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(NEW YORK) — On the latest episode of the “Behind The Table” podcast, former co-host of “The View” Lisa Ling and current co-host Sara Haines spoke candidly about their biggest regrets while co-hosting the show and how they learned to speak openly at the Hot Topics table.

Haines was a co-host of “The View” from 2016 to 2018, for seasons 20 and 21. She left to co-host ABC News’ “GMA 3: Strahan, Sara & Keke,” and returned to “The View” panel again in 2020, for season 24.

On the podcast, Haines said she is a “huge fan” of Ling and always admired her time on the Emmy award-winning daytime talk show and as a “hardcore” journalist.

Ling’s career began at age 21, when she covered the civil war in Afghanistan as a correspondent on Channel One News. In 1999, at 26, she became a co-host of “The View” and got to work alongside show creator Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Meredith Vieira and Star Jones. She was one of the youngest co-hosts on the show.

In December of 2002, Ling decided to leave the show to further pursue her journalism career as a correspondent for National Geographic’s Explorer. She went on to become an award-winning journalist reporting hard-hitting stories from numerous countries.

“What you do is emotional at times, but you just are so immersive and the stories you tell are so powerful,” Haines said of Ling’s impressive journalism career.

Ling sat at the Hot Topics table for three years before becoming a field correspondent at “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and pursuing her journalism career.

Though Ling called “The View” a “tangent” in her career, she said being on that table is how she found her voice, and her time there was “instrumental in helping me to get to where I am today.”

But that’s not to say she hasn’t had to grapple with some regretful remarks she made on the show.

One evening in December 2001, Ling bumped into Monica Lewinsky, who had a relationship with former President Bill Clinton during her time as a White House intern working in the office of the chief of staff, Leon Panetta. The two spoke about Lewinsky’s college tour, and Ling said that she told her about how disappointed she was that the questions being asked of her weren’t more intellectual.

On Dec. 19, 2001, one of “The View” co-hosts asked Ling about her night. She told viewers about her conversation with Lewinsky and commented that she doesn’t know what’s intellectual about being on your knees.

“My heart sunk,” Ling told Haines. “It was so not me to say something like that about someone who had kind of confided in me about something personal that she had experienced.”

“I felt deflated and sad and hurt,” she continued. “It was, it was a horrible, horrible moment where I sacrificed my own character right for that laugh.”

Ling said that soon after her comment, she “profusely apologized” to Lewinsky and years later had the opportunity to interact with her even more. While she said Lewinsky was “gracious and forgiving,” she also “wasn’t afraid” to tell her how hurt she was by Ling’s comment.

Haines related to Ling’s story and looked back on comments she made about Taylor Swift after her “Reputation” album was released in 2017.

After she watched Swift’s “Miss Americana” documentary, Haines said she “recognized” that she was a part of “a media problem” with Swift and was upset by the realization.

“I had made jokes before about how many boyfriends she’d had or writing a song about them,” Haines said. “They actually were all innocently motivated. I wasn’t going for a laugh.”

Now, Haines said she realized she was a part of the conversations that hurt Swift.

“I private messaged her on Instagram and kind of communicated what I had done, what I saw in the documentary and that I hoped I was a part of the stronger narrative from that point on in defending what someone might feel like in those moments.” Haines said it was “no surprise” that she didn’t hear back from Swift, but she “needed to let her know that I was sorry.”

Prior to making regrettable comments on “The View,” Ling told Haines that she had to overcome the Asian etiquettes she learned growing up.

Ling said she “was taught that you have to be respectful of your elders,” but one thing that’s “imperative on ‘The View’ is you have to fight for space. You have to fight for time. You have to fight to get a word in edgewise.”

Sitting alongside Walters, Behar, Vieira and Jones,” Ling felt it was “mortifying” to speak up “because culturally, I would always wait until they said their piece and then I would offer my thoughts or my insights.”

While Ling said it felt like a “fight every day just to express an opinion,” she wouldn’t be able to do what she can now had it not been fro those three years at “The View.”

In the third episode of “Behind The Table,” Ling and Haines discuss the challenges they faced on the show, fond memories of Barbara Walters. Ling also looks back on her decision to leave “The View” and Haines reflects on her early days guest co-hosting the show and her decision to come back on the panel after leaving in 2018.

“‘The View’ has become a real force. It’s an important outlet and it’s smart. It can be irreverent. It can be silly. It can be funny,” Ling told Haines on the podcast. “It is comprised of smart women expressing their feelings and their opinions about things that are happening in this country and in the world.”
 

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(NEW YORK) — HomeGoods introduced a new shopping platform today to pick up your favorite candles, throw blankets and kitchen goods from the comfort of your home.

HomeGoods.com, the highly anticipated online store from the retailer, is a new destination for shoppers to discover a wide assortment of top brands and décor ideas. Of course, the new venture comes just in time for the holiday season.

Just like the retail store, there will be a wide variety of products to shop from, including bedding, seasonal décor, pet products, storage and organization with an ever-changing selection of brand-name and designer home goods at prices generally discounted below department and specialty store prices.

“We are thrilled to bring a second way for our passionate shoppers to discover and shop an assortment they know and love,” John Ricciuti, president of HomeGoods, said in a statement. “We hope our customers find the same excitement shopping HomeGoods online as they do exploring the aisles of our stores.”

In addition, HomeGoods will make its return process easy. Shoppers can return items at any one of the more than 820 HomeGoods locations across the U.S. or return by mail.

The store plans to continue to expand its online merchandise after the initial launch.

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(NEW YORK) — Former Theranos board member and former Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis testified last week in the criminal trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes.

“I was taken with the idea that with one drop of blood and with remote capability, you could basically test for a broad array of problems,” Mattis told jurors from the witness stand during his initial examination from prosecutors.

When asked who was in charge in board meetings — Holmes or her former romantic partner and Theranos Chief Operating Officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani — Mattis did not hesitate when he said: “Ms. Holmes.”

And when asked where he got his information regarding Theronos blood testing devices, he also named Holmes. “I had no other source of information on it,” he told the court.

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 and claimed the company was developing blood testing technology that could perform hundreds of blood tests using only a few drops of blood. Holmes and Balwani face a dozen charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with what prosecutors call a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud investors and patients.

Both have pleaded not guilty. Balwani’s trial is slated to begin next year.

Along with Mattis, last week jurors heard from a digital forensic expert, Theranos’ former lab director, and the first Theranos patient to take the stand.

Mattis joined Theranos in 2013 and departed in 2016, prior to joining the Trump administration as the secretary of defense.

Mattis told jurors that when he joined the board in 2013 U.S. military casualties had not relented. “I was interested in anything that would improve the care of casualties,” he added.

Mattis recalled meeting Holmes in either 2011 or 2012, at an event in San Francisco where he was giving a speech. Holmes allegedly pricked his finger to give him “an idea of what the machine blood draw was,” he stated in court.

Mattis told the court that he became instantly impressed with Holmes’ description of Theranos’ testing capabilities, thinking the company’s devices could have game-changing benefits on the battlefield.

In 2013, he pushed for Theranos devices to join a “pilot project” where they’d be compared to devices already used on large U.S. Naval vessels, according to email exchanges between Mattis and Holmes displayed in court.

“We could do a side-by-side comparison,” Mattis recalled in the courtroom. The plan was to put Theranos devices up against the already-approved devices on those vessels to determine if the devices were “faster” or “more accurate.”

Mattis told jurors he invested $85,000 in the startup. His salary on the board was approximately $150,000, according to Theranos financial documents.

Theranos devices, however, never ended up in Mattis’ “pilot project” or in any sort of military arena. He testified that at a certain point, following growing scrutiny of the company’s testing capabilities, “I didn’t know what to believe about Theranos anymore.”

Since leaving the company’s board to join the Trump administration, Mattis has voiced regrets over his involvement with Holmes’ failed company. “The bottom line is we all make mistakes at times,” he told PBS in 2019.

Mattis may be the first of several notable names to testify in Holmes’ trial. Others who may be called as witnesses include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and prominent attorney David Boies. Murdoch was a Theranos investor, and Boies at one point sat on Theranos’ board and his firm served as the company’s outside counsel for several years.

Another key witness from last week, Brittany Gould, was the first Theranos patient to take the stand. She told the court that the company’s blood test inaccurately showed she was suffering a miscarriage when in fact she had a healthy pregnancy.

Gould, who had already miscarried three times, testified that in September 2014 she took a Theranos blood test at a Walgreens store in Arizona after learning that she was pregnant.

Additional non-Theranos tests confirmed the initial results were inaccurate, and she went on to have a healthy baby girl.

Holmes’ lawyers elected not to cross examine Gould.

Holmes and her counsel did not respond to ABC News’ repeated requests for comment.

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(NEW YORK) — Halima Aden made waves in the fashion industry when she became the first hijab-wearing supermodel, gracing the covers of top fashion magazines like Vogue.

She also became the first hijabi woman to model for Sports Illustrated and hit the runway for some of the world’s top designers — from New York Fashion Week to Milan.

But last year, while she was on top of the game, the Somali-American model quit the fashion industry because she felt that she had lost control of her identity in an industry that was incompatible with her religious beliefs.

But now, the 23-year-old is diving back into the fashion world — this time, on her own terms by being intentional about the spaces she is a part of and staying true to herself.

Aden announced this month her new role as global brand ambassador for Modanisa — a modest fashion retailer.

“It feels amazing to be back in fashion. I love fashion. I just didn’t love mainstream fashion and the tokenistic way that they’ve treated me. But there’s ways to do both, there’s ways to still be part of the fashion world while still remaining true to who you are,” she said.

“I think Muslim women now more than ever, we are reclaiming our time, we are reclaiming our identities. We’re wearing our hijabs very proudly, and it’s incredible to be in spaces and to represent Muslim woman,” she added.

Aden was born in a refugee camp in Kenya but when she was 6 years old, her family moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota. She gained national attention when she became the first hijabi woman to compete in the Miss Minnesota pageant. During the 2016 competition she wore a burkini by Modanisa and was a semifinalist.

A year later, Aden signed a three-year modeling contract where she was promised a private changing area during shoots and shows. Her contract also outlined that her hijab was non-negotiable.

But according to the model, some stylists had other plans and some tried to downplay her hijab or replace it with other clothing items to change her look.

“The last two years, I trusted the team on set to do my hijab and that’s when I ran into problems,” she said in a BBC interview after announcing that she’s quitting. “like jeans being placed on my head in place of a regular scarf. The way they styled it, I was so far removed from my own image. My hijab kept shrinking and got smaller and smaller with each shoot.”

At the time, she said that her mother, who she is very close to, also wasn’t a big fan of her being in an industry so focused on looks and they had conversations about her faith, her identity and and her responsibility as a role model for Muslim women.

“It’s not easy being a minority within a minority within a minority. And being a Black Muslim, Somali American, former refugee, I have so many identities that make up who I am,” she said.

‘Hands off my hijab’: French Muslims rail against ban on religious garb in soccer
Amid an ongoing “internal conflict,” Aden found herself in situations where she had to compromise her beliefs in the name of fashion. But when her younger cousin expressed an interest in pursuing fashion and asked her for guidance, Aden realized that she couldn’t compromise anymore.

“I remember panicking, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, no, no, no.’ … I didn’t want her to be in this space because I realized it’s not a safe industry for a young hijabi woman,” Aden said.

“When I said no to her, I had to look in the mirror and ask myself, ‘Why am I in an industry that isn’t safe enough for my little cousin?'” she added. “… I had to then [come] to the conclusion that I must step away, because I didn’t want to be a hypocrite.”

When she announced that she was leaving the fashion industry, Aden shared a photo of her shoot with Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, writing, “(Rihanna) let me wear the hijab I brought to set. This is the girl I’m returning to, the real Halima.”

And although her mother is part of the reason she quit, she is also the reason she has now returned to fashion.

“She was the first to pick me back up and say, ‘No, you’re not going to quit, you’re going to dust yourself off and you’re going to come back bigger and better than ever,'” Aden said. “[Now] I’m using my platform the right way, and she’s my biggest fan and supporter.”

Muslim Americans confront legacy of 9/11 Islamophobia: ‘Unspoken tragedy’

Over the past year, Aden has been using her platform to speak up and share her story and by partnering with brands that are in line with her beliefs. She hopes to continue being a positive role model for women by encouraging them to remain true to themselves.

Asked what advice she would share with women who want to work in the fashion world, Aden said, “Own your identity, be proud of where you come from … have clear boundaries, and when those boundaries are being messed with, speak up.”

-ABC News’ Nidhi Singh contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Facebook announced Monday that it was pausing development of its controversial “Instagram Kids” platform meant for children under the age of 13.

“While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we’ve decided to pause this project,” Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said in company blog post Monday. “This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today.”

“Critics of ‘Instagram Kids’ will see this as an acknowledgement that the project is a bad idea,” Mosseri added. “That’s not the case. The reality is that kids are already online, and we believe that developing age-appropriate experiences designed specifically for them is far better for parents than where we are today.”

He noted how YouTube and TikTok have already created versions of their apps for those under 13. Instagram’s goal was to allow parents to supervise and control their tweens’ experience on a version built for users ages 10 to 12, he said.

“We firmly believe that it’s better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them — where parents can supervise and control their experience — than relying on an app’s ability to verify the age of kids who are too young to have an ID,” Mosseri wrote.

While Instagram Kids has been paused, Mosseri said the company will continue to build opt-in parental supervision tools for teens and expects to have more to share on this in the coming months.

The “Instagram Kids” proposal has faced pushback for months. In May, a bipartisan coalition of 44 state and territory attorneys general sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg urging the company to abandon the project, citing the potential for harm to children.

Lawmakers also pressed Zuckerberg over the project during a March hearing, when he argued that there is “a large number of people under the age of 13 who would want to use a service like Instagram” and that it could provide “broadly positive” benefits such as helping young people stay connected with friends and learn about content online.

Monday’s announcement also comes in the wake of a Wall Street Journal investigation that alleged Facebook’s own internal research found Instagram harmful for young users, especially teenage girls. Facebook and Instagram have argued the reporting mischaracterizes what they are trying to do and that research also shows positive benefits.

“Recent reporting from the WSJ on our research into teen’s experiences on Instagram has raised a lot of questions for people,” Mosseri wrote Monday. “To be clear, I don’t agree with how the Journal has reported on our research.”

“We do research like this so we can make Instagram better,” he added. “That means our insights often shed light on problems, but they inspire new ideas and changes to Instagram.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle did not seem appeased by Facebook’s announcement.

“Pausing Instagram kids is not enough,” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado, wrote on Twitter Monday. “They need to abolish the program completely.”

Another vocal critic of the project, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said on Twitter, “Facebook is heeding our calls to stop plowing ahead with plans to launch a version of Instagram for kids. But a ‘pause’ is insufficient.”

“Facebook must completely abandon this project,” Markey added

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(NEW YORK) — If you’re concerned about travel plans changing during the holidays, experts say it’s important to take stock of any vouchers you may be sitting on and utilize the lack of change fees.

1. Take Advantage of No Change Fees

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, major U.S. airlines have done away with change fees, allowing travelers to be more flexible with their plans and giving them the option to switch travel dates and flights.

Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, said it’s crucial to take advantage of this policy when booking holiday trips.

“During the pandemic, the airlines got rid of those change fees for most flights, so now when you book a flight, as long as it’s not in Basic Economy, you automatically have flexibility so that you can change your flight later on without having to pay any penalty to do so,” Keyes said in an interview with ABC News. “If the new flights you switch to are more expensive, you do have to cover that fare difference, but if the new dates are cheaper, you’ll actually get the difference back in the form of a travel credit.”

While carriers are being more accommodating, Keyes said it’s important to not think of this policy as “free cash.”

“What folks have now when they travel is that they have the flexibility to be able to change their travel dates or get a voucher from the airline for future travel, but again not conflating that with getting a cash refund.”

However, if you want to be certain that you will get your money back, be sure to book a “refundable” fare.

“To be able to get your money back for a flight that you no longer want to take, you had to have booked a much more expensive refundable ticket,” Keyes said. “Those are the only ones that allow you to fully get your money back if you decide later to cancel.”

2. Check to see if you have any vouchers, and if they’re still valid

If you didn’t book that refundable fare, you’re next best bet is contacting your airline and obtaining a travel voucher — this will allow you to use that money with the airline and rebook at a later date.

However, those vouchers don’t last forever, Keyes said.

“Vouchers in general have a use it or lose it component,” Keyes said. “You want to find out what the expiration date is so it doesn’t accidentally expire without your even realizing it.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, airlines began offering customers travel vouchers for trips already booked. Policies vary from carrier to carrier, so it’s important to read the fine print.

“You want to find out what is the expiration date refer to — does this refer to the date I have to travel by or just the date I have to book my flight by,” Keyes said.

If your voucher has expired, Keyes said not to lose hope.

“Give the airline a call and see if they’re willing to extend the deadline,” Keyes said. “The number of people traveling is still down significantly from where it was pre-pandemic and airlines are trying to engender not only goodwill among travelers, but also trying to make sure that folks fill up those planes.”

“It never hurts to ask.”

3. Treat it like a game of chicken

If your trip is already booked but you think you might have to make changes, Keyes said it might be worth waiting until the last minute to cancel or tweak your trip.

“My best piece of advice in that scenario is to treat it like a game of chicken,” Keyes said. “It’s either you cancel the flight, and you’re going to get a travel voucher from the airline, or maybe they cancel the flight, in which case you would be entitled to a cash refund — so it’s whoever blinks first.”

Last year, the Department of Transportation (DOT) cracked down on airlines, pushing them to be more transparent with their refund policies if a flight is cancelled or significantly delayed by the carrier.

The move came amid thousands of complaints from customers, many of which concerned refunds. At the time, DOT asked airlines, “to revisit their customer service policies and ensure they are as flexible and considerate as possible to the needs of passengers who face financial hardship during this time.”

“The one loophole here, which I think is really important for folks to know, is if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight, under federal law you are entitled to a full cash refund if you want one,” Keyes said.

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(NEW YORK) — Get your sedan while you still can.

The Toyota Avalon, Mazda 6 and Volkswagen Passat will soon join the fast-growing list of sedans sent to automotive exile. Americans’ unyielding appetite for sport utility vehicles and trucks are certainly one reason. Another? Electric vehicles, some experts say.

“Sports cars and sedans were already on the edge of the cliff,” Joe Wiesenfelder, executive editor at Cars.com, told ABC News. “EVs may be responsible for giving them the final shove.”

Ford, Lincoln and Chrysler abandoned the sedan segment long ago. More automakers will likely follow.

“When automakers put their attention elsewhere, something is going to lose and it’s usually the products that were already endangered,” Wiesenfelder said. “Automakers are abandoning a shape — not a need. Mid-size cars are now a subcompact SUV.”

Stephanie Brinley, an analyst at IHS Markit, argued EVs are now the reason automakers are shunning sedans and canceling production of longtime models.

“Sedans and sports cars will continue to fall away for a bit longer,” she wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. “It’s sad to me that these types are both being squeezed by the need to invest in EVs and electrification.”

Sales of SUVs and crossovers accounted for 51% of the U.S. market in 2020, up from 30.2% in 2020, according to Brinley. Sedan sales are in reverse: 22.6% in 2020 versus 46.2% in 2010.

“If we weren’t struggling with the costs of [electric vehicle] transition, some sedans may be able to survive even at lower volumes,” Brinley told ABC News. “EVs are capital-intensive and expensive. Product development money is going to EVs.”

Rory Carroll, the editor-in-chief of Jalopnik, said automakers have one objective: To make money.

“If you’re going to invest in something you won’t take money away from products that are selling,” he told ABC News. “Sports cars and sedans — those are not selling right now. Automakers are in the business to sell cars.”

Michael Tripp, vice president of vehicle marketing and communications at Toyota North America, defended the Avalon’s 28-year production run, saying the large sedan had a “storied history” with 30,000 units sold annually. Its quagmire? SUVs.

“What’s driving migration away from passenger cars isn’t a government mandate or what automakers are doing — it’s customer tastes,” Tripp told ABC News. “The [large sedan] segment is down 70% to 75% in the last four, five years. It has nothing to do with the Avalon’s powertrain. It has to do with the segment.”

The pandemic — and not EVs — likely accelerated the slide away from sedans, according to Autoweek editor Natalie Neff.

“Automakers have been steering away from that segment for a while,” she told ABC News. “People haven’t been buying sedans … it’s why Ford got out of the car building business a few years ago.”

Plus, she added, “the practicality of a sedan is far less than a crossover. It’s not like the sedan offers greater performance or fuel efficiency or utility.”

More Americans are slowly starting to go electric. Brinley said battery-electric vehicle registrations totaled 2.4% of the U.S. market in the first six months of 2021 and 1.8% last year. IHS Markit predicts 32% of U.S. light vehicle sales to be BEVs by 2030.

“EVs have not been widely accepted on the market partly because their development has been focused on straight line performance,” said Jalopnik’s Carroll. “It’s a cool trick but not a driving experience. My mom would be terrified to go that fast.”

Ten years ago, few if any Americans were interested in EVs when General Motors launched the Bolt and Volt, Wiesenfelder said. But government policy and an industry-wide push are shoring up these billion-dollar bets.

“There is a gamble in abandoning future product plans for anything but EVs,” Wiesenfelder admitted. “The last big push fizzled. It won’t this time. More manufacturers are in the game.”

Brinley is still convinced sedans have a place in the crowded automotive market. EVs may be trendy now, she said, but the stakes are high.

“For a lot of consumers, EVs are still a bit of a mystery. It will take time for adoption,” she said. “It will be a very long transition despite the hype.”

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(NEW YORK) — Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Friday to resolve a sanctions violation case that has kept her detained in Canada since late 2018.

Meng appeared by video in Brooklyn federal court where Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kessler said the deferred prosecution agreement expires in December 2022, four years after her arrest by Canadian authorities at the request of the United States.

“If Ms. Meng complies with all of her obligations under the DPA, the government agrees to dismiss all the charges against her,” Kessler said. “If Ms. Meng does not comply with her allegations she can be prosecuted.”

Meng has been confined to her multimillion-dollar home in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she said in 2019 she’d taken up oil painting in order to pass the time.

In exchange for her entry into the deferred prosecution agreement, Kessler said the U.S. would tell the Canadians that Meng can be released and return to China.

“Have you reviewed the entire statement of facts with your United States legal counsel?” asked Judge Ann Donnelly.

“Yes,” Meng replied through an interpreter.

“Is every statement in the statement of facts true and accurate?” Donnelly said.

“Yes,” Meng said.

Huawei allegedly broke U.S. sanctions in 2017 by selling embargoed American equipment to Iran, according to prosecutors.

“In entering into the deferred prosecution agreement, Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,” acting U.S. Attorney Nicole Boeckmann said in a statement. “Her admissions in the statement of facts confirm that, while acting as the Chief Financial Officer for Huawei, Meng made multiple material misrepresentations to a senior executive of a financial institution regarding Huawei’s business operations in Iran in an effort to preserve Huawei’s banking relationship with the financial institution.”

Meng pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, but stipulated to certain facts outlined by prosecutors who have accused her and the technology company founded by her father of stealing trade secrets and evading economic sanctions on Iran.

Resolution of the case may give Beijing cover domestically to re-engage with the United States. The case was widely seen as an opening salvo by the Trump administration in its approach to China.

Meng was arrested the same day former President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met face to face on the sidelines of 2018’s G-20 in Argentina. Since then, the case has been on a list of demands the Chinese have presented to the U.S. at their recent bilateral meetings as a “show of sincerity” about a rapprochement.

“The company has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng,” Huawei said in a statement at the time of Meng’s arrest. “Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the U.N., U.S. and E.U.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule Thursday to reduce super-polluting greenhouse gases commonly used in air conditioners and refrigerators as part of the cooling process.

This is a major leap forward in the Biden administration’s plan to combat climate change despite the president’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, which includes an overhaul on climate policy, facing broad opposition from Republicans in Congress.

These greenhouse gases, known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, have an impact on warming the climate that is hundreds to thousands of times greater than the same amount of carbon dioxide, senior Biden administration officials said in a call with reporters Wednesday.

The rule creates a legal requirement for companies and manufacturers to reduce HFCs and was first proposed in May under the 2020 American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, or AIM. The AIM Act requires the EPA to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs, manage the gases and their substitutes as well as facilitate the transition to new greener technologies.

Included in the new rule is the creation of a climate protection program that will phase down the production and consumption of HFCs by 85% within the next 15 years.

It’s expected the phase down will reduce emissions by the equivalent of 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050. According to the EPA officials, that’s equal to nearly three years of emissions from the U.S. power sector.

Reducing HFCs is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce the effects of climate change while also generating jobs, a key sticking point of his climate policy initiatives.

“This actually reaffirms what President Biden always says when he thinks about climate, he thinks about jobs,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters Wednesday. “Because this administration knows what’s good for the environment is also good for the economy. Transitioning to safer alternatives and more energy-efficient cooling technologies is expected to generate more than $270 billion in cost savings and public health benefits by the year 2050.”

The EPA estimated that by the end of next year, the annual net savings of reducing HFC emissions will be $1.7 billion.

The rule also establishes an allowance and trading program to reduce HFCs. In accordance with the AIM Act, companies need an allowance to produce or import any HFCs or HFC-related products. The agency will have the allocation amounts distributed to each company by Oct. 1, according to Joseph Goffman, EPA acting assistant administrator.

According to the EPA, along with five other agencies, it will work to prevent the illegal importation and production of HFCs in the U.S. by creating an interagency task force.

In the 1990s, the value of seizures of refrigerants at the U.S.-Mexico border were second only to marijuana, according to the advocacy group Environmental Investigation Agency.

Stephen Yurek, the president and CEO of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, a policy group that represents the interests of manufacturers, said the institute has supported the rule since the beginning.

“It’s great for U.S. industry which are the innovators of the new products. It’s great for the economy for jobs and that, but it’s also great for the environment,” Yurek said. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”

Climate advocates welcome the rule as well and that the Biden administration is moving forward to fulfill the requirements of the AIM Act, but some said this is just a starting point.

“It’s now imperative to adopt additional rules that ensure a swift transition to new technologies and full lifecycle management of these gases,” Christina Starr, senior policy analyst at the Environmental Investigation Agency, said in a statement.

Danielle Wright, the executive director of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council, which works to promote the transition to natural refrigeration agents such as ammonia, said there is no doubt that this rule is an important first step.

But the key about the rule is that it is a phase down, not a phase out, she said. It does not create a cost-effective pathway for companies to transition to the gases that have the lowest impact on the climate: natural refrigerants. Switching to these alternative gases for refrigeration and cooling would be the equivalent of switching to electric cars, according to Wright.

“In order to make that an economically viable decision, you need really strong policy,” Wright said. “And so this policy is not strong enough to create those economically viable market conditions. It’s still an environmental win, but we’re not going as far as we could,” she said.

By finalizing this rule, the U.S. will be in line with key components of the Montreal Protocol’s Kigali Amendment — an international agreement aimed at reducing the production of HFCs.

However, the U.S. has not ratified the Kigali Amendment to officially join the treaty, and the White House has yet to send the amendment to the Senate for ratification.

When asked by reporters when the president would send the amendment to the Senate, national climate adviser Gina McCarthy said she did not have a date for when that will happen.

Nonetheless, the EPA is calling this rule a historic step towards reducing the effects of climate change by implementing pollution regulations across multiple industries.

“This is a very proud moment for the EPA, and more importantly for the American people,” Regan said.

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(BETHESDA, Md.) — Over 3 million infant loungers made by Boppy, the popular maker of baby products, are being recalled after reports of eight infant deaths between 2015 and 2020, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced Thursday.

Boppy is recalling its Boppy Original Newborn Loungers, Boppy Preferred Newborn Loungers and Pottery Barn Kids Boppy Newborn Loungers, according to the CPSC.

The eight infant deaths reportedly happened after infants were placed on their back, side or stomach and fell asleep on the lounger, according to the CPSC.

The infants reportedly suffocated and were found on their side or their stomach, the agency said.

The CPSC urged people to “immediately stop” using the recalled loungers.

“These types of incidents are heartbreaking,” Acting Chairman Robert S. Adler, CPSC commissioner, said in a statement. “Loungers and pillow-like products are not safe for infant sleep, due to the risk of suffocation. Since we know that infants sleep so much of the time — even in products not intended for sleep — and since suffocation can happen so quickly, these Boppy lounger products are simply too risky to remain on the market.”

In response to the recall, Boppy said it is “devastated to hear of these tragedies.”

“Boppy is committed to doing everything possible to safeguard babies, including communicating the safe use of our products to parents and caregivers, and educating the public about the importance of following all warnings and instructions and the risks associated with unsafe sleep practices for infants,” the company said in a statement. “The lounger was not marketed as an infant sleep product and includes warnings against unsupervised use.”

The recalled products were sold at retailers including Pottery Barn, Target, and Walmart and Amazon.com from January 2004 to today, according to the CPSC. The loungers retailed for between $30 and $44 and were “solid in a variety of colors and fashions.”

Boppy also distributed about 35,000 of the recalled loungers in Canada, according to the CPSC.

Customers should contact The Boppy Company for a credit or refund, according to the CPSC.

The news of the recall follows a report from Consumer Reports earlier this month that found seven recent infant deaths were tied to nursing pillows and infant loungers made by Boppy,

It also comes one year after the CPSC issued a warning for caregivers about the risks of using pillow-like products for sleeping infants.

The 2020 warning from CPSC, which applied to all nursing pillows and baby loungers on the market, said infant deaths involving the products appeared to happen when “children are left on or near pillows, and the child rolls over, rolls off, or falls asleep.”

The recall announced Thursday applies only to loungers made by Boppy, and does not include nursing pillows or all pillow-like products on the market.

Caregivers should always place infants to sleep on their backs on a firm, flat surface and should never add “blankets, pillows, padded crib bumpers, or other items to an infant’s sleeping environment,” according to both the CPSC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

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