(NEW YORK) — Instagram announced a slew of updates on Tuesday that aim to protect teens on the app, in an announcement that notably comes one day before Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri is set to testify before lawmakers on social media’s impact on young users.
Mosseri announced the new features in a company blog post on Tuesday, which includes launching the “Take a Break” feature in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“If someone has been scrolling for a certain amount of time, we’ll ask them to take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future,” Monserri said. “We’ll also show them expert-backed tips to help them reflect and reset.”
Mosseri said they will also be taking a stricter approach to what they recommend to teens on the app via search, explore, hashtags and suggested accounts and will stop people from tagging or mentioning teens that don’t follow them. Instagram will also start nudging teens towards different topics if they’ve been dwelling on one topic for a long time.
“We’ll also be launching our first tools for parents and guardians early next year to help them get more involved in their teen’s experiences on Instagram,” Mosseri said. “Parents and guardians will be able to see how much time their teens spend on Instagram and set time limits. And we’ll have a new educational hub for parents and guardians.”
The first tools for parents and guardians are set to launch in March, and will allow them to view how much time their teens spend on Instagram and set time limits. Teens can also notify their parents if they report someone, which Monserri says can give parents the opportunity to talk with their children about it. The educational hub for parents will also include additional resources like tutorials and tips from experts to help them discuss and understand their teens’ social media use.
“As always, I’m grateful to the experts and researchers who lend us their expertise in critical areas like child development, teen mental health and online safety, and I continue to welcome productive collaboration with lawmakers and policymakers on our shared goal of creating an online world that both benefits and protects many generations to come,” Mosseri said.
The updates come in the wake of a former Facebook employee testifying before lawmakers in October. Whistleblower Frances Haugen alleged blatant disregard from company executives when they learned their platforms could have harmful effects on the mental health of young people.
Documents leaked to the Wall Street Journal by Haugen cited the company’s own internal research said that Instagram made body image worse for 1 in 3 teenage girls.
Mosseri, meanwhile, is scheduled to testify on Wednesday before a Senate panel for a hearing titled “Protecting Kids Online: Instagram and Reforms for Young Users.” The hearing will commence at 2:30 p.m. ET.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 790,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 60% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-US daily death average surges
-NYC mandating vaccines for all private sector employees
-Man who became one of the 1st omicron cases in US speaks out
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 07, 1:50 pm
Fauci: Omicron ‘almost certainly’ not more severe than delta
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday told news agency Agence France-Presse that the omicron variant is “almost certainly” not more severe than delta.
He stressed, however, that it is important to not overinterpret early data, as the patients being followed skew younger and are less likely to become hospitalized. Severe illness can take weeks to develop.
“There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe, because when you look at some of the cohorts that are being followed in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number of hospitalizations seems to be less than with delta,” Fauci said.
He also reiterated that it would take at least several more weeks to understand key questions surrounding omicron’s severity.
Results from labs testing current vaccines against omicron should come in the “next few days to a week,” Fauci said.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 07, 1:30 pm
US daily death average surges
The daily death average in the U.S. has increased to more than 1,150 — up by 57% in the last week, according to federal data.
The U.S. is about 10,000 deaths away from reaching yet another grim milestone of 800,000 Americans lost to COVID-19.
The U.S. is now averaging approximately 103,000 new cases per day, which is a 19% increase in the last week and a 62% jump since late-October, according to federal data.
Minnesota currently holds the country’s highest case rate followed by Vermont and Wisconsin. Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Louisiana have the nation’s lowest infection rate.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 07, 10:27 am
Near pre-pandemic travel volumes expected to continue through December holidays
The TSA screened nearly 21 million travelers during the 10-day Thanksgiving holiday period. Despite new concerns over omicron, the agency expects to see the near pre-pandemic travel volumes continue through the December holidays.
ABC News’ Mina Kaji
Dec 06, 10:26 pm
Omicron detected in Houston’s wastewater, Houston Health Department reports
The omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been found in Houston’s wastewater, the Houston Health Department announced Monday night. “The detection is the first indication the new variant is in Houston, although a case has not yet been confirmed in the city,” the department said.
Wastewater samples collected between Nov. 29 and Nov. 30 showed omicron at eight of the city’s 39 wastewater treatment plants, and the genomic sequencing results confirming the variant were received Monday evening.
“The Houston Health Department and Houston Water continue to do an exceptional job tracking the impact of the virus in our community. While no specific case of the Omicron variant has been confirmed in an individual in the city of Houston, we should use this information as a reminder to get fully vaccinated, including a booster shot,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement. “Vaccines help protect us, our loved ones, friends, and colleagues in the work environment. As the holidays approach, I encourage everyone to remain vigilant about their health and safety.”
The health department said it routinely tests the city’s wastewater for COVID-19, including variants, and recently started testing samples for omicron, as “people infected with COVID-19 shed the virus in their feces.”
“The wastewater data helps to more quickly identify emerging outbreaks and hotspots needing interventions to help stop the spread of the virus,” the health department added.
(NEW YORK) — The Biden administration on Tuesday issued a “nationwide call to action” on the maternal health crisis in the United States, which continues to have the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed nations, according to researchers.
Vice President Kamala Harris said in remarks at the White House’s first Maternal Health Day of Action that the call to action is being made to both the public and private sectors.
“This challenge is urgent, and it is important, and it will take all of us,” Harris said, kicking off a summit that convened lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries and celebrities, including Olympian Allyson Felix. “To put it simply, in the United States of America, in the 21st century, being pregnant and giving birth should not carry such great risk.”
“But the truth is, and this is a hard truth, women in our nation are dying before, during and after childbirth,” she said.
Harris announced Tuesday a new initiative in which hospitals across the country will be rated on the quality of their maternal health care and designated as “Birthing-Friendly” hospitals if they meet the criteria.
In addition, Harris said the administration has received pledges from more than 20 companies and nonprofits to invest more than $20 million in maternal health efforts in the U.S. and more than $150 million globally. The organizations supporting the effort range from Uber, Lyft and DoorDash to Pampers, CVS, the March of Dimes, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, according to the White House.
“They have pledged to invest in remote care monitors for rural communities, to invest in innovative care models for the postpartum period, to invest in education programs for maternal health providers and so much more,” she said.
The vice president, who introduced several pieces of legislation on maternal health during her time in the U.S. Senate, also touted the $3 billion investment in maternal health in the Build Back Better Act, which passed the House of Representatives in November but remains stalled in the Senate.
In addition to the $3 billion in funding, one maternal health provision in the legislation includes allowing states to establish “maternal health homes” to coordinate care for people before, during and after birth, according to the White House.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, also announced Tuesday that the agency is releasing new guidance to help states implement a new option, available April 1, 2022, that will allow them to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from the current 60 days after birth to 12 months.
“This postpartum period is a very crucial time, with more than half of pregnancy-related deaths taking place after birth,” Brooks-LaSure said. “That makes maintaining continuous Medicaid or CHIP [Children’s Health Insurance Program] coverage and ensuring people can access the care they need during the postpartum period a critical issue.”
Tuesday’s summit marks the administration’s latest effort to draw attention to the issue of maternal mortality. In April, President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation for Black Maternal Health Week.
At that time, Harris led a roundtable discussion with women of color affected by the maternal mortality crisis.
Black and Native American women in the U.S. are two to three times more likely to die during childbirth or in the months after than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Black women are also more likely than white, Asian or Latina women to die from pregnancy-related complications regardless of their education level or their income, data shows.
Pregnancy-related deaths are defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within a year of the end of pregnancy from pregnancy complications, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiological effects of pregnancy, according to the CDC.
One reason for the disparity is that more Black women of childbearing age have chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, which increases the risk of pregnancy-related complications like preeclampsia and possibly the need for emergency C-sections, according to the CDC.
But there are socioeconomic circumstances and structural inequities that put Black women at greater risk for those chronic conditions, data shows, and Black women often have inadequate access to care throughout pregnancy, which can further complicate their conditions, according to a 2013 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
In her remarks, Harris called the “systemic inequities” that affect pregnant people of color a “matter of life and death.”
She also drew attention to how the issue of maternal mortality affects people who live in rural areas with limited access to care, saying they are 60% more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications.
“Regardless of income level, regardless of education level, Black women, Native women, women who live in rural areas are more likely to die or be left scared or scarred from an experience that should be safe and should be a joyful one,” Harris said. “And we know a primary reason why this is true, systemic inequities, those differences in how people are treated based on who they are and they create significant disparities in our health care system.”
Last December, in the final weeks of the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services launched an action plan to combat the high rates of pregnancy-related complications and deaths.
The plan set out three key targets aimed at improving maternal health by 2025: reducing maternal mortality rate by 50%, reducing low-risk cesarean deliveries by 25% and controlling blood pressure in 80% of reproductive age women.
Also last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the “Hear her” campaign with the goal of creating public awareness of the warning signs of pregnancy emergencies.
The late Virgil Abloh was remembered by numerous celebrities during a memorial service Monday in Chicago.
Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Lauryn Hill, Frank Ocean and more attended the event Monday at the Museum of Contemporary Art in the Windy City, according to USA Today.
“All these different people — colors, ages, backgrounds, religions — all came for one man,” Tyler, the Creator said at the memorial. “That’s what he did: He brought, like, the illest people together.” Abloh’s sister, Edwina, also spoke, and Hill performed.
“Virgil was here,” read a pin Drake showed off in a video posted on Instagram. “love you g,” he captioned the post.
On Novmeber 30 in Miami, Kanye, Kim, Pharrell Williams, Erykah Badu, Kid Cudi and many more attended the first-ever Louis Vuitton United States fashion show, which became a somber tribute to the late Louis Vitton artistic director.
As previously reported, Abloh passed away November 28 after a private two-year battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare, aggressive form of cancer. He was 41. Virgil was the founder of fashion brand Off-White and the first African American to serve as artistic director for Louis Vuitton.
Jimmie Allen says country music is in the midst of a “movement” when it comes to diversity.
Chatting with The Nick Cannon Show, Jimmie cites Charley Pride as a major source of inspiration for his career and paving the way for other Black country artists.
“I remember I was growing up listening to country music and my dad was like, ‘you should sing country music’ and I was like, ‘it’s cool, but I don’t know if there’s anybody that looks like us.’ And then he showed me what Charley Pride looked like,'” Jimmie recalls.
He also points to his contemporaries including Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, Kane Brown, Blanco Brown, Breland, Brittney Spencer, Willie Jones and Tiera as important voices in the genre.
“It’s a whole movement coming up. It’s beautiful to see where country is starting to get like every other genre where it’s not about the color of your skin, it’s about the music,” Jimmie observes. “It’s good to see that.”
The “Make Me Want To” singer is set to headline his first tour, the Down Home Tour, in 2022. His current single, “Freedom Was a Highway,” featuring Brad Paisley, is currently in the top 10 on country radio.
With 2021 coming to a close, it’s time to review the words that gave Americans the most agony over the past year. While many struggled over how to pronounce the newest COVID-19 variant, omicron (OH-mee-kraan, per ABC News standards), others butchered Billie Eilish‘s name.
The U.S. Captioning Company, which is the nation’s leading television captioning service, keeps track of the words that gave television personalities and newscasters the most trouble and released its annual list of the biggest offenders.
Surprisingly, Eilish was on this year’s roundup. Considering that the alt-pop superstar burst into the limelight more than two years ago following her breakout hit “bad guy,” it begs to question why her last name is only wreaking havoc now.
For those who still have doubts, U.S. Captioning Company says the correct way to pronounce Eilish is “EYE-lish.”
Two other individuals made the list this year, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — whose last name is pronounced “KELSS” with a hard S, not “KELL-see” — and Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose name is pronounced “STEH-fuh-nohs TSEE-tsee-pas.”
Gen-Z slang, such as the millennial-bashing term Cheugy, pronounced CHOO-gee; and Yassify, pronounced YEAH-sih-fai, where multiple beauty filters are applied for comedic effect, also made this year’s roundup.
Other terms that made the cut include the restaurant chain Chipotle [chih-POHT-lay], the Scottish city Glasgow [GLAHZ-go], and the cryptocurrencies Dogecoin [DOJH-coin] and Ethereum [ih-THEE-ree-um], as well as the Ever Given [EV-er GIV-en], the ship that famously blocked the Suez Canal.
The report was commissioned by Babbel, a platform that teaches users how to speak other languages.
In a very emotional announcement, Nick Cannonrevealed Tuesday on his television show that his five-month-old son Zen Scott Cannon passed away over the weekend.
Zen died Sunday from brain cancer. Nick explained that he took Zen to the ocean to enjoy the sunrise, and he described “holding his son for the last time.”
“I have so much faith in God,” the talk show host said before a live audience. “He puts the heaviest weight on His strongest soldiers. So I am here. I’m gonna make it through.”
Nick left his family in California to fly to New York City for his television program.
“This is a special show dedicated to my beautiful son,” he proclaimed as tears welled in his eyes.
The 41-year-old entertainer told the audience that his son developed fluid in his head, and doctors discovered that he had a malignant tumor, which led to brain surgery.
“I embraced every moment,” Cannon said of his short time with Zen. “I am so grateful to my family for coming together during this time.”
Zen, whose mother was model Alyssa Scott, was the youngest of Nick’s seven children.
(NEW YORK) — Police investigating the mysterious Delphi, Indiana, murders are looking for the person who, they said, created fake Snapchat and Instagram profiles, posed as a wealthy male model and contacted underage girls.
Delphi eighth-graders Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were killed on Feb. 13, 2017 while walking on a local hiking trail. The girls had documented some of their walk on Snapchat. Years later, no arrests have been made.
While investigating the double killing, authorities found a fake online profile called “anthony_shots,” which used photos of a known male model and communicated with underage girls “to solicit nude images, obtain their addresses, and attempt to meet them,” Indiana State Police said in a news release Monday.
Anthony_shots “portrayed himself as being extremely wealthy and owning numerous sports cars,” police said.
Authorities are now looking for information about the person who created the anthony_shots profile, which was used in 2016 and 2017 on Snapchat and Instagram, police said.
The male model in the photos has been identified and isn’t a person of interest, police said.
Police asked anyone who communicated with, met with or tried to meet the anthony_shots profile to contact law enforcement at abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com or 765-822-3535. Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Piers wouldn’t say if Abby and Libby communicated with the fake profile.
The Delphi case has been a mystery for years.
Soon after Abby and Libby were killed, authorities released a grainy image of the suspect, who they say was on the hiking trail the day the girls went missing. State police in 2019 released video footage from Libby’s phone; the brief video clip showed a grainy image of the suspect walking on the bridge near where the girls were last seen.
Police also publicized the suspect’s voice — a recording of him saying “down the hill” — which was recovered from Libby’s phone.
Police in 2019 released a new suspect sketch that officials said was based on a witness’ recollection of what he or she saw.
For the first time, you can own your very own copy of Mariah Carey: Live at the Tokyo Dome, which chronicles her first show in Japan. Sony Music Entertainment has released the iconic 1996 concert for digital purchase and rental for the first time.
The concert video not only takes us to another country, it throws us 25 years into the past — when Mariah was trotting the globe as part of her Daydream World Tour, which promoted the 1995 album of the same name. Daydream produced the hits “Fantasy,” “One Sweet Day” and “Always Be My Baby.”
The 80-minute concert special not only features the Grammy winner belting out then-new songs from the album, she also performs “Emotions,” “Dreamlover,” and her holiday smash, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Aside from the concert, the film includes early music videos and behind the scenes footage taken in 1991. It will also show just how much Mariah has grown as an artist by featuring an interview that was taken right after her very first live performance at the Tatou Club in New York.
Mariah Carey: Live at the Tokyo Dome is now available to purchase and rent on Sony Picture’s website, as well as the Apple TV+ and Vudu streaming services.
Florida Georgia Line are the latest artists to have their legacy cemented at the Country Music Hall of Fame with the upcoming exhibit, Florida Georgia Line: Mix It Up Strong.
Opening in 2022, the exhibit chronicles the duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley‘s journey from meeting as students at an on-campus worship service at Belmont University in 2008, to becoming one of the biggest acts in country music history.
Among the items on display are childhood memorabilia including the saxophone and guitar Tyler played as child, and the cap Brian wore while playing on his high school baseball team. Momentous accomplishments from their career are also captured, including the guitar Brian used when writing FGL’s RIAA Diamond-certified hit, “Cruise,” plus outfits worn in their music videos and more.
“To be chosen for an exhibit is the ultimate honor as an artist, and we can’t thank the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum enough,” Tyler says in a statement. “I can’t wait for opening day, when we can stand back and take in this blessing with everyone that’s supported us along the way.”
“We are both dreamers and always striving to go big. To have the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum now feature our wild ride is surreal and humbling,” adds Brian. “I couldn’t be more excited about this exhibit and to be able to relive each step of our journey. Here’s to the good times!”
The exhibit opens on January 21. FGL will sit down at the CMHOF for an interview and performance on February 6.
