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Instagram announced a new video-editing app a day after TikTok and CapCut went dark in the US
- Instagram announced a new video-editing app called Edits as TikTok and CapCut face US restrictions.
- Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the tool, which will be released on March 13, on Sunday.
- Edits will offer video editing tools and analytics, Mosseri said.
Instagram announced a new video-editing app called "Edits" on Sunday, a day after rival ByteDance apps TikTok and CapCut went dark in the US.
The app is slated to be released on March 13, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, announced in a video posted on the platform. Meta owns Instagram.
Mosseri said the app will include a higher-quality camera, video editing tools, a feature to share drafts with others, and Instagram analytics on how those videos perform. The app can be used to make videos for platforms besides Instagram as well, he said.
"There's a lot going on right now, but no matter what happens, it's our job to provide the best possible tools for creators," Mosseri said.
Meta also ran sponsored ads for Instagram on the iOS App Store for a few hours on Sunday, in another sign the tech giant is capitalizing on the lack of clarity regarding TikTok's future. Users who typed "TikTok" saw an ad for Instagram, Bloomberg reported. The ads had stopped appearing as of late Sunday evening.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the sponsored App Store ads. In addition to Instagram, Meta owns Facebook, Threads, and WhatsApp.
Edits is available for preorder on the iOS App Store, but it won't be available to download until next month, Mosseri said.
The app stands to compete with existing video-editing platforms such as Adobe's Premiere Rush and ByteDance's CapCut, the latter of which is blocked and no longer available in US app stores. TikTok has restored its services in the US but is no longer available in app stores.
Last year, a bill to banΒ TikTok received bipartisan supportΒ in the House and Senate due to national security concerns with ByteDance's Chinese ownership. Biden signed the TikTok ban bill into law in April 2024.
The company spent months challenging the law that required it to be divested or banned from the US before January 19. On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the ban.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to issue an executive order following his inauguration on Monday to extend the time before the TikTok ban is enforced. He did not mention if other ByteDance apps, such as CapCut and Lemon8, will return under this executive order.
Champagne exports are slumping because people aren't in the mood to celebrate inflation and conflicts, chief of French producers' association says
- The global exports of Champagne fell 9.2% in 2024, with 271.4 million bottles shipped out from France.
- Consumers are just not in the mood for celebration, the chief of the French Champagne producers association said.
- It said that global political and economic crises have dulled the festivities.
People around the world aren't in the mood for glasses of bubbly.
Shipments of Champagne have slumped in 2024 because consumers are not in the mood for celebration, according to ComitΓ© Champagne, the Champagne producers association.
Global exports of Champagne totalled 271.4 million bottles in 2024, but that was a 9.2% decrease from 2023, the association said in a statement to BI.
Maxime Toubart, co-president of the ComitΓ© Champagne, said in the statement that Champagne is a "true barometer of consumer mood."
"And this is no time for celebration, with inflation, conflicts around the world, economic uncertainty and a political wait-and-see attitude in some of Champagne's biggest markets, such as France and the United States of America," Toubart added.
John Noble, the director of ComitΓ© Champagne's Australia bureau, added that customers are "justifiably cautious" about buying the luxury product, given the "current economic environment with high inflation and cost of living concerns."
In July, LVMH, the world's largest luxury conglomerate, also sounded concern over its bubbly sales, attributing it to a bleak global outlook.
Sparkling wine sales spiked significantly in 2021 following the relaxation of pandemic restrictions, particularly in the US. But it was a short-lived high.
According to LVMH's 2024 first-half earnings report, the company's revenue from Champagne and wines declined 12% in the first half of 2024 compared to the year before.
"Champagne is quite linked with celebration, happiness, et cetera," LVMH's finance chief, Jean-Jacques Guiony, said in the earnings call in July. "Maybe the current global situation, be it geopolitical or macroeconomic, does not lead people to cheer up and to open bottles of Champagne. I don't really know."
Champagne is not the only luxury product facing a reckoning. In 2024, overall luxury spending stagnated, with big brands seeing their share prices drop.
Kering, the owner of Gucci, YSL, and Balenciaga, saw its stock fall more than 40% last year.
LVMH's sales declined by 3% in the third quarter of 2024, partly because of weakened consumer confidence in China.
The industry was also hit hard by "aspirational" luxury shoppers β those who spent big bucks on luxury immediately after the pandemic β reining in on their spending.
X says it's rolling out a dedicated video tab for US users
- Elon Musk's X is introducing a dedicated video tab for users in the US.
- The new feature comes amid the turmoil surrounding the ban on rival platform TikTok.
- TikTok briefly ceased its US operations on Saturday night before resuming on Sunday.
X, formerly Twitter, debuted a new feature for its US users on Sunday β a tab dedicated to watching videos on the platform.
"The Video Tab has arrived. LFG," X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote in a post on the platform on Sunday night.
According to X's promotional video for the feature, the new tab is located between the dedicated Grok button and notification panel. Grok is an AI chatbot developed by X owner Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI.
an immersive new home for videos is rolling out to users in the US today
β X (@X) January 20, 2025
To be sure, the app has experimented with video content for years, though this tab marks an intentional shift toward displaying it more prominently. The platform first rolled out its TikTok-like "immersive media viewer" in September 2022, before Musk acquired it.
"X's updated immersive media viewer expands videos to full screen with a single click, allowing you to easily access the full, immersive viewing experience," the company wrote in a blog post at the time.
"Once the video has been launched in full screen mode, we've made video discovery easier as well. Just scroll up to start browsing more engaging video content," the blog post added.
X's new feature comes amid the turmoil surrounding the ban on TikTok.
According to a law passed by the Senate in April, TikTok had to cease its US operations on January 19 unless it divested itself from its Chinese-based owner, ByteDance. TikTok briefly went dark for US users on Saturday night, before restoring services on Sunday.
The resumption of service came after President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that he plans to issue an executive order to delay the enforcement of the TikTok ban.
"We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive," TikTok said in a statement to Business Insider.
X did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
Musk's X isn't the only social media company that's making moves while TikTok navigates its regulatory hurdles.
On Sunday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced a new video editing app called Edits. The app is set to be released on March 13, per its listing on Apple's App Store.
The announcement comes a day just after Apple had removed CapCut, a video editing app made by ByteDance.
Mosseri said in a Threads posts on Sunday that Edits is like "CapCut, but more for creators than casual video makers."
"Not just video editing, but an inspiration tab, idea tracking, and insights built in," Mosseri wrote in his Threads post.
"It's been months and I think it'll end up pretty different than CapCut," Mosseri added.
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Ukraine's military chief says Russia has 'practically halved' artillery ammo usage after its production lines and depots were hit
- Ukrainian strikes have forced Russia to reduce its ammo usage, Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
- The Ukrainian commander in chief said Russian shell usage has "practically halved" for months.
- Ukraine has been hitting ammo depots, oil facilities, and factories deep inside Russia for months.
Ukraine's military commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russia has cut down its artillery ammo usage in recent months due to Ukrainian strikes on the Kremlin's production facilities.
"For several months now, the artillery ammunition expenditure rates in the Russian army have practically halved," Syrskyi told Ukrainian broadcaster TSN in an interview released on Sunday.
"Here is a vivid example," Syrskyi added. "If previously the figure reached up to 40,000 rounds per day, it is now significantly lower."
Syrskyi attributed the reduction to Ukraine's attacks on "industrial enterprises" that manufacture ammunition, missile parts, and other weaponry on Russian soil.
His comments come as Ukraine has increasingly reported that it's been carrying out long-range strikes on Russian oil facilities, munitions factories, and ammunition depots across the border.
On Tuesday, Kyiv said it had launched its "largest attack" on Russian targets with missiles and drones, including hits on a fuel storage facility for bombers and a factory that produces rocket parts and artillery ammo.
Russia's defense ministry said that it shot down nearly 150 drones that evening, providing an indicator of the operation's scale.
Ukraine says its attacks on Russian facilities continue, with another reported strike on a gunpowder factory in the Tambov region on Thursday.
Its monthslong pattern of long-range attacks underscores Kyiv's ability to break through air defenses and hit facilities deep inside Russian territory.
Some of its most notable strikes happened when Ukraine attacked three ammunition depots in Krasnodar and Tver in September, areas that are hundreds of miles behind the border.
The UK's defense ministry said at the time that at least one of these depots saw the loss of 30,000 tons of ammunition, saying that the trio of strikes resulted in the largest loss of Russian and North Korean ammunition up to that point in the war.
North Korea has been supplying artillery systems and millions of shells to Russia since early 2024.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 29 September 2024.
β Ministry of Defence π¬π§ (@DefenceHQ) September 29, 2024
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/tBwYVxxpL5 #StandWithUkraine πΊπ¦ pic.twitter.com/jfX5PBej3x
Any strain on Russia's ammo production and reserves would likely be significant for the war because analysts say it's becoming increasingly clear that the fate of the battlefield hinges on the quantity of weapons and manpower available to either side.
To meet the war's demands, Russia's defense sector has swelled to staggering levels when considering its total spending. Its defense budget grew from $59 billion in 2022 to $109 billion in 2023. The Kremlin is planning to spend about 13.5 trillion rubles, or about $131 billion now, on defense in 2025.
That's nearly a third of its entire federal budget and is up from 10.8 trillion rubles in 2024.
Russia's defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
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In photos: First Israeli hostages, Palestinian prisoners released in historic ceasefire deal
The Gaza ceasefire saw three hostages held by Hamas since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel released on Sunday, along with 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The big picture: In the first hostage-for-prisoner swaps to occur since the ceasefire began Sunday, Israelis Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher and dual British-Israeli national Emily Damar were freed and Israel released a group of prisoners that mostly comprised women and minors.
Flashback: Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal officially signed in Doha
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more photos.
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I was diagnosed with sepsis while at Disney World. The hardest thing was dealing with the guilt that I was letting my kids down.
- Two days into a family trip, I spiked a 103 fever and didn't feel great.
- At the hospital, I was diagnosed with sepsis and felt guilty for ruining my family's trip.
- I learned I can't control what happens and should let go of mom guilt.
Two days into a Disney World vacation with my husband Anthony, our two daughters, and my in-laws, I became very sick. With a fever of 103, I shook with chills, ached all over, and dry-heaved repeatedly.
We'd been excited about this trip. Every day before we left, I drew a Disney-themed picture on my 8-year-old daughter's snack bag. I counted the days, with the number eight hidden in Cinderella's castle, Mickey's four-fingered glove, and a glittery two alongside Tinkerbell.
And then, I was in the room feeling guilty while my family explored Magic Kingdom. I'm no stranger to illness. Born with heart disease, I've recovered from four open heart surgeries, but I rolled around the bed moaning in pain. I cried to Anthony on the phone, delirious from the fever, the lorazepam I'd taken, or both.
I didn't think anything was seriously wrong, but I called my cardiology nurse after a few days. She said I likely had a virus, but since my mechanical valve and pacemaker are breeding grounds for bacteria, we should rule out blood infection. She sent me to the emergency room for blood cultures.
Things were worse than I imagined
"She's septic," the triage nurse said.
Maybe I couldn't register her words through the pain; maybe Anthony was getting me a blanket at that moment because once I was in an exam room, neither of us understood why the clinicians seemed so serious. This was a virus; I was only here as a precaution.
But my pressure was 70/40, my white blood cell count was elevated, and I had an infection somewhere. The culture results would take days, but they treated my symptoms and started antibiotics. Once I could think clearly, the guilt returned.
This wasn't how I'd imagined this vacation. I was supposed to watch my daughters spin around in oversize teacups, not see the room spin around me. Instead of pulling on a hospital gown, I should've been helping my 8-year-old pull on her princess dress. I wanted to be pushing my 4-year-old in her stroller, not being pushed through the hospital on a gurney.
The culture came back positive. I was moved to an inpatient floor, and the guilt festered. I was in the hospital for about a week, but it felt like forever. I cried often β when my kids flew home without me, before every medical test, petrified the results would keep me away from them longer, and each time, my in-laws sent me a picture of their faces.
If I'd paid attention, I would've noticed those smiling faces. While I was wallowing in guilt, they were having the time of their lives.
We made our way through it together
I remained guilty when I returned home and spent four months on IV antibiotics, which ravaged my stomach and kept me curled on the couch for half that time. I was lucky to have my husband home temporarily, my mother, who moved in while I recovered, and extended family and friends willing to help. It killed me that I could hardly take care of my girls, but we found a way. We cuddled while watching TV and played games. They decorated my IV pole for my birthday.
In the end, I didn't need to feel so guilty. My kids are OK. It wasn't easy. My older daughter admitted later that she cried herself to sleep while I was in the hospital. My younger one cried so much before preschool during that time, we pulled her out. It was hard, but so is life. They got through it and learned they had parents who loved them and an entire village willing to care for them when their mother couldn't.
I learned that this ever-pressing guilt we moms carry is futile. I can't control what happens to me. Inevitably, I'll have more medical issues down the line. Maybe my kids will be better prepared to handle it. At least now I know we can get through it together. And I know not only that I love them, sometimes to a painful degree, but that they love me too, even when things are difficult and even if sometimes I ruin their good time.