WAO ART #143

Meta's new app, Threads, attracted 10M users in its first 7 hours, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The app is being positioned as a friendly rival to Twitter and aims to attract users unhappy with recent changes. Threads allows users to post up to 500 characters and has similar features to Twitter.

Europe's Ariane-5 rocket has completed its final mission, marking the end of its nearly three-decade-long career. The rocket, known for its success rate with only two failures in 117 launches, carried two telecoms satellites. However, Europe now faces a launcher crisis as there is no replacement ready.

Coco Lee, a pioneering singer, died at the age of 48 in Hong Kong. She became the first Chinese-American to perform at the Oscars in 2001, singing the theme from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lee broke into the music scene in the 1990s and achieved success in both Mandarin and English-language markets.

TikTok has launched a music streaming platform, TikTok Music, in Indonesia and Brazil. The service offers a paid subscription with no free version and has a large library including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music. Users can sync their TikTok accounts with the app.

Since President Bola Tinubu scrapped the fuel subsidy in Nigeria, average daily petrol consumption has decreased by almost a third. The subsidy had kept petrol prices low for years but had become too costly for the country, with the government spending $10bn on it last year.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink believes that cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, can serve as a digital form of gold and an international asset. He sees them as a means of diversification and protection against economic uncertainty and currency fluctuations.

The France Ambassador to the Solomon Islands, Jean-Baptiste Jeangene Vilmer, presented his letter of credence to the Governor General, Sir David Vunagi. The Governor General expressed gratitude for France's support in disaster relief and their commitment to addressing development challenges in the Pacific.