Select a category

Instagram is launching "Teen Accounts," designed to provide additional privacy for users under 18.

The Meta Platforms (META) social media app's new built-in protections for teen users include limits on who can contact them and the type of content they can see. Teens younger than 16 will need a parent's permission to change any of the included settings, the company said Tuesday. 

Users currently must verify that they are at least 13 to create an Instagram account.

Instagram Teen Accounts automatically will be set to private, meaning teen users will have to manually accept any new followers. The accounts also will be subject to the strictest messaging settings, meaning only people "they follow or are already connected to" can message them. Teens can also "only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow," Instagram said.

Additionally, Teen Accounts will receive reminder notifications to leave the app after an hour each day and sleep mode—which mutes notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages—will be enabled between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. daily. 

Teens who create accounts now will be subject to the new restrictions, with existing accounts converted within 60 days in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, and in the European Union (EU) "later this year." Beyond those countries, Teen Accounts will go into effect in January.

Last October, a coalition of 33 states sued the tech giant, alleging Meta's social media platforms harm children and teenagers and accentuate a national mental health crisis.

The plaintiffs accused Meta of targeting children and teenagers with addictive and manipulative features to keep them engaged on its apps to maximize advertising revenue and profits.

Last month, the reported that Meta and Alphabet's Google had a "secret deal" to target Instagram advertisements to teenagers on YouTube.

Meta shares edged higher to $534.88 Tuesday afternoon. Shares are up about 50% this year.

Read more on Investopedia

Nigerian journalist Jimi Disu has lamented the economic hardship plaguing the nation.

Speaking on Nigeria Info FM, he said: “Nigeria has never been this bad. Just this morning, I was talking to an ordinary person, and she told me that in her home, they’ve resorted to one meal a day. Even during the war, it wasn’t this bad in this part of town.

To cut a long story short, I’m going to be spending about N120,000 on electricity for an apartment, and I live alone. Not only do I live alone, I also have two homes: a day home and a weekend home. It’s the weekend home I’m talking about.

In my estate, the minimum amount one can spend on electricity is N50,000. I said Nigeria has never been this bad. If you’re not careful, you’ll sell a house only to use the money to clear some debts and have just a little left to buy something for the house.

The dilemma now is that you can’t save because the Naira has no value.”

#Instablog9jaNews #Information #Awareness #StayUpdated

Continue reading on Instablog

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the country’s foreign exchange reserves are at risk due to the petrol subsidy removal, lower crude oil earnings, increased external debt servicing obligations and rising import bills.

CBN disclosed this in its Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade and Exchange Policy guidelines for fiscal years 2024/2025 released on Tuesday, September 17.

However, the apex bank projected an overall positive economic growth for the period based on continued policy support to the agriculture and oil sectors, reforms in the foreign exchange market, and the effective implementation of the Finance Act 2023 and the 2022-2025 Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP).

According to the apex bank, “The outlook for Nigeria’s external sector in 2024/2025 is optimistic, with expectations of favorable terms of trade due to a sustained rally in crude oil prices and an improvement in domestic crude oil production.

The positive outlook is supported by the continued high crude oil prices, driven by production cuts, as well as gains from capital flows and remittances.

However, lower crude oil earnings, the removal of fuel subsidies, rising import bills, and increased external debt servicing obligations could pose downside risks to the accumulation of external reserves. [SWIPE]

#Instablog9jaNews #Information #Awareness #StayUpdated

Continue reading on Instablog

American rapper Sean Love Combs, better known as Diddy, will remain in custody pending his trial after a New York federal judge denied his $50 million bail proposal on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.

The judge remanded the musician in custody after prosecutors argued he was a “serious flight risk”.

The 54-year-old music mogul was arrested on Monday evening over alleged racketeering conspiracy, s+x tr@fficking, among others. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

CNN reports Combs will appeal the decision to hold him without bail in front of US District Court Judge Andrew Carter on Wednesday afternoon. If the appeal is denied, Combs will be remanded back to the detention center.

📷: @gettyimages

#Instablog9jaNews #Information #Awareness #StayUpdated

Continue reading on Instablog

The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has issued a flood alert to Nigerians as the management of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon is set to begin regulated water releases into the country.

NIHSA’s director-general, Umar Mohammed, in a statement on Tuesday said the dam’s regulated water releases will commence on September 17.

According to the statement, “The water discharge is anticipated to progressively escalate to 1000m³/s over the next seven days based on the inflow from the upstream Garoua River, which serves as the primary source into the reservoir and a significant tributary to the Benue River.

Nonetheless, the dam operators have indicated that the planned water discharges will be gradual to avoid surpassing the conveyance capacity of the Benue river system and triggering substantial flooding downstream in Nigeria. The overflow from the Lagdo Dam is projected to cease once there is a noticeable reduction in the flow into the Lagdo reservoir.

The agency unequivocally states that there is no need for alarm as major flooding downstream in Nigeria is not anticipated since the flow levels along the Benue River are still within cautionary limits.

Nevertheless, it is of utmost importance for all states bordering the Benue River system, namely: Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, and Rivers, along with the government at all levels (federal, state, and LGAs) to heighten their vigilance and implement appropriate preparedness measures to mitigate potential flooding impacts that may arise due to an increase in flow levels of our major rivers during this period.

The agency will continue to diligently monitor the flow conditions of the transboundary Benue River and the national inland rivers, and consistently provide regular updates on water levels across major rivers to prevent further flood disasters.”

#Instablog9jaNews #Information #Awareness #StayUpdated

Continue reading on Instablog

The spending and tax plans being discussed by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump could have a big impact on the federal deficit.

According to separate analyses by nonpartisan think tank the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Penn-Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania, Harris's policies could increase deficits by up to $2 trillion, while Trump’s policies could increase them up to $4 trillion.Neither organization’s analysis encompassed all of the tax cuts, spending programs, and taxes proposed by the candidates in recent days. However, the analyses highlight the rival politicians’ starkly different approaches to how they would manage the federal budget and the $35 trillion (and counting) national debt.

Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, favors tax cuts and credits for middle-income and lower-income households paid for by higher taxes on the wealthy, with the two potentially balancing one another out. Republican candidate Trump wants across-the-board tax cuts, while proposing tariffs on imports to generate revenue.

As Michael Gregory, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, put it in a commentary: “Harris and the Democrats have no problem increasing both spending and taxes, relying on the latter to control the deficit. By contrast, Trump and the Republicans are inclined to cut taxes and constrain spending, with the latter relied on for deficit control. The starkness is likely to become clearer over the next two months of campaigning as even more polices are proposed.”

Neither candidate would be able to enact their most ambitious economic plans without support from lawmakers. According to recent polls, Democrats face an uphill battle to retain control of the Senate, while Republicans are unlikely to win a majority in the House of Representatives. Forecasters project a divided government as the most likely outcome, meaning that most economic plans would likely have to be compromised to have any hope of passing.

In terms of its effect on the budget, Harris’s biggest proposal would be an expansion of the child tax credit to up to $3,600 per year per child from its current level of $2,000, matching the temporary credit expansion implemented by President Joe Biden in 2021 as a pandemic relief measure. On top of that, she would add a $6,000-per-year credit for children in their first year of life.Together, her proposals would cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years, according to the analysis of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Other items pushing up the deficit: expanding the earned income tax credit for lower income workers, providing a $25,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, and expanding Affordable Care Act subsidies, pushing down premiums for people enrolled in Obamacare.

Harris’s proposed tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations could cover most or all of those costs in the CRFB’s analysis. The most significant would be increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% from 20%, which would raise $1 trillion. The 25% “billionaires tax” on income and unrealized investment gains for people with more than $100 million unrealized investment gains would raise an additional $500 billion.

Trump’s costliest proposal is ending the tax on Social Security benefits, which would reduce revenue by $1.6 trillion to $1.8 trillion in the CRFB’s analysis. Lowering the corporate tax rate to 15%, as Trump proposed, would reduce revenue by another $200 billion.

Trump has promised to pay for those tax breaks—and pay down the national debt— by raising tariffs on foreign imports; estimates by multiple economists projected those policies would not bring in nearly enough to cover the tax breaks, let alone put a dent in the national debt. The CRFB estimated Trump’s 60% tariff on Chinese imports could take in as much as $300 billion, or end up reducing revenues by as much as $50 billion because of how much it would hurt the economy. 

Read more on Investopedia