(WASHINGTON) — Tesla is recalling up to 362,758 cars equipped with its Full Self-Driving Beta software or pending installation over concerns it can increase the risk of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Thursday.
“The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution,” the agency said.
The recall will affect some Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Tesla will offer a software update free of charge to customers, the agency said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on Thursday warned against using TikTok, citing data security issues raised about the China-owned app.
“I don’t use TikTok and I would not advise anybody to do so because of these concerns,” Monaco said at a panel on technology and national security at the Chatham House in London.
Companies that operate in China must comply with laws that require them to share data with the government, Monaco said.
“The bottom line is China has been quite clear that they are trying to mold and put forward the use and norms around technologies that privilege their interests,” she said. “There’s a reason we need to be very concerned.”
TikTok, which has more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S., has faced growing scrutiny from state and federal officials over fears that American data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government.
In December, Congress banned TikTok from all devices owned by the federal government. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March on the company’s data security practices, the committee said last month.
More than half of U.S. states have taken steps toward a partial or full ban of TikTok on government devices.
The Biden administration and TikTok wrote up a preliminary agreement to address national security concerns posed by the app but obstacles remain in the negotiations, The New York Times reported in September.
TikTok did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The company previously said that it stores the data of U.S. users outside of China, and has never removed U.S. posts from the platform at the request of the Chinese government.
Recent news stories have called into question the security of user data on TikTok.
Buzzfeed reported in June that TikTok engineers based in China gained access to intimate information on U.S. users, such as phone numbers. Forbes reported in October that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, intended to use the app to access information on some users.
The Trump administration tried to ban TikTok in 2020, eventually calling on ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company. However, the sale never took place.
Speaking on Thursday, Monaco said the concerns over TikTok exemplify a larger conflict between the U.S. and other countries over digital security.
“Today, autocrats seek tactical advantage through the acquisition, use and abuse of disruptive technology,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. risks defaulting on its debts as early as July unless the borrowing limit is raised, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report on Wednesday.
The federal government on Jan. 19 reached its approximately $31.4 trillion debt ceiling — which legally caps how much the U.S. can borrow to pay for what tax and other revenue doesn’t cover — and the Treasury Department has since been using “extraordinary measures” along with its current cash flow to keep the government’s obligations paid.
“CBO estimates that under its baseline budget projections, the Treasury would exhaust those measures and run out of cash sometime between July and September of this year,” according to the report.
The CBO projection adds urgency to an ongoing political dispute in Congress over the debt ceiling. Some Republicans in the House have resisted an increase of the debt limit unless Democrats agree to spending cuts. The Biden administration, however, has repeatedly said that it will not negotiate over the debt ceiling and that a discussion over spending should occur separately.
Speaking with “Good Morning America” last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on Congress to raise the debt limit.
“America has paid all of its bills on time since 1789, and not to do so would produce an economic and financial catastrophe,” Yellen said. “Every responsible member of Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling.”
She added, “It’s something that simply can’t be negotiable.”
Failure to raise the debt limit and the ensuing default on U.S. debt — which have never happened before — would cause immense harm to the U.S. and global economies, since the trustworthiness of U.S. Treasury bonds amounts to a cornerstone of domestic and international investment, economists and budget analysts previously told ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The culture wars, fought nationwide in school board meetings and college classrooms, have entered a new arena: Wall Street.
A sharp political divide has emerged over environmental, social and governance investing, or ESG, a type of investing that takes into account non-financial information about a company, such as its climate impact and staff diversity.
Prominent Republican politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have assailed ESG as “woke” capitalism that prioritizes liberal goals over investor returns, harming U.S. companies deemed insufficiently progressive and, in turn, hindering the wider economy.
Supporters of ESG, including financial firms that manage trillions in assets, have said considerations beyond the bottom line deliver the best financial gains. In weighing the economic threat posed by climate change, for instance, investors ensure the long-term health of their portfolio.
“There’s some risk that we could have red and blue banks, red and blue supermarkets,” Witold Henisz, faculty director of the ESG Initiative at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, told ABC News. “America is more and more polarized.”
Here’s what to know about ESG and the political backlash against it:
What is ESG investing?
For decades, prevailing corporate wisdom held that companies face a choice between actions that are socially beneficial and ones that maximize shareholder value, said Alison Taylor, a professor of business at New York University who focuses on corporate responsibility and ethics.
ESG, by contrast, is an approach to investing that examines a company’s social or environmental impact precisely because it considers non-financial information useful for determining whether the company would deliver strong investor returns.
“The business would do good for the world and make more money,” Taylor told ABC News.
Depending on a given investor or policy, ESG takes into account a range of business practices, such as the release of carbon emissions or pollution, the treatment of employees and the presence of minorities within a company’s leadership.
Sustainable investment based on ESG criteria has grown to a $35.5 trillion industry, according to a study from the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance in 2020.
How has ESG risen to prominence on Wall Street?
Over roughly the past 15 years, ESG has shifted from an upstart financial trend to a mainstream strategy touted by industry titans, experts said.
The rise of ESG has been propelled by growing awareness about the negative effects of some corporate practices, in part due to the rise of social media, said Taylor of New York University. She also credited a young generation of investors, which has brought a focus especially on the role that companies play in exacerbating climate change.
Financial leaders have also taken up the cause. One major promoter of ESG, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has highlighted for years the importance of non-financial information in assessing investment opportunities.
“Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics,” Fink said last year in a letter to CEOs. “It is not a social or ideological agenda. It is not ‘woke.’ It is capitalism, driven by mutually beneficial relationships between you and the employees, customers, suppliers, and communities your company relies on to prosper.”
The surge of ESG adoption has also coincided with a slew of studies that demonstrate its effectiveness in yielding stronger returns than traditional investing, as well as a host of findings that question its comparative benefit, Taylor said.
“There have been thousands of studies,” she said. “The jury is out on whether ESG delivers higher returns.”
Why have some Republican officials criticized ESG investing?
Republican politicians have criticized ESG because they say they consider it an effort to use financial tools for the purpose of advancing liberal political goals.
In some cases, Republicans have condemned the investing approach as a departure from free market capitalism, since it takes into account non-financial factors.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last year, former Vice President Mike Pence said, “The woke left is poised to conquer corporate America and has set in motion a strategy to enforce their radical environmental and social agenda on publicly traded corporations.”
“For the free market to thrive, it must be truly free,” he added.
In response to such attacks, proponents of ESG reject the notion that they’re deviating from investment fundamentals, since looming threats like climate change will have a profound impact on how the economy operates, Taylor said.
“Whether you’re on the left or right, you’re currently making the argument that you’re the rational capitalist and your opponent is the partisan hack,” she said.
Criticism leveled at ESG has not only come from the right, however. Progressives have criticized the practice for imposing vague or weak standards on companies, offering the imprimatur of virtue without the requirement of substantive action.
“Everybody hates ESG,” Taylor said. “The left hates ESG because they say we should not just think about issues when they have an impact on a company’s bottom line. There’s an imperative to address racism and climate change.
In response to criticism of ESG, BlackRock told ABC News in a statement: “Over the past year, BlackRock has been subject to campaigns suggesting we are either ‘too progressive’ or ‘too conservative’ in how we manage our clients’ money. We are neither. We are a fiduciary.”
“We put our clients’ interests first and deliver the investment choices and performance they need. We will not let these campaigns sway us from delivering for our clients,” the statement added.
What have Republican officials done to oppose ESG?
So far, attacks on ESG have primarily arisen at the state level, where some Republican-led states have divested their pension funds from firms that engage in ESG investing, while others have put forward legislation that would ban any public entity from carrying out financial business with such firms, including routine local policy decisions like raising money through selling bonds.
In August, 19 state attorneys general sent a letter to Fink criticizing the firm’s use of ESG criteria in overseeing state pension funds. That month, DeSantis approved a resolution that eliminates the consideration of ESG from decisions used in managing Florida’s pension investments.
On Monday, DeSantis took the effort further, proposing a set of measures that prohibit the consideration of ESG criteria by financial institutions in Florida, as well as banning the use of such criteria in all investments made at the state and local level, among other provisions.
“By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda,” DeSantis said in a statement on Monday.
Republican states face financial consequences for such measures, Henisz said, noting the higher fees charged by smaller financial institutions that forego ESG investing. Texas cities will pay between $303 million and $532 million in additional interest on $32 billion in bonds due to the state’s ESG ban, a Wharton School of Business study found in July.
“The cost to the taxpayers in these states will limit how far they go,” Henisz said. “It’s more rhetoric than reality in terms of how divided the financial services sector gets.”
(NEW YORK) — Tesla plans to open a portion of its U.S. charging network to competing electric vehicle makers, the Biden administration said on Wednesday.
The carmaker plans to open about 7,500 charging stations across the U.S. before the end of 2024, officials said on Wednesday.
The update from Elon Musk’s car company comes as the White House rolls out new measures to expand EV charging across the country.
The Biden administration announced it had partnered with Tesla and other companies — including General Motors and Hertz — as part of a two-year project that aims to use “private funds to complement federal dollars and putting the nation’s EV charging goals even closer within reach.”
Tesla plans to install about 3,500 new stations on highways across the country, the White House said. Those new charges are expected to be open to other vehicles.
“All EV drivers will be able to access these stations using the Tesla app or website,” the White House said. “Additionally, Tesla will triple its full nationwide network of Superchargers, manufactured in Buffalo, New York.”
(NEW YORK) — Romance scammers raked in big bucks in 2022, deceiving almost 70,000 people out of $1.3 billion, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission.
According to the FBI, romance scammers create an online identity to gain a person’s trust and affection and then use that relationship to steal or manipulate them.
Last year, romance scammers stole from tens of thousands of victims with a median reported loss of $4,400 each, the FTC said.
Romance scammers use dating apps to target people, but are more likely to send people a private message to establish a relationship, according to the FTC.
Approximately 40% of people who lost money in 2022 said scammers contacted them on social media, while 19% said it began on an app or a website, according to the FTC. The FTC noted that popular messaging apps such as Google Chat, Telegram and WhatsApp were used to continue conversations.
According to the FTC report, romance scammers often use specific lies to scam people.
Approximately 24% of romance scammers tell potential victims that they or a loved one is “sick, hurt, or in jail;” 18% offer to teach how to invest; another 18% say they’re in the military; and 12% use lies surrounding getting married, according to the FTC.
The FTC said that last year 24% of people reported paying scammers using gift cards, 19% paid in cryptocurrency, and 14% paid using a bank wire transfer or payment.
Over 60% of reported losses stemmed from bank wire transfers and cryptocurrency payments, the latter making up the largest reported dollar amount in 2022, according to the FTC.
Last month, a Florida woman was arrested for planning a years-long romance scam that defrauded an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
According to federal prosecutors, Peaches Stergo stole $2.8 million over four years from the victim, whom she met on a dating website.
“Stergo deceived an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, maliciously draining his life savings so she could become a millionaire through fraud,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
The FTC does provide ways to spot a romance scammer in action:
Nobody legit will ever ask you to help — or insist that you invest — by sending cryptocurrency, giving the numbers on a gift card, or wiring money. Anyone who does is a scammer.
If someone tells you to send money to receive a package, you can bet it’s a scam.
Talk to friends or family about a new love interest and pay attention if they’re concerned.
Try a reverse image search of profile pictures. If the details don’t match up, it’s a scam.
(NEW YORK) — As the Easter season nears, with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 22, fast-casual restaurant chains have released specialty seafood-forward menu items ideal for practicing Christians during Lent.
For those unfamiliar, Lent is the six-week period between Ash Wednesday and Easter during which many Christians abstain from eating meat on the holy days of obligation and Fridays. Traditionally, it has marked a period or reflection, fasting and penitence, with many giving up specific things in the weeks leading up to the Easter holiday.
For years, McDonald’s has been a popular Lent option for its Filet-O-Fish sandwich, and now more competitors are wading in.
Below, check out some of the Lent-friendly menu items that are available now nationwide:
Lent 2023 food specials
Popeyes
The fast food spot known for its fried chicken has brought back two fan-favorite seafood offerings for a limited time: the Flounder Fish Sandwich and the Shrimp Tackle Box.
The Flounder Fish Sandwich, first introduced in 2021, now comes in both classic or spicy varieties. It’s made with a light, flakey flounder fillet marinated in Louisiana herbs and spices, dusted in crispy coating and fried, served on a warm, buttery toasted brioche bun with pickles and classic tartar sauce or spicy spread.
The $6 Shrimp Tackle Box comes with eight crispy butterfly shrimp seasoned in Louisiana herbs and spices, served crispy in a Southern breading, paired with a regular side, a hot buttery biscuit and classic tartar sauce.
From Valentine’s Day through Feb. 19, customers can buy one sandwich combo and get another a la carte sandwich for free on the Popeyes app and online for mobile orders.
Long John Silver’s
The seafood-centric fast-casual chain announced new savings for seafood-loving families with three seasonal specials through April 23.
Shrimp fans have three varieties to choose from for $6 shrimp baskets: a six-piece grilled shrimp basket served on a bed of savory rice with a side; six-piece batter-dipped shrimp served with a choice of one side and two hushpuppies; or crispy breaded popcorn shrimp served with one side and two hushpuppies.
All three of the above shrimp preparations are also available in a $10 shrimp sea-shares box, which includes 15 pieces grilled or battered, or the popcorn shrimp.
Long John Silver’s is also offering a fish and shrimp family feast with 12 batter-dipped shrimp, eight hand-battered, wild-caught Alaska pollock fillets, two family-size sides, and eight hushpuppies.
7-Eleven
For a limited time 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes are offering rewards members a “fin-tastic” deal with $2 fish sandwich Fridays.
The garlic herb Wild Alaska Pollock fillet is topped with American cheese and tartar sauce and served on a warm brioche bun, made in partnership with the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers.
(NEW YORK) — After a summer in the sun, Jessica Auriana said she felt like her hair was left dry and brittle.
Looking for a refresh, the 44-year-old said she turned to her hairstylist, who suggested the Olaplex hair care line as a possible solution to her problems.
Auriana said she purchased a shampoo, conditioner and clarifying shampoo from the brand and used the products for two months, and claims she suffered hair loss.
“I think by that point I had probably lost 20% of my hair,” Auriana told Good Morning America. “I’m outside daily … I started to feel the wind and air on my scalp in places that I’ve never felt it.”
Auriana is now part of a lawsuit against Olaplex, a hair care line popular with influencers and some celebrities that promises to restore “damaged and compromised hair by repairing from the inside out” leaving users with “healthy, beautiful, shiny, touchable hair,” according to marketing materials on the company’s website and social media.
Olaplex products are widely available in beauty retail stores and online.
In the lawsuit, filed on Feb. 9 in California, Auriana and more than two dozen women across the country claim they have been left with hair that is worse off than before they used Olaplex products.
They claim in the lawsuit that Olaplex hair products they used left them, in some cases, with bald spots, allergic reactions, open sores and hair that is “dry, brittle, frizzy and dull.” One plaintiff claims in the lawsuit the treatments made her hair look “as if it were cut with a weedwhacker.”
Collectively, the plaintiffs are seeking more than $75,000 in damages.
Rachel Bentley, co-counsel on the lawsuit, said the monetary damages are “for the injuries our clients sustained.”
She told GMA, “We are seeking punitive damages to deter Olaplex from engaging in the any further wrongful conduct.”
Olaplex has not recalled any of its products.
The company has denied the claims made in the lawsuit, telling GMA in a statement, “Olaplex products do not cause hair loss or hair breakage. Olaplex products are safe and effective, as millions of our customers can happily attest.”
The company also stated it has gone “above and beyond industry beauty standards” by publicly releasing test results from “independent third-party laboratories” on its website.
“We have full confidence and believe in the safety and efficacy of our products,” the company continued. “There are a wide variety of reasons for hair breakage or hair loss, as medical and scientific experts have publicly stated, including lifestyle, various medical conditions and medications, the aftereffects of COVID, skin conditions and more. Anyone experiencing consistent hair breakage should consult their stylist and dermatologist to best understand their unique hair and skin needs.”
“Complaints like the ones referenced in this article are, sadly, a fact of life in our industry, and have been made against other brands in the category for years,” Olaplex said. “We are prepared to vigorously defend our Company, our brand, and our products against these baseless accusations.”
Experts say consumers should consult their stylists or a dermatologist if they’re experiencing hair loss to help determine the cause.
The attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit say consumers should do their “due diligence” when it comes to choosing beauty products.
“Do your research,” Amy Davis, co-counsel for the plaintiffs. told GMA. “Do your due diligence and make sure that you are protecting yourself as a consumer when you’re buying beauty products.”
(NEW YORK) — Consumer prices rose 6.4% last month compared to a year ago, continuing a months-long slowdown of price increases despite blockbuster job growth that revealed an economy running hotter than expected, government data on Tuesday showed.
The data marked the seventh consecutive month of smaller price hikes. In December, year-over-year inflation was 6.5%.
Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak but is more than triple the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
The Fed earlier this month imposed the latest in an aggressive string of borrowing cost increases as it tries to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. economy into a recession.
So far, the economy has largely defied an anticipated slowdown.
The economy added a staggering 517,000 jobs in January, more than double the employment growth a month prior and well above the breakneck pace of some 400,000 monthly jobs added on average last year, according to government data released earlier this month.
In turn, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, the lowest figure since 1969.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week that the central bank’s fight against inflation has “a long way to go,” citing the jobs data.
Speaking at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Powell said the “extraordinarily strong” job figures took the Fed by surprise.
“It kind of shows you why we think this will be a process that takes a significant period of time,” he added.
Still, the Fed has transitioned to a slower pace of rate hikes in recent months, suggesting confidence that the central bank has begun to tame inflation.
Over the next three years, consumers expect inflation to fall to 2.7%, hovering just above the central bank’s target, the New York Federal Reserve found in a survey released on Monday.
The combination of strong hiring and easing inflation has buoyed hopes among some economists that the U.S. could avert a recession.
A report released by the International Monetary Fund last month predicted that U.S. economic growth would cool to 1.4% this year from 2% last year, but it found the U.S. could avoid a downturn.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected recession fears in an interview last Monday with ABC News’ Good Morning America, saying the economy remains “strong and resilient.”
Many consumers, however, remain pessimistic.
Four in 10 Americans say they’re worse off financially since Biden became president, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released earlier this month. The figure marks the highest share of discontented respondents since the outlets began conducting the poll 37 years ago.
Home sales fell for the 11th consecutive month in December, reaching their lowest rate since November 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell in December, ending the typically busy holiday shopping season with a whimper.
(NEW YORK) — Inflation data set for release on Tuesday will show whether the U.S. continued a months-long streak of easing price increases despite blockbuster job growth last month that revealed an economy running hotter than expected.
Forecasters predict that year-over-year inflation stood at 6.2% in January, which would mark the seventh consecutive month of cooling price hikes. In December, year-over-year inflation was 6.5%.
The data amounts to a significant slowdown from a summer peak but is more than triple the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
The Fed earlier this month imposed the latest in an aggressive string of borrowing cost increases as it tries to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. economy into a recession.
So far, the economy has largely defied an anticipated slowdown.
The economy added a staggering 517,000 jobs in January, more than double the employment growth a month prior and well above the breakneck pace of some 400,000 monthly jobs added on average last year, according to government data released earlier this month.
In turn, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, the lowest figure since 1969.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week that the central bank’s fight against inflation has “a long way to go,” citing the jobs data.
Speaking at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Powell said the “extraordinarily strong” job figures took the Fed by surprise.
“It kind of shows you why we think this will be a process that takes a significant period of time,” he added.
Still, the Fed has transitioned to a slower pace of rate hikes in recent months, suggesting confidence that the central bank has begun to tame inflation.
Over the next three years, consumers expect inflation to fall to 2.7%, hovering just above the central bank’s target, the New York Federal Reserve found in a survey released on Monday.
The combination of strong hiring and easing inflation has buoyed hopes among some economists that the U.S. could avert a recession.
A report released by the International Monetary Fund last month predicted that U.S. economic growth would cool to 1.4% this year from 2% last year, but it found the U.S. could avoid a downturn.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected recession fears in an interview last Monday with ABC News’ Good Morning America, saying the economy remains “strong and resilient.”
Many consumers, however, remain pessimistic.
Four in 10 Americans say they’re worse off financially since Biden became president, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released earlier this month. The figure marks the highest share of discontented respondents since the outlets began conducting the poll 37 years ago.
Home sales fell for the 11th consecutive month in December, reaching their lowest rate since November 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell in December, ending the typically busy holiday shopping season with a whimper.
