Sienna recently graduated from UTS Sydney, where she was a newsroom mentor. She holds a bachelor of communications, majoring in journalism, and a bachelor of international studies. Fluent in Spanish, Sienna is passionate about politics and travel.

Sienna Martyn

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship has broken up into pieces just minutes after launching on Thursday (Friday AEDT).

The rocket, which was launched from the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas, experienced engine anomalies during its ascent.



"Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly," SpaceX wrote on X.

An issue in the upper section of the ship is said to have been the cause of the accident with all communication lost with the spacecraft just 8min 30sec into the flight.



The spacecraft was carrying a test load of mock satellites and there was no crew on board,



It was the company's seventh test mission and the first test of 2025.

Falling debris caused widespread issues to air traffic with airlines forced to alter their flight paths over the Gulf of Mexico - where the spacecraft was expected to travel.



SpaceX CEO and biggest shareholder Musk posted on his social media platform X showing the debris saying “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”

The total cost value of the damage is unknown, but will be no feat for the company led by the world's richest person (Musk Net worth - US$426.8 billion)



The mission was meant to see the Starship deploy satellite simulators in

Rapid 'disassembly': SpaceX rocket launch fails

Shanghai’s legislators and advisors have come together to discuss strategies to generate greater tourism in one of China's biggest cities.



More than 2.2 million inbound foreign visitors came to Shanghai in the first half of 2024, up 191.5% year-on-year, according to the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

Trip.com data also revealed a surge in travel to China by European nationals in 2024, with Shanghai “solidifying its status as a premier travel destination for European tourists'' said Jane McFadzean, senior director of destination marketing at Trip.com Group.

The city has set plans to become a leader in tourism by enhancing the visitor experience and better integrating its wealth of culture, art and sport into its tourism strategy to attract even more international tourists.



"We are striving to make Shanghai accessible to tourists from around the globe," said Zhang Qi, deputy-director of Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.



At the recent municipal political consultation session, it was announced that the city would increase the supply of multilingual paper maps.



Yu Qingrong, a member of the 14th Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative

Shanghai goes old school in latest bid to improve tourism

Electric vehicles and hybrids reached a new record in sales in 2024, recording more than 20% of all United States vehicle sales.



A recent report for Auto data firm Motor Intelligence reveals more than 3.2 million electrified vehicles were sold in the US market in 2024 - 1.9 million hybrid vehicles, and 1.3 million all-electric models.

For the first time in automotive history, combustion engine vehicles fell below 80% of total vehicle sales.



Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) is at the top of the EV market in the U.S., with the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 estimated to be the bestselling EVs in 2024.

The U.S. market for EVs is incredibly competitive with only 24 of 68 major EV models recording year-over-year sales increases.



Further EV sales growth is expected in 2025 with the introduction of more than 15 new products into the expanding market. 



Among the top five best sellers were Hyundai Motor Co (KRX: 005380) which accounted for 9.3% of sales followed by General Motors (NYSE: GM) at 8.7%, Ford Motor (NYSE: F) at 7.5% and BMW (ETR: BMW) at 4.1%.

List of Top 10 EV Models in the U.S.
Tesla Model Y
Tesla Model 3
Ford Mustang Mach-E
Hyundai Ioniq5
Tesla Cybertruck
Ford F-150 Lightning
Honda

EV's drive home with new record in 2024

The World Bank has warned the global economy is set to grow at its slowest pace in almost six years. 



According to a recent report from the World Bank, this has been the slowest half-decade of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 30 years.





A growth rate of 2.7% is predicted which would be the lowest in the years directly before and after the height of COVID-19.

The BBC reported that the bank's deputy chief economist Ayhan Kose has warned the impending trade tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump intends to place on imports into the U.S. could have significant impacts on the global economy.





As the U.S. is the world's largest importer of goods, the potential for higher taxes puts immense financial pressure on global trade.

Trump has plans to impose 10-15% duties on all U.S. imports, targeting neighbouring countries Canada and Mexico, along with 60% on all goods from China, all countries which account for 40% of the US$3.2 trillion (A$5.1 trillion) of goods it imports each year.

Other fears include the potential for interest rates to remain higher for longer along with policy uncertainty which could leave businesses lacking confidence and reduce investment.

“Investment booms have the pote

Economic fears, Trump tariffs bring worst growth in years

The biggest event on Australia's country music calendar has arrived as Tamworth’s iconic Country Music Festival officially kicks off today.



Bringing in around 300,000 visitors annually, the 10-day event is the largest and longest live country music event in Australia and the southern hemisphere.

The ungated event of free and ticketed live music and performances is set to showcase a range of talent with main headliners like Suzi Quatro, Kasey Chambers, Fanny Lumsden, Travis Collins and Amber Lawrence among many others.



Running since 1973, the globally recognised celebration of music and culture is also among the top 10 country festivals in the world.



This iconic festival is responsible for putting the New South Wales (NSW) town of Tamworth on the map as Australia’s capital of the country.

Each year, the town’s CBD is filled with country music lovers from near and far enjoying a range of food stalls and markets along with a range of street performers and up to 400 buskers performing on Tamworth's "Boulevard of Dreams" in Peel Street.

Economic boost to the region



Tamworth regional council told Azzet that the Toyota Country Music festival injects approximately $141 million into the region.

“The

Tamworth it: Country music festival loads-in to town

Playstation competitor and major console brand Xbox almost became a thing of the past.

A recent report from The Information revealed that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella faced a critical decision in 2021 to either acquire major game developers to give X Box’s cloud gaming service Game Pass a much needed boost, or shut down Xbox altogether.



Nadella first made the decision to acquire ZeniMax Media, the owner of Bethesda Softworks - a big American video game publisher - for US$7 billion.



Microsoft then acquired video game holding company Activision Blizzard in 2023 for US$75.4 billion.



The acquisitions were Microsoft's attempt to amp up Game Pass, their multi-tiered, paid subscription which launched in 2017 and allows users to access a centralised library of games to be played across devices.



The gaming giant set an expectation to reach over 100 million Game Pass subscribers by 2030, with a 40% year-over-year growth rate.



However, despite the acquisitions and two consecutive years of failing to meet uptake targets, Microsoft retracted their goal in 2023.



Game Pass has consistently faced mixed reviews from consumers despite an industry-wide shift towards subscription gaming, with concerns like

Microsoft keeps Xbox in the game; nearly was an ex-Box

Western Australia’s (WA) government has announced it will inject A$34 million across three projects to aid in the state's mission to decarbonise the local economy.

The new projects will be funded by WA’s Investment Attraction Fund’s (IAF) - A $100 million fund which was established in 2022 to encourage new investment in WA into a range of industries to diversify the local economy and to create job opportunities.



Additionally the New Energies Industries Funding Stream will also focus on supporting projects that aim to reduce the state's emissions while simultaneously ensuring new investment opportunities.



"WA is on track to become a global clean energy powerhouse, to keep our economy for the long term and create the jobs of the future in our State,” said state Premier Roger Cook following the announcement.



Last year the programme received $60 million to support new energy projects, with $26 million in funding most recently announced in November for 2 carbon capture and storage projects.



The energy sector also received support for industries such as steel production, diesel refining and key battery supply chain materials.

In the latest round of funding the Cook Labor government has turned its attent

WA govt gives $34m to projects backing decarbonisation

Qantas flights have reportedly faced delays as a result of the possibility of falling debris created by Elon Musk’s Space X spacecraft.



Flights between Australia and South Africa have faced ongoing delays over the past weeks following warnings of Space X debris re-entering the atmosphere over parts of the Southern Indian Ocean.



The debris is associated with Space X’s first-stage boosters of its smaller Falcon Nine rockets after delivering satellites and crew to orbit.



As a result of its remoteness and distance from any landmass, the rocket debris is directed toward the southern Indian Ocean which is a key part of the Qantas A380 flight path from Sydney to Johannesburg.



Head of Qantas’ Operation Centre Ben Holland said flights have been delayed based on advice from the U.S. government.



"While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we've had to delay some flights just prior to departure," said Holland.



Aerotime obtained recent data from Flightradar24 which shows that flight QF63 has faced several significant delays of more than three hours over recent weeks.



"We're in contact with SpaceX to

Space X debris causing Qantas flight delays

Airbus has doubled Boeing’s aircraft deliveries in 2024.



Major plane manufacturer Boeing’s deliveries fell by almost a third in 2024 compared to the previous year.



The company delivered 348 planes compared to main competitor Airbus who handed over more than double the amount with 766 planes.



Boeing faced a difficult year following a midair accident where an exit door blew out from a Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines forcing an emergency landing.



While no one was seriously injured in the accident, it raised major safety concerns for the airline manufacturer as it was found key bolts were not installed before it left the factory.



Additionally, a seven-week machinist strike which resulted in a 38% wage increase over four years put most of the company’s production on hold.



The American manufacturing giant ended the year with a backlog of 5,595 unfilled orders.



In December Boeing logged 142 gross orders for new aircraft, but it also removed 130 orders from its books for India’s Jet Airways.



Boeing’s gross orders for 2024 were 569, with 377 net orders, while Airbus logged 878 gross orders last year and 826 net orders for new aeroplanes.

Airbus, despite being in a bett

Airbus flies over the top of Boeing's deliveries in 2024

Meta has been accused of forcibly removing and blocking links posted on Facebook to a competitive platform.

Mark Zuckerberg’s media giant is allegedly taking down any links to the competing platform "pixelfed.social" - a decentralised photo-sharing platform - labelling them as “spam”.



According to 404 media, a Bluesky user named AJ Sadauskas first posted that links to Pixelfed were being deleted.



Bluesky is an X competitor in the social media space founded by entrepreneur Jack Dorsey in 2019.



404 Media reported that they tested the theory by trying to post a link to Pixelfed on Facebook and that it was also immediately deleted.



The decision is said to have been justified to users as being in accordance with Facebook's "Community Standards on spam".



This comes just days after Zuckerberg announced plans to replace fact-checking measures on all Meta platforms with “community notes” similar to the censorship tools used by Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter).

Zuckerberg said in a statement that these measures were intended to “protect and restore free expression”.



Pixelfed.social launched in 2018 and operates as an open-source, community funded and decentralised image-sharing platform.

Meta accused of blocking competitor Pixelfed's links

Sienna recently graduated from UTS Sydney, where she was a newsroom mentor. She holds a bachelor of communications, majoring in journalism, and a bachelor of international studies. Fluent in Spanish, Sienna is passionate about politics and travel. | Azzet™

Sienna Martyn

Rapid 'disassembly': SpaceX rocket launch fails

Shanghai goes old school in latest bid to improve tourism

EV's drive home with new record in 2024

Economic fears, Trump tariffs bring worst growth in years

Tamworth it: Country music festival loads-in to town

Microsoft keeps Xbox in the game; nearly was an ex-Box

WA govt gives $34m to projects backing decarbonisation

Space X debris causing Qantas flight delays

Airbus flies over the top of Boeing's deliveries in 2024

Meta accused of blocking competitor Pixelfed's links

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