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A U.S. law will ban any smartphone applications owned by companies in "foreign adversary" nations on Sunday. Ahead of the ban, some Americans decided to protest the law by signing up for the Chinese ...

TikTok has gone dark in the US for both users who have already downloaded it on their phones and in mobile app stores
TikTok is no longer available in the US. In both mobile app stores and on users’ phones, the app has gone dark.
When opening the app, users who had already downloaded TikTok before 19 January were met with a pop-up message that prompted them to learn more about the ban or close the app.

App no longer available on US Apple and Google stores after supreme court upholds lawmakers’ ban
TikTok stopped working in the US late on Saturday, shortly before a federal ban on the Chinese-owned short-video app was due to take effect.
The app was no longer available on Apple’s iOS App Store or Google’s Play Store. The US Congress passed a law in April mandating that parent company ByteDance either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner or face a total shutdown. It chose the latter.

As C.I.A. director, William J. Burns was deeply focused on China and Russia when the Middle East conflict plunged him back into his old life.

On the eve of his return, it’s clear that world leaders, whether they like him or loathe him, can’t ignore this unpredictable showman
Michelle Obama’s one-woman on Monday requires no explanation. It’s plain that the former first lady has zero tolerance and even less love for a man who delights in racist and sexist behaviour. Lots of other people, especially among US allies in Europe, would boycott Trump, too, if they could. Yet, inescapably, they must deal with him for the next four years.
Such fear and loathing is by no means universally shared. A by the European Council on Foreign Relations, found that in China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil, . In contrast, people in the UK, France, Germany and a clutch of other west European countries are frankly appalled at the prospect.

As the platform bows out in the US, here is my carefully curated list of the best things it’s taught me
The average TikTok user spends almost on the app. However, the screen time of American users is about to be rapidly reduced, as the app is set to be banned in the US.
On Friday the US Supreme Court that would see the social media platform banned over national security concerns. TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance had challenged the law, arguing that it violates free speech protections for more than 170 million users.

Social media accounts blocked for breaking Beijing rules as millions of users join up before ban takes effect
When Angelica Oung received the notification that her Xiaohongshu account had been blocked for violating the social media app’s code of conduct, her mind started racing.
The only picture she had posted on her account, apart from her profile headshot, was of herself wearing an inflatable polar bear suit, holding a sign saying: “I love nuclear”. What could be the problem with that, wondered Oung, a clean energy activist in Taiwan.

WHO is ‘critical in protecting US business interests’, says CEO of firm that may see lean years if Trump carries out vow
The (WHO) could see lean years ahead if the US withdraws membership under the new Trump administration. Such a withdrawal, promised on the of ’s new administration, would in effect cut the multilateral agency’s funding by one-fifth.
The severe cut would be uncharted territory for the WHO, potentially curtailing public health works globally, pressuring the organization to attract private funding, and providing an opening for other countries to influence the organization. Other countries are not expected to make up the funding loss.

Facing the loss of their favorite app, users have flocked to another China-based platform. The resulting cross-cultural exchanges have been revealing. The TikTok ban is expected to come into force on ...

From a ‘golden era’ to post-pandemic mistrust, the UK has had a turbulent relationship with the world’s second-largest economy
In the last decade, Britain’s relations with China have been on a rollercoaster. In 2015, during the visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the UK, then chancellor George Osborne was able to declare the two countries were in a “”. He did this with the conviction that with a growing economy and rising middle class, China offered plenty of opportunities for Britain. But by 2022, Rishi Sunak had declared the “”. And in 2023, deputy prime minister labelled China Britain’s greatest economic security threat, to align closer with the position of the US, and through fears of deeper Chinese espionage and interference in the outside world. Seldom had a diplomatic boom-bust cycle happened so rapidly and so completely.
In view of extremes such as these, to see a return to unvarnished, largely conventional engagement looks like a revolution. In the past, Rachel Reeves turning up in Beijing for a , as she did over the weekend, would have attracted little notice. China is, after all, still the world’s second largest economy and accounts for about a fifth of global GDP. Its , despite recent domestic economic turbulence, constitutes one of the most dynamic and sought-after consumer groups on the planet. But in 2025, such a visit looks like radical action because of the dramatic deterioration that occurred in the final years of the Conservative administration.
Kerry Brown is director of the Lau China Institute, King’s College London. He is the author of

Americans fleeing the looming TikTok ban have been warmly welcomed to app Xiaohongshu – or RedNote – despite China’s tight restrictions on what can be posted
“It is the coolest thing,” says Huang Ziyan, a longtime user of Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, describing the experience as a “21st-century Tower of Babel”.
Huang is referring to the influx of US “TikTok refugees” fleeing the impending ban and the resulting cross-cultural exchange that has seen Americans warmly welcomed – and sometimes given a few helpful tips.

RedNote's Chinese users say it is the first time they have been able to speak directly to Americans online.