(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.
(ATLANTA) — Nearly half of kids ages 1 to 5 are not eating a daily vegetable and nearly one-third are not eating a daily fruit, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the same time, the majority of kids — 57% — in that age range reported drinking at least one added-sugar beverage per week, according to the CDC, which analyzed data from the 2021 National Survey of Children’s Health, which included more than 18,000 children.
Current dietary guidelines for kids ages 1 to 5 recommend 1/2 to 2 cups each of vegetables and fruits per day depending on age and caloric needs.
The CDC recommends that children younger than 2 not consume any added sugars.
For children older than 2, the recommendation is that added sugars contribute less than 10% of total calories consumed.
“When kids are limiting or reducing beverages with added sugar, that can have some significant health impacts,” Heather Hamner, lead study author and senior health scientist in the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, told ABC News. “Those are linked to cavities and can be linked to later obesity.”
The new CDC data on what kids are consuming comes as obesity remains on the rise in the U.S., including among children.
One in 5 U.S. children and teens are living with obesity, according to the CDC. Obesity is a serious condition that, if left untreated, can lead to long-term health problems.
Children with obesity are at a higher risk for diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and depression.
The study found that southern states such as Louisiana and Mississippi had higher proportions of children who did not eat a daily vegetable but drank a sugary drink weekly compared to northern states such as Vermont and Maine.
The statistics also varied by race, age and income, according to the study.
The percentage of children who did not eat a daily fruit or vegetable was higher among Black children as well as those living in homes with “limited food sufficiency,” and in kids ages 2 to 5.
“This is an opportunity for states to think about the programs and the policies that they have and how they can improve those or continue those supports for … early childhood nutrition,” Hamner said, adding, “Really thinking about where children live, learn, and play.”
Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics released new guidelines on treating childhood obesity.
The guidelines recommend children be proactively evaluated and treated for obesity, noting that treatments, including medications and weight loss surgery, can be effective and can help reduce the risk of developing other health conditions.
The AAP also said childhood obesity is a disease with genetic, social and environmental factors — not something caused by individual choices — and that it shouldn’t be stigmatized by health care providers.
Pediatricians should screen children with obesity for conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression at routine checkups, the AAP said in the new guidelines.
What parents can do to help kids
In its new guidelines, the AAP called for policy changes that could help reduce racial disparities in childhood obesity, including improving access to healthy foods and treatments for groups at greatest risk.
The organization said parents should talk to their child’s pediatrician to make any additional health and lifestyle changes, and can model and encourage healthy eating and physical activity for their children.
Cooking with children can make them excited about healthy eating. Preparing meals with vegetables, fruits, and grains can provide a balanced diet. Children should be encouraged to stay active daily or get involved in sports.
Hamner, the author of the CDC study, said she recommends that parents offer a fruit and a vegetable at every meal and snack, starting from an early age.
Parents should also feel encouraged to continue offering fruits and vegetables, even if kids don’t like them initially.
“A lot of times we hear that there’s picky eating,” she said. “But we also have research that suggests that kids can take up to 10 or more times to try a food before they really learn to accept it.”
Hamner said parents should also keep in mind that fresh is not the only option to offer kids, explaining, “Frozen and canned vegetables are a good source of nutrients and vitamins.”
Describing the importance of giving kids fruits and vegetables, Hamner added, “We know that nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables can help support their growth and development and lay the foundation for later dietary behaviors.”
Mallory Rowley is a fourth-year medical student and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Karra Maniér, MD, and Nicole McLean MD, MPH, both members of the ABC News Medical Unit, also contributed to this report.
Every year, the NAACP Image Awards hand out the President’s Award, honoring an individual for their distinguished public service. Receiving that award this year are Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade.
“We’re thrilled to present this award to Gabrielle Union-Wade and Dwyane Wade who together have consistently utilized their platforms to advance social justice and raise awareness to the inequalities existing in our country,” Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, said. “We’re proud to recognize the couple’s tireless humanitarian work as they continue to advocate for equality and acceptance for all.”
Gabrielle has supported organizations and nonprofits like Van Ness Recovery House, Leap for Ladies and Deborah’s Place; via her Flawless hair care line, she’s formed the Lift As We Climb initiative to support and share more resources with Black-owned small businesses.
Dwyane co-founded the Social Change Fund United alongside Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, intended “to support critical and timely issues impacting the Black community,” per the site. He’s advocated for stronger gun control, donated money to the Parkland students’ March for Our Lives, and launched an art exhibit to honor the 17 lives lost at the high school shooting. Wade also launched the Spotlight On initiative, which highlights Chicago youth “who are actively changing the city for the better.”
Together, Gab and Dwyane have backed causes advancing racial justice and LGBTQ equality by donating to marginalized communities in need via their Wade Family Foundation.
“This year’s recipients of the NAACP President’s Award are not just a timely signifier of the issues that matter most to the community; they are a testament to what is possible when one commits themselves to advancement in those areas,” said BET’s president and CEO Scott Mills.
The NAACP Image Awards will air February 25 at 8 p.m. ET on BET.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will speak at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday about the country’s “response” to four aerial objects that have been shot down in recent weeks, according to the White House.
Biden has faced growing pressure from Republicans and Democrats to address the nation on the suspected Chinese spy balloon and the three other unidentified objects that were shot down in North American airspace beginning earlier this month.
His remarks on Thursday will be the first time he’s commented extensively on the issue.
According to the White House, Biden will address “the United States’ response to recent aerial objects” in a formal speech from the South Court Auditorium.
“That includes our decisive response to China’s high-altitude surveillance balloon and the president putting the safety and security of the American people always first,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily briefing.
The balloon that traversed the continental U.S. between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4 added tension to the already fraught U.S.-China relationship. Biden was criticized by Republicans for not taking action to shoot the balloon down earlier, though he said he ordered it be taken down as soon as possible but his military advisers said it was too risky to do over land.
Since then, three unidentified aerial objects were downed by the U.S. military over three successive days — one over Alaska, one over Canada and the third over Lake Huron in Michigan.
The administration has yet to confirm what those objects were or where they came from, though White House spokesperson John Kirby said earlier this week a “leading explanation” within the intelligence community is that the objects may have been for commercial or benign use.
An interagency review has been underway “to study the broader policy implications for detection, analysis, and disposition of unidentified aerial objects that pose either safety or security risks,” Kirby said Monday.
“They are continuing to work intensively to put forward parameters … that work is continuing but you will hear from the president and he will give an update on what has occurred over the last several days,” Jean-Pierre said Thursday of the interagency review. She had previously said their work was expected to be done by the end of the week.
(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.
There’s no doubt music can make you happy, but a new study suggests some songs do a better job at brightening someone’s day than others. StudyFinds reports that a university professor claims to have found a scientific formula to discover what song makes people the happiest, with The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” topping the list.
Dr. Michael Bonshor, who has a Ph.D. in music psychology, claims the happiest songs are in a major key with 7th chords and 137 beats per minute. They also have four beats in every bar and are structured with a verse-chorus-verse-chorus.
The Beach Boys actually have two happy songs in the top 10, with “I Get Around” landing at seven.
Other tunes making the happiest songs list include James Brown‘s“I Got You (I Feel Good)” at two, BillyJoel’s “Uptown Girl” at five, Bob Marley’s “Sun Is Shining” at six, The Village People’s “YMCA” at eight, ABBA’s “Waterloo” at nine and the Earth, Wind & Fire classic “September” at 10.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
Actor Justice Smith is used to dodging dinosaur-sized threats in the Jurassic World movies, but his newest film, Sharper, streaming Friday on Apple TV+, features no computer-generated menaces.
That said, he explains to ABC Audio, looming large in the film is a threat bigger than any dinosaur.
“In another interview, someone was like, ‘ … you ran from dinosaurs and dragons and Pokémon and stuff and, you know, there’s no like big bad guy in this.’ But the big bad guy in this is capitalism and corporate greed,” he explains.
The movie’s title refers to a slang term for a swindler; in the film, his character, Tom, finds himself the target of some pretty sophisticated ones. With billions of dollars at stake from the empire run by his cold father (John Lithgow), Tom soon finds out the hard way that he can’t trust anyone.
“I love how this movie shows how thrilling simple human interaction can be,” Smith continues. “You know, it doesn’t have to be surrounded by all this fluff. You know, it can just be our relationships on screen and still capture an audience.”
Sharper also stars executive producer and Oscar winner Julianne Moore, The Tender Bar‘s Briana Middleton, and Marvel movie star and Pam & Tommy Emmy nominee Sebastian Stan.
(ATLANTA) — The Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election has recommended to prosecutors that they seek indictments against witnesses who they believe may have lied during their testimony, according to excerpts of the grand jury’s report released Thursday.
“A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” the grand jury wrote in the report. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”
The report does not list any names of those who grand jury members believe may have committed perjury.
Separately, the grand jury also found “by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election.”
Outside of this, in the few paragraphs that were released of the report’s introduction, conclusion, and section on perjury, there were no details revealed regarding whether or not the grand jury recommended changes for anyone related to efforts to overturn the election.
The report does not name any potential targets for indictment, nor does it offer any rationale for its allegations of perjury. It does not mention Trump by name, nor any of the 75 witnesses interviewed as part of their probe.
Excerpts from the report were released following an order earlier this week from a Georgia judge overseeing the case. The majority of the long-anticipated report — the final product of a monthslong grand jury investigation into potential 2020 election interference in the state — remains sealed on order of Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney.
McBurney’s ruling came after he heard arguments last month over whether or not to publicly release the report. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued for the report to remain sealed, saying that it was important to “be mindful of protecting future defendants’ rights.”
Willis also said during the hearing that charging decisions were “imminent.”
Thomas Clyde, a lawyer representing a coalition of media outlets that includes ABC News, urged McBurney to order the release of the report based on existing case law and “a genuine public interest in what these jurors found.”
Though the special grand jury does not have the power to bring indictments, it has the power to make recommendations regarding potential charges. It would then be up to the district attorney to determine whether or not to pursue them.
According to the order from the judge, the full report provided just that: “a roster of who should (or should not) be indicted, and for what, in relation to the conduct (and aftermath) of the 2020 general election in Georgia,” McBurney wrote.
Those recommendations, however, are “for the District Attorney’s eyes only — for now,” McBurney ordered.
Willis on Monday told Atlanta ABC News affiliate WSB that she was “very pleased” with the order.
Ambassador Norman Eisen (ret.), a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2020, told ABC News that despite the judge shielding most of the report, “it’s clear from the judge’s order that the grand jury recommended charges.”
“The question is: I don’t think that if people are being charged, Trump can logically be left out, because he was the ringleader,” Eisen told ABC News. “He was the mastermind of the plots.”
Eisen pointed to McBurney’s note that the report gave recommendations regarding “who should (or should not) be indicted, and for what.”
“Really, if no one was being indicted, there would be no need to say, ‘for what,'” Eisen said. “That second clause only makes sense if someone is getting indicted.”
In a statement before last month’s hearing to determine the report’s release, attorneys representing Trump in the matter said they did not expect to see charges recommended for the former president.
“The grand jury compelled the testimony of dozens of other, often high-ranking, officials during the investigation, but never found it important to speak with the President,” Trump’s attorneys said in a statement. “He was never subpoenaed nor asked to come in voluntarily by this grand jury or anyone in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.”
Therefore, the attorneys said, they “assume that the grand jury did their job and looked at the facts and the law, as we have, and concluded there were no violations of the law by President Trump” — although there’s no indication if that’s true or not.
Attorneys representing Trump did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment ahead of the report’s release.
Regarding the grand jury’s concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath during their testimony, Eisen said the district attorney could further pursue those witnesses.
“I don’t think Fani Willis is going to let witnesses get away with perjury before her grand jury,” Eisen said. “She can use that to coerce the liars to tell the truth and cooperate. By lying they’ve given her leverage over them.”
The special grand jury, which was seated in May 2022, was composed of 26 members of the public who heard testimony from over 75 witnesses, prosecutors said.
Those who were subpoenaed and appeared before the grand jury included some of Trump’s closest allies and supporters, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, who unsuccessfully fought his subpoena up to the United State Supreme Court.
Giuliani, along with 16 so-called “fake electors” who allegedly participated in a scheme to overturn the state’s election results, were notified last year that they were considered “targets” of the investigation.
Responding to the notification of his status as a target of the probe, Giuliani said, “I appeared in Georgia as attorney for Donald J. Trump — so I’m going to be prosecuted for what I did as an attorney?”
The Justice Department is also examining the allegations involving fake electors as part of its own separate investigation, sources have told ABC News.
Attorneys for the electors have denied any wrongdoing in their actions.
“They cannot have and did not commit any crime as a matter of fact and law,” attorney Holly Pierson, who represents 11 of the alleged fake electors, wrote in a court filing.
The jury was seated last May as part of Willis’ criminal probe into allegations of election interference, which was launched in February 2021. The investigation was sparked in part by the now-infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump pleaded with Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” the exact number Trump needed to win Georgia.
Trump has repeatedly defended his call to Raffensperger, calling it “perfect.”
Anthrax‘s tour with Black Label Society and Exodus somehow got even heavier when Pantera bassist Rex Brown made a surprise appearance during Wednesday night’s show in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Brown took the stage alongside the “Madhouse” metallers to perform the Anthrax tune “Only” and a bit of Pantera’s “Domination.” You can watch footage of the Panthrax collaboration now via guitarist Scott Ian‘s Instagram.
“Can you tell we’re having fun?” Ian captioned the video. “It felt like 1997 up there.”
With Brown, three members of the current incarnation of Pantera took the stage at the Albuquerque show. Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde joined the reformed band last year in place of the late Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and “Dimebag” Darrell, respectively.
The Anthrax/Black Label Society/Exodus tour wraps up February 19 in Anaheim, California.
Tyson Ritter isn’t ready to “Move Along” from The All-American Rejects anytime soon.
Responding to a tweet from a fan wondering about the status of the group, which hasn’t released a new album since 2012, Ritter declared that the “Dirty Little Secret” outfit will “never break up.”
However, that doesn’t mean you should expect a deluge of new Rejects music in the near future.
“We started this band when I was 13. I’m 38 now,” Ritter says. “A lot of growth and change can make writing for the rejects feel like holding hands with a girlfriend from the past. You wouldn’t want to hear music from a forced moment like that. Ever.”
More importantly, though, is that Ritter and company still “love playing together.”
“[We love] to play the songs that so many have made memories to, and we get to go back to that place with the audience, not try to bring them to some current moment that is just a watered down false attempt,” Ritter says. “We celebrate the legacy. We always will.”
Despite the lack of a full-length effort, The All-American Rejects have continued to release music here and there over the past decade, including the 2019 EP Send Her to Heaven and the 2020 single “Me vs. the World.”
Ritter, meanwhile, launched a new band, Now More Than Ever, last fall.
