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TEST Getty ImagesInstagram is overhauling the way it works for teenagers, promising more “built-in protections” for young people and added controls and reassurance for parents.The new “teen accounts”, for children aged 13 to 15, will force many privacy settings to be on by default, rather than a child opting in.Teenagers’ posts will also be set to private – making them unviewable to people who don’t follow them, and they must approve all new followers. These settings can only changed by giving a parent or guardian oversight of the account, or when the child turns 16.Social media companies are under pressure worldwide to make their platforms safer, with concerns that not enough is being done to shield young people from harmful content.The NSPCC called the announcement a “step in the right direction” but said Instagram’s owner, Meta, appeared to “putting the emphasis on children and parents needing to keep themselves safe.”Rani Govender, the NSPCC’s online child safety policy manager, said Meta and other social media companies needed to take more action themselves.”This must be backed up by proactive measures that prevent harmful content and sexual abuse from proliferating Instagram in the first place, so all children have the benefit of comprehensive protections on the products they use,” she said.Meta describes the changes as a “new experience for teens, guided by parents”, and says they will “better support parents, and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place.”However, media regulator Ofcom raised concerns in April over parents’ willingness to intervene to keep their children safe online.In a talk last week, senior Meta executive Sir Nick Clegg said: “One of the things we do find… is that even when we build these controls, parents don’t use them.” Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly viewed content about self-harm and suicide on Instagram before taking her life aged 14, told the BBC it was important to wait and see how the new policy was implemented.“Whether it works or not we’ll only find out when the measures come into place,” he said.“Meta is very good at drumming up PR and making these big announcements, but what they also have to be good at is being transparent and sharing how well their measures are working.”How will it work?Teen accounts will mostly change the way Instagram works for users between the ages of 13 and 15, with a number of settings turned on by default.These include strict controls on sensitive content to prevent recommendations of potentially harmful material, and muted notifications overnight. Accounts will also be set to private rather than public – meaning teenagers will have to actively accept new followers and their content cannot be viewed by people who don’t follow them.InstagramParents who choose to supervise their child’s account will be able to see who they message and the topics they have said they are interested in – though they will not be able to view the content of messages. Instagram says it will begin moving millions of …

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Norway, one of the world’s largest exporters of oil, now has more electric cars on its roads than petrol-driven vehicles.Of the 2.8 million private cars registered there, 754,303 are now all-electric, compared with 753,905 that run on petrol, according to new figures from the Norwegian Road Federation.The Nordic country of 5.5 million people is aiming to become the first nation to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars – by 2025.Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have been boosted by tax breaks and other incentives, funded in large part from the money Norway makes out of oil and gas.The country has a sovereign wealth fund worth more than $1.7 trillion (£1.3tn), built up from the proceeds of its oilfields, to act as a “pension fund” for when it runs out.This cash cushion has made it possible for the government to offer green incentives to motorists, including exempting electric car buyers from sales tax.In the early days of the EV revolution, Norway’s environmental activists even enlisted the help of the country’s biggest pop group, A-ha, to promote the use of the vehicles.Despite this milestone, there is still work to be done. Diesel models remain most numerous at just under one million, but their sales are falling rapidly, says the Norwegian Road Federation.At present, nine out of 10 new cars sold in Norway are electric vehicles, industry figures indicate. And it’s not hard to see why when you consider how much the authorities do to favour them.Many places offer free parking for EVs and their drivers do not have to pay city tolls.And while electric car owners in many countries complain about the lack of charging facilities, there are numerous free c …

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Prominent opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has resigned from his post, days after getting bail in a corruption case.Kejriwal spent five months in jail in connection with a now-scrapped alcohol sales policy. He has denied the allegations against him. He has said that he will take up the post only if people re-elect his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming assembly elections.Kejriwal’s colleague and senior Delhi minister Atishi will replace him as the leader of the government, the party announced on Tuesday. AAP made its poll debut in 2013 Delhi assembly elections and has governed the capital city since, focussing on welfare measures such as affordable electricity and water for residents. In 2020, the party won 62 seats in the 70-seat assembly – in almost a repeat of its performance in the previous election when it won 67 seats. Kejriwal had announced his intention to resign over the weekend, saying he would sit on the chief minister’s chair only if the people of Delhi gave him a “certificate of honesty”.”I got justice from the legal court, now I will get justice from the people’s court,” he told reporters. Kejriwal has called for advancing the Delhi elections, which are scheduled for February next year, to November, aligning them with the upcoming polls in Maharashtra state.Experts, however, say that is unlikely to happen.Indian laws stipulate that elections cannot be scheduled less than six months before an assembly term’s end unless the assembly is dissolved early. Additionally, the Election Commission conside …

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Warning: This story contains distressing details from the start.Dominique Pelicot, the 71-year-old man accused of drugging his wife to sleep and recruiting dozens of men to abuse her for over 10 years, has admitted to all the charges against him in his first testimony since the trial opened on 2 September.Referring to the 50 co-defendants who are accused of raping his now ex-wife Gisèle, Mr Pelicot said: “I am a rapist like the others in this room.””They all knew, they cannot say the contrary,” he said. Only 15 of the 50 defendants admit rape, with most saying they only took part in sexual acts. Of his ex-wife, Mr Pelicot said: “She did not deserve this.””I was very happy with her,” he told the court.Gisèle, who was given the chance to respond shortly after, said: “It is difficult for me to listen to this. For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would’ve never imagined could be capable of this. I trusted him completely.”Although no cameras are allowed in court, the trial is open to the public at the request of Gisèle Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity at the beginning of the proceedings. Her legal team said opening up the trial would shift the “shame” back on to the accused.Mr Pelicot, who is a father and grandfather, began his testimony by telling the court of traumatic childhood experiences and said he was abused by a male nurse when he was nine years old. When asked about his marriage to Gisèle, Mr Pelicot said he considered suicide when he found out she was having an affair. Throughout his testimony on Tuesday morning, Mr Pelicot repeatedly assured the court that he never “h …

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A man accused of drugging his then-wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her over nearly a decade is testifying in court on Tuesday in southern France, in a case that has shocked the country.(Image credit: Lewis Joly)

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Starvation in war-stricken Sudan “is almost everywhere”, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has told the BBC’s Today programme after visiting the country.”The situation in Sudan is very alarming… the massive displacement – it’s now the largest in the world, and, of course, famine,” director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.He said 12 million people were already displaced, adding that attention in the global community to Sudan was “really low” and race was a factor.Thousands of people have been killed since a civil war broke out in April 2023 between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”Imagine: destruction, displacement, diseases everywhere, and now famine,” Dr Tedros told the BBC.He said he had recently visited a camp for the internally displaced people and a hospital in Sudan.”You see there many children skin and bone, emaciated.”Close to 25 million people – half of Sudan’s population – “need support”, Dr Tedros said.He stressed that Sudan “is not getting the attention it deserves”, and that was the case with other recent conflicts in Africa.”I think race is in the play here. That’s what I feel now. We see the pattern now.”Dr Tedros – who grew up during war in Ethiopia – said: “Especially in Africa, I think the attention is really, really low.”“That’s the sad part, because you see it repeatedly, not just in Sudan,” he added.“I know the smell of war, the image of war, the sound of war,” the WHO chief said. “From that, I can understand how it impacts others, and I remember my mother praying I survive a day at a time – growing up, survival of the day was a big thing, I see the same thing is Sudan and Gaza.”Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Dr Tedros said the world did not give “equal attention …

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