'm not at Starbucks, I'd be on the way to Starbucks.' This was a common saying among netizens in China more than a decade ago, when patronising the American coffee chain was associated with being trendy and cosmopolitan. But how times have changed for Starbucks, which has lost its social cachet as well as its status as the largest coffee chain in China to Chinese rival Luckin. Now, in a rare move, the US coffee giant – which has long defended its premium positioning in China – has cut prices for its tea-based beverages this summer. About a dozen of Starbucks' non-coffee drinks, which include frappuccino, iced shaken tea and tea latte, now cost as little as 23 yuan (S$4.10) each after an average 5 yuan discount, in a promotion effective from June 10 at its stores across China. Starbucks promoted its new drink prices on its official social media channels in China, branding it as a 'summer special price'. Prices of its coffee drinks remained unchanged, ranging from 30 yuan for an Americano to 41 yuan for a cheese latte. In recent years, Starbucks has been losing market share to major Chinese coffee chains such as Luckin Coffee and Cotti Coffee, which offer cheaper drinks for customers to grab on the go. Starbucks' promotion comes as the Chinese tighten their belts amid a weakened economy, protracted property slump and difficult job market. While Starbucks had previously said it would not engage in price wars, it has introduced smaller drink sizes and coupons to appeal to a wider consumer base in its second-biggest market after the US. With its latest promotion, the prices of its drinks are now closer to those from upscale Chinese tea chains and Luckin, with the latter offering aggressive discounts all year round. Checks by The Straits Times showed that the price of iced tea on Luckin's app was 26 yuan, but consumers have to pay only 14 yuan after discounts. Starbucks China chief growth officer Tony Yang said on the company's official account on Chinese social media WeChat that its improved 'non-coffee' products will, along with its core coffee offerings, 'better meet the diversified needs of customers'. The promotion is aimed at the afternoon segment, which the company marketi ng it as 'coffee in the morning, non-coffee in the afternoon', he added. While Starbucks' official promotional materials steered clear of calling it a price cut, the price change was picked up by netizens and Chinese media outlets , some of whom called it an overdue move by the normally 'aloof' company. A user on Chinese social media platform Weibo wrote: 'If it didn't reduce prices, soon it won't be able to sell a single cup of drink.' Starbucks, which entered the Chinese market in 1999 and once had a store inside the Forbidden City in Beijing, has struggled to reinvent itself after its business, which largely relied on dine-in experiences, was severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Around 2021, nimbler Chinese competitors like Luckin adopted aggressive price cuts and started launching new flavours, giving Starbucks a run for its money. Luckin also capitalised on the pick-up and delivery model by downsizing its stores into small ones with no seating, drastically saving on rent, labour and maintenance costs. By 2023, Luckin overtook Starbucks as the largest coffee chain in China, in terms of sales and number of stores. As of March 2025, Luckin has more than 24,000 outlets and reported a net revenue of US$1.2 billion, while Starbucks has around 7,750 stores and generated about US$740 million in net revenue. Starbucks is not the only foreign coffee brand facing pressures in China. British coffee chain Costa, which entered China in 2006 and once competed closely with Starbucks, has been quietly closing down stores across China and currently has only around 500 stores. Foreign brands like Starbucks have lost their lustre among Chinese consumers, amid rising sceptism towards Western consumerism and a greater emphasis on cultural pride. Starbucks is now distancing itself from Luckin and focusing instead on lower-tier cities and counties, where the brand still retains a more premium status and competition is less stiff. The US giant has also been looking to revive its business in China by selling stakes in it. In May, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, that it has started the process by contacting several potential investors. Ms Allison Malmsten, a public research director at research group Daxue Consulting, noted that lowering prices is always a risk, as it is harder to keep customers if prices rise again. 'But given the circumstances, it seems like a measured risk from Starbucks,' she told The Straits Times. Ms Olivia Plotnick, who runs social media marketing agency Wai Social in Shanghai, said while Starbucks was a pioneer in China's coffee industry, chances are slim for it to come up tops again as it is in a tough spot. Its current strategy to capture market share in lower-tier cities is a race against local brands, which will be able to move faster and cut prices, she noted. She told ST: 'Eventually, (Starbucks) will face the same problems that it does in places like Shanghai with high competition. So in order to survive, it will have to consider how to position itself.' Michelle Ng is China Correspondent at The Straits Times. She is interested in Chinese foreign policies, property trends, demographics, education and rural issues. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Starbucks reduces prices on tea-based drinks in China
US coffee giant Starbucks has unveiled a strategic price reduction for its tea-based beverages in its second-largest market, China, aiming to attract customers amid a challenging consumer environment and increasing competition. The coffee chain is set to lower prices by an average of five yuan ($0.70) on a selection of more than a dozen frappuccino, iced tea and tea latte options. The move is designed to appeal to the Chinese market's demand for non-coffee offerings, particularly during the summer season. Starbucks China chief growth officer Tony Yang was quoted by Bloomberg: 'Improved 'non-coffee' product matrix will go side by side with core coffee offerings to better meet the diversified needs of customers.' This decision is a notable shift from the company's usual premium pricing strategy, especially given its promotion on its official WeChat account - a rare marketing approach for the brand in China, according to the news agency. This pricing strategy comes as China is experiencing a deflationary trend in consumer prices, affecting sectors from automotive to fast food. Government data for May 2025 indicates that consumer prices have been in deflationary territory for four consecutive months. By reducing prices, Starbucks is positioning itself to compete more effectively with local tea chains and other beverage providers offering lower-priced options. While Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is focusing on streamlining the US menu to emphasise coffee, the brand's expansion of tea-based beverages in China is a tailored approach to capture market share in the world's second-largest economy. With the new pricing, Starbucks aims to offer tea drinks starting at 23 yuan - closer to the price points of upscale local tea chains. Local competitors such as Luckin Coffee and Cotti have reduced their pricing, offering drinks for as low as 9.9 or even 8.8 yuan. "Starbucks reduces prices on tea-based drinks in China" was originally created and published by Verdict Food Service, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Times
09-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Starbucks joins China price war with discounts for tea drinks
[BEIJING] Starbucks on Monday (Jun 9) announced price cuts for a slew of its tea-based beverages at its stores across China, as the American coffee chain takes a more aggressive approach to revive sales at its second-biggest market. Starbucks will reduce prices by 5 yuan (S$0.89 cents) on average across more than a dozen Frappuccino, iced tea and tea latte options in its latest campaign to appeal to Chinese consumers for non-coffee offerings during summer, according to a statement posted on the company's official account on Chinese social media WeChat on Monday. 'Improved 'non-coffee' product matrix will go side by side with core coffee offerings to better meet the diversified needs of customers,' said Starbucks China chief growth officer Tony Yang in the statement. It is rare for the US coffee giant to promote price cuts on its own official social media channels as the chain has long defended its premium positioning in China amid rising competition from cheaper rivals. Persistent price wars across product categories from autos to fast food have pushed China's consumer prices into deflationary territory for four months in a row, according to government data released on Monday. Starbucks' push to offer more tea-based beverages in China stands in contrast to chief executive officer Brian Niccol's effort to turnaround the US business by streamlining its menu to emphasise coffee. Still, the push for more tea drinks in China could help the US company contend with local tea chains to win back customers in the world's second-largest economy. With the newly announced price cut, Starbucks said consumers can sip a cup of tea drink for as little as 23 yuan in its spacious lounge-like coffee shops. That brings its prices closer to those at more upscale local tea chains, which often make their beverages for customers to grab on the go. BLOOMBERG
