World
Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts on the app to protect children
Instagram is introducing separate teen accounts for those under 18 as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people’s lives.
Beginning Tuesday in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, anyone under under 18 who signs up for Instagram will be placed into a teen account and those with existing accounts will be migrated over the next 60 days. Teens in the European Union will see their accounts adjusted later this year.
Meta acknowledges that teenagers may lie about their age and says it will require them to verify their ages in more instances, like if they try to create a new account with an adult birthday. The Menlo Park, California company also said it is building technology that proactively finds teen accounts that pretend to be grownups and automatically places them into the restricted teen accounts.
The teen accounts will be private by default. Private messages are restricted so teens can only receive them from people they follow or are already connected to. “Sensitive content,” such as videos of people fighting or those promoting cosmetic procedures, will be limited, Meta said. Teens will also get notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes and a “sleep mode” will be enabled that turns off notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m.
While these settings will be turned on for all teens, 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to turn them off. Kids under 16 will need their parents’ permission to do so.
“The three concerns we’re hearing from parents are that their teens are seeing content that they don’t want to see or that they’re getting contacted by people they don’t want to be contacted by or that they’re spending too much on the app,” said Naomi Gleit, head of product at Meta. “So teen accounts is really focused on addressing those three concerns.”
The announcement comes as the company faces lawsuits from dozens of U.S. states that accuse it of harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.
In the past, Meta’s efforts at addressing teen safety and mental health on its platforms have been met with criticism that the changes don’t go far enough. For instance, while kids will get a notification when they’ve spent 60 minutes on the app, they will be able to bypass it and continue scrolling.
That’s unless the child’s parents turn on “parental supervision” mode, where parents can limit teens’ time on Instagram to a specific amount of time, such as 15 minutes.
With the latest changes, Meta is giving parents more options to oversee their kids’ accounts. Those under 16 will need a parent or guardian’s permission to change their settings to less restrictive ones. They can do this by setting up “parental supervision” on their accounts and connecting them to a parent or guardian.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said last week that parents don’t use the parental controls the company has introduced in recent years.
Gleit said she thinks teen accounts will create a “big incentive for parents and teens to set up parental supervision.”
“Parents will be able to see, via the family center, who is messaging their teen and hopefully have a conversation with their teen,” she said. “If there is bullying or harassment happening, parents will have visibility into who their teen’s following, who’s following their teen, who their teen has messaged in the past seven days and hopefully have some of these conversations and help them navigate these really difficult situations online.”
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said last year that tech companies put too much on parents when it comes to keeping children safe on social media.
“We’re asking parents to manage a technology that’s rapidly evolving that fundamentally changes how their kids think about themselves, how they build friendships, how they experience the world — and technology, by the way, that prior generations never had to manage,” Murthy said in May 2023.
																	
																															World
Avalanche in Nepal kills 7 climbers on Mount Yalung Ri
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An avalanche on Monday swept through a camp in Nepal, killing five foreign climbers and two Nepali guides, officials said.
Five foreigners were injured at the base camp on Mount Yalung Ri, located at 16,070 feet. Their nationalities and identities have not been disclosed.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the agency was aware of the avalanche and was working to gather information.
“The U.S. Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens,” the spokesperson said. “We are closely monitoring the situation and stand ready to provide consular assistance.”
DAREDEVIL MOUNTAINEER MAKES HISTORY SKIING DOWN MOUNT EVEREST THROUGH DEATH ZONE WITHOUT OXYGEN
Mount Everest is shown in Nepal. On Monday, seven people died at the base camp on Mount Yalung Ri, also in Nepal. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Rescue crews were reaching the site on foot. A rescue helicopter attempted to reach the site, but bad weather forced it to turn back. Nepal’s Armed Police Force spokesperson Shailendra Thapa said it will try again Tuesday at dawn.
BLIZZARD TRAPS HUNDREDS ON MOUNT EVEREST AS RESCUE TEAMS RACE TO SAVE LIVES
Mount Yalung Ri is an 18,370-foot peak. It’s considered suitable for beginners with no previous experience climbing high mountains.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest.
Earlier this month, a South Korean climber died after getting caught in a powerful storm while attempting to summit a Himalayan peak just south of Mount Everest.

Villagers ascend the mountain during rescue efforts to reach hundreds of hikers trapped by heavy snow at tourist campsites on a slope of Mount Everest. (Lingsuiye via AP)
In the autumn months, climbers often scale smaller peaks before the rainy season and winter months.
World
Two dead as Typhoon Kalmaegi brings massive flooding in central Philippines
														Residents seek refuge on rooftops, and cars float through flooded streets on the island of Cebu.
Published On 4 Nov 2025
Rain-soaked residents sought refuge on rooftops, and cars floated through flooded streets as Typhoon Kalmaegi battered central Philippines, killing at least two people, according to the national disaster agency and media reports.
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the powerful storm across the Visayas region as well as parts of southern Luzon and northern Mindanao, as Kalmaegi made landfall shortly before midnight.
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By noon local time (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday, Kalmaegi was moving westwards across the islands of Cebu, Negros and Panay with winds of 150km/h (93mph) and gusts of 185km/h, toppling trees and downing power lines.
A video published by DZRH radio’s Facebook page showed homes in Talisay City in Cebu completely submerged, with only rooftops visible.
Similar scenes in other parts of Cebu City, where vehicles and streets were underwater, circulated on social media. In some of the videos, people were heard pleading to be rescued.
A road in the town of Tabuelan, also in Cebu province, was rendered impassable following a landslide.
On the island of Bohol, one person was reported killed after he was pinned down by a fallen tree, according to radio station DYMA.
WATCH: Several individuals called for help at Barangay Dumlog, Talisay City, Cebu on Tuesday morning.
“We cannot cross the roofs,” said uploader Godfrey Senecio.
Cebu Governor Pam Baricuatro is now on her way to Talisay to assess the situation.
“It’s the flooding that placed… pic.twitter.com/KLX2Oz5v4n
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) November 4, 2025
An elderly person drowned after being trapped in his residence on the island of Leyte, according to radio station DZMM.
State weather agency PAGASA said the combination of Kalmaegi and a shear line had brought heavy rain and strong winds across the Visayas and nearby areas.
“Due to interaction with the terrain, Tino may slightly weaken while crossing Visayas. However, it is expected to remain at typhoon intensity throughout its passage over the country,” PAGASA said in a morning bulletin.
More than 160 flights to and from affected areas have been cancelled, while those at sea were advised to head to the nearest safe harbour immediately and to stay in port.
PAGASA warned of a high risk of “life-threatening and damaging storm surges” that could reach more than 3-metre (10-foot) height along coastal and low-lying communities in the central Philippines, including parts of Mindanao.
On Monday, the country’s Office of Civil Defense reported that some 156,000 individuals had been preemptively evacuated.
Kalmaegi comes as the Philippines, which is hit by an average of 20 tropical storms each year, is recovering from a run of disasters, including earthquakes and severe weather events, in recent months.
In September, Super Typhoon Ragasa swept across northern Luzon, killing at least 10 people and forcing government work and classes to shut down as it brought fierce winds and torrential rain.
State weather service specialist Charmagne Varilla told the AFP news agency that at least “three to five more” storms were expected by December’s end.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more frequent and more powerful due to human-driven climate change.
World
Map: 6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Afghanistan
Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 4 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “light,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. The New York Times
A strong, 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in Afghanistan on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey. Follow our coverage here.
The temblor happened at 12:59 a.m. Afghanistan time about 20 miles southeast of Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, data from the agency shows.
As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.
 Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Afghanistan time. Shake data is as of Sunday, Nov. 2 at 4:01 p.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Monday, Nov. 3 at 10:15 a.m. Eastern. Maps: Daylight (urban areas); MapLibre (map rendering); Natural Earth (roads, labels, terrain); Protomaps (map tiles)
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