now. president biden pardons his son hunter, despite repeatedly saying he would not do so. >> biden, using his presidential power to let his son off the hook for federal gun and tax charges, saying his son was singled out and unfairly prosecuted. the fallout this morning and the reaction from

president elect trump also this morning, cyber monday is here. >> retailers putting out the big sales as the holiday season officially gets underway. >> plus, the health dangers of reusing plastic food containers with the new studies are claiming about those microplastics leaking into our food. and why? one expert now says it's impossible to avoid them. >> and the big weekend for football from the philadelphia eagles taking flight to the buffalo bills, enjoying a home field advantage in their element. it's monday, december 2nd. >> from abc news this is world news now. >> good morning everyone. thank you so much for joining us. as you get back to your routine. it is cyber monday. we'll have all of that coming up in just a little bit. but we want to begin with this morning's big story. hunter biden receiving a pardon from his dad just weeks before donald trump returns to the white house after promising not to issue a pardon. >> president biden made the announcement last night, wiping out his son's convictions on

federal gun and tax charges and sparing him the possibility of prison time. it comes as trump named a staunch loyalist to lead the fbi this morning. new reaction to president biden's decision to pardon his son hunter, despite previous promises not to do so. this was president biden in june with our david muir and have you ruled out a pardon for your son? >> yes. >> the pardon comes after hunter spent thanksgiving in nantucket with his father, and just days before he was due to be sentenced in two separate federal cases. one case involving a felony charge for buying a gun in 2018, the other stemming from his guilty plea on tax evasion charges. each could have carried years in prison. >> he wasn't, i think, going to do any of this prior to the election on november 5th, but that could have been under the conditions where there was a possible expectation of a democratic president. kamala harris, taking office in january. >> hunter's pardon covers not just the gun and tax offenses, but also any other offenses against the united states which he has committed or may have

committed or taken part in during the period from january 1st, 2014 through december 1st, 2024. biden, explaining the pardon, saying raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. house republicans tried to use hunter's overseas business ventures in their attempt to impeach president biden, who has long denied involvement in his son's business activities. judiciary chairman jim jordan saying democrats said there was nothing to our impeachment inquiry. if that's the case, why did joe biden just issue hunter biden a pardon for the very things we were inquiring about? colorado's democratic governor, jared polis, also reacting, saying he was disappointed president biden put his family ahead of the country. and president elect trump asking, does the pardon given by joe to hunter include the january six hostages? the pardon announcement came just hours after trump announced plans to fire fbi director christopher wray and replace him with longtime ally kash patel. >> i think given that trump has promised a vindictive department of justice and has put nominees

up both at doj and for fbi director who appeared to adhere to that vision, putting his son in the bureau of prisons within the power and control of donald trump, a political rival, it was probably something as a father, he needed to do to protect his son. >> patel, a national security official under the first trump administration, has promoted claims of a so-called deep state, a term used to describe career government employees allegedly working together to secretly manipulate government policy. >> i'd shut down the fbi hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state, and i take the 7000 employees that work in that building and send them across america to chase down criminals. go be cops. >> patel's nomination is sparking controversy on both sides of the aisle, prompting questions about whether the senate will even confirm him. meanwhile, back to hunter biden's pardon. biden is not the first president to deploy his pardon powers. trump pardoned the father of his son in law,

jared kushner, and president clinton pardoned his half brother, roger. >> well, a record setting thanksgiving travel period is basically over, and no significant problems were reported as millions pass through the nation's airports. it was the weather making all the headlines, especially around the great lakes, where feet of lake effect snow has been coming down and will continue to come down. today, up to two more feet of it is forecast. and some of those areas through today. the snow and rain will spread out across the northeast at the end of the week and get ready for the coldest air in months this week. single digits in minneapolis on wednesday, while chicago will be in the teens. bur nashville, new york and boston all below freezing tomorrow morning. >> canadian prime minister justin trudeau has promised president elect trump tougher border controls. that's according to a top canadian official who joined trudeau and trump for dinner at mar a lago following trump's tariff threat. earlier, canada's ambassador to the u.s. said trudeau was able to get trump to understand that it's unfair to lump canada in with mexico over the flow of

drugs and migrants into the united states. >> the family of an israeli american hostage held by hamas. for more than a year is renewing their push for his release this weekend. hamas put out a video of 20 year old edan alexander, which the white house called a cruel reminder of hamas's terror. here's abc's ines de la cuetara. >> my name is ivan alexander. >> new calls for a hostage release with hamas posting a new propaganda video of american israeli hostage edan alexander in gaza held captive for more than 400 days. >> i am an american israeli citizen currently being held captive in a gaza strip. >> speaking under duress in the heavily edited footage, alexander can be seen calling on israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and president elect trump to negotiate a hostage deal. his father, speaking at a rally in new york, seconding his son's plea. >> i stand here after seeing my son alive for the first time in over a year, president biden, president trump, prime minister

netanyahu. i call on all of you to act with four americans still being held in gaza. >> national security adviser jake sullivan says the white house has been working on a hostage and ceasefire deal, and that there was activity. >> we are determined to try to move rapidly to get those hostages home, get a ceasefire in place in gaza. >> some combing through rubble after fresh israeli strikes killed at least 47 people, according to the hamas run gaza health ministry. the world central kitchen, announcing it is suspending its operations in gaza after an israeli strike on one of its unmarked vehicles killed five people. the idf says it was targeting someone who was involved in the october 7th massacre. the world central kitchen says it has no knowledge of any of the passengers had ties to the attacks. and amid the growing food shortage in gaza, strong condemnation from netanyahu's formerefense chief and former head of the idf telling israeli media that israel is on a path of ethnic cleansing in gaza. in an abc

news london. >> and as thank you. well, dictionary.com word of the year is demure. and now the oxford university press is out with its word of the year. >> but it's actually two words. whatever the oxford university press word of the year is brainrot. it is defined as the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material considered to be trivial or unchallenging, like social media. >> yes, they point out that the trivial material that they are talking about is, and unsurprisingly, mostly on. >> i can feel the brain rot sometimes. can you? >> yes. when i'm on for too long and i'm mindlessly scrolling. try to be more mindful about that. i'm not waiting till january 1st, you know, as a new year's resolution to kind of go for it and scale back on social media. i'm going to do that now. >> good idea. yeah, i'll do it after the holidays. okay. coming up, the blow out in the blizzard. >> plus two important recalls

involving items that could be in your refrigerator right now. cucumbers and eggs. >> what you need to know and why experts are sounding a new alarm over why we should not be reusing plastic food

>> press your luck. special holiday episode tonight on abc. >> we are back now with the cyber monday deals that are already underway. amazon started theirs on saturday and the online deals started at walmart, target and best buy yesterday. online or not, it seems shoppers are in a buying mood. adobe says

online sales on black friday were nearly $11 billion. that is up more than 10% from just last year. they also say today's online sales will be bigger than black friday. and we have two important recalls to tell you about some fed produce is recalling whole fresh american cucumbers because of possible salmonella contamination. >> at least 18 people have been hospitalized. the cucumbers were sold in at least 26 states, and more than 10,000 cartons of organic eggs are being recalled. also, because of potential salmonella contamination. they were sold at costco in five states in the south. so far, no illnesses have been reported, and scientists are sounding the alarm on some of the plastic items most of us use every single day. >> they say we could be endangering our health by repeatedly reusing those containers that are only meant to be a one time only use. abc's alison kosik has the details. >> thinking of refilling that plastic water bottle you bought from the convenience store, or reusing the takeout container from last night's dinner. researchers say you may want to

think twice. >> the single use plastics if they're used over and over and over again, the risk of leaching out certain chemicals and exposure to microplastics increases as you use these products, which are intended to only be used one time. >> we've seen the recent headlines, the washington post declaring reusing plastic water bottles and to go containers. scientists say that's a bad idea. and the atlantic saying throw out your black plastic spatula. they cite various studies that suggest harmful chemicals, including carcinogens and plastic bits are leaching into your food. studies suggest even washing sturdier, reusable plastic containers on the hot cycle in the dishwasher could be hazardous, but experts warn this research is only preliminary. >> me personally, i have not thrown out every plastic item in the house. you do what you can and i'm not telling everyone in america to throw out every single plastic item in their house either. i do want to emphasize that it is nearly impossible to get away from microplastics. it is in our

soil. it is in the air, it's in clothing fibers. it's manufactured in. so many different things. food casings. it really is everywhere. >> the big takeaway amid all this concern, experts say, try to limit how much plastic you use by using glass containers instead and drinking from metal straws instead of plastic. >> the research that is still developing in the area of plastics and the safety of microplastics is still ongoing, so right now, experts are recommending to limit plastic use where you can and use things as directed. so if something is directed to be a single use product, it should be used that way. >> at the same time, global talks about how to reduce plastic pollution just collapsed overnight. representatives from 170 countries, including the u.s, couldn't agree on how to dial back plastic production. rhiannon. andrew. >> all right. alison a little bit scary. yeah. good

information too, though. it turns out children and people of reproductive age face the highest risk when reusing those plastic products. so keep that in mind. coming up, frolicking in the snow. the great danes caught on camera having a ball the time of their life off of lake erie, and how all that lake effect snow seemed to give the buffalo bills a hometown advantage over the san francisco 49 ers. >> that's next. you're

christmas tuesday on abc. >> welcome back danny. new joins us now for sports news. now we

are starting with what is being called the blowout in the blizzard. yeah. >> you know, when i saw danny this morning he was very excited. i thought it was because i was back, but it was for a different reason. we'll get to that in a moment. >> but first, he missed you a lot about the 40 niners taking on the bills. >> everybody talking about that heavy snow coming down the entire game. and this was light compared to the forecast at least leading up to the game. >> i know they were still doing snow angels afterwards. and you could tell which team is from buffalo. the bills showed their experience in these conditions. josh allen you just look at this. this play helped him become the first quarterback ever in one game to have a passing, receiving and rushing touchdown. pretty incredible. he can do it all. and the bills win big 35 to 10. yeah love a snow game. >> and then we mentioned why danny is in a good mood. is this because the eagles are soaring eight in a row. is that good. that's good good. >> facing the ravens at baltimore who are an incredible team. this was back and forth but at first it was all baltimore. they were up nine. nothing in the first quarter.

>> nervous i was very nervous. >> but then dallas goddard got a touchdown here. and then we had some life. >> yeah. saquon barkley scoring on a 25 yard run in the fourth to put things out of reach for them. the eagles win their eighth in a row. as danny said 24 to 19 a little too close for comfort right danny i'll take it. >> and at that exact moment when saquon scored this touchdown, our producer lourdes asked me a question. i was like, i'll be right there. yeah, just one second. touchdown real quick. >> shouldn't he be in the conversation. saquon barkley for mvp. >> yes. he's now second in the odds to josh allen to josh allen. >> he hasn't gone to a non quarterback in what feels like forever since adrian peterson adrian peterson i've looked this up i'm very in on saquon being mvp. sure you have. >> if danny has a vote we know which way it's going okay let's talk college football. this wasn't the only scene of a big upset this weekend. >> we're heavy right. we got to go to break. >> maybe there was a stunner in central new york. miami's cam ward. he had a touchdown pass to elijah arroyo giving six ranked miami a 21 to 0 first half lead

over syracuse. at least at one point, they were up 21 zero. but it's not how you start, it's how you finish. >> it was all syracuse after that. it was crazy. they won 4238. the loss knocked miami out of the acc championship game, which me and andrew were both flying. planning on flying to charlotte for now. they're not going. >> that's a heartbreaker anymore. the canes always find a way to disappoint me. great season though, and congratulations to syracuse. >> yeah they are good and we are terrible. and we broke my soul. >> hey there's still a chance. and it was a big, big weekend for college football a lot of upsets. you had the fight in sts

not, poof, it stinks. >> we are back now with the mix. we're starting with the scare down under, and it happened at a particularly dangerous time. >> for one woman. >> she was driving, driving, flying down the road at 50 miles an hour when she felt this

crawling up her leg. no, that is a not just a snake, a deadly tiger snake. >> oh, my goodness. somehow she was able to fend it off without getting bitten, pull over and then freak out, jumping out of her car, flagging down someone for help. >> this guy named tim from melbourne snake control came to the rescue and bagged that critter. just another wednesday. or you know, your average day down. >> i always i really australia is on my bucket list, but when i hear stories like this, i just don't know if i can do it. >> well, that's the thing with florida too. it's like you want to be in the sunshine, in the warmth, but there's more things that live down. >> i had to pull over once because i saw a giant spider in my car. >> oh my god, you burn the car. >> i should have next to a pack of much friendlier animals much closer to home, a breeder of great danes showed off. >> oh, somewhere in that deep, deep snow that was dumped all over northeast pennsylvania on the coast of lake erie. there's a great dane in there. >> oh. so cute. parts of buffalo are already buried under three feet of snow or more.

>> the national weather service has extended its lake effect snow warning until tomorrow night. oh, boy. but you get cute fun for the animals. >> yeah, they're loving it. >> and it is also looking like christmas overseas as well. >> brussels has kicked off the christmas season with a spectacular light show. look at this. i know this looks like cgi. it is so beautiful. gorgeous high tech laser lights danced across the structural stone of the city's iconic grand place. i've never been to brussels. i want to go. >> all right, your move, new york city. you got to top this. well, all we have is a tree right now. all right. the stunningly ornate buildings are said to date back to the late 17th century, having been built more than a century before. power tools, light bulbs and electricity. it's come a long way since then. >> and the dazzling light show will continue every night through new year's. also shout out to notre dame, which is going to be reopening. yes, very exciting. yes. >> and it looks beautiful. we got a sneak peek of it. it looks incredible. finally closer to home. plenty of lights are dazzling. one neighborhood in new jersey, 82,000 to be exact. >> and it's not just a family event for the hawk family. it's

now become a community attraction. every saturday after thanksgiving. the flipping of the switch, of course, until the hoa gets involved, which is inevitable. right, guys? light pollution. can't have fun things. >> well, the family's been planning this since august, so they had time to tell the hoa about it. the lights go up in october. this year's theme is called summer in december, and if you're wondering, yes, the parent, one of the parents is an electrician and i see they've got a palm trees and surfboards and the snowman wearing sunglasses. >> i do this i love when the community comes together

a cherished tradition set in 1915 san francisco. delight in a fun-filled holiday experience. ♪ tickets on sale now at sfballet.org

♪♪ from the alex trebek stage at sony pictures studios, this is... ♪♪ here are today's contestants-- a re-entry employment advocate from richmond, virginia...