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'Are You Dead' App Is a Smash Hit
'Are You Dead' App
Is a Smash Hit
Jan 12, 2026 10:44 AM CST

'Are You Dead' App Is a Smash Hit

Most downloaded paid app in China is now rising up the US charts

(Newser) - In a country where more people than ever are living on their own, a bluntly named app is turning fears of dying alone into a booming business. The app, called "Are You Dead?" in China and "Demumu" internationally, asks users to tap a large confirmation button every day...

China's Fentanyl Crackdown Tied to Drop in US Overdoses

'This demonstrates how influential China can be and how much they can help us—or hurt us'

(Newser) - Fentanyl deaths have been dropping sharply in the US over the last few years, and a new study suggests that China is a big reason. The study in Science points to a "major disruption in the illicit fentanyl trade" that led to a steep drop in fatal overdoses beginning...

China Just Put Its Astronauts Through Cave Boot Camp

Training in Chongqing caves tested emergency response, psychological resilience

(Newser) - Chinese astronauts just wrapped up a month or so spent largely underground, in an exercise meant to prep them for where Beijing wants to send them next. China's astronaut corps put 28 crew members through cave training in a mountainous part of Chongqing, with small teams rotating through six-day,...

Lost Phone Causing Big Headache for Japan's Nuke Regulator

(Newser) - Japan's nuclear watchdog is dealing with an embarrassing security lapse involving a lost work phone in China. Japanese media report that an employee of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) misplaced a government-issued smartphone containing confidential contact information for staff of its nuclear security division, which handles protection of nuclear...

South Korean President Goes to China After Missile Test

North Korea fired several ballistic missiles toward sea, neighbors say

(Newser) - As its neighbors prepared for high-level diplomacy on Sunday, they said North Korea launched ballistic missiles toward the sea. South Korea's military said several missiles were fired from the Pyongyang area toward waters off North Korea's east coast at about 7:50am local time, Reuters reports. The test...

Tesla Is Dethroned as the World's Top EV Seller

BYD of China outsells Elon Musk's company for the first time

(Newser) - Tesla is no longer the world's leading seller of electric vehicles. Numbers reported by Elon Musk's company on Friday came in as expected: Tesla sold 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, reports the AP . Earlier in the day, China's BYD reported selling more than 2.2 million....

China Outraged by Demolition of Panama Monument

'A symbol of China-Panama friendship, reduced to nothing,' ambassador says

(Newser) - China has condemned the demolition of a monument honoring the Chinese community in Panama, the latest development as the Trump administration pushes for the Central American nation to distance itself from Beijing. Panama's president echoed the condemnation, blaming local authorities and pledging that the monument would be rebuilt, the...

Xi Vows to Annex Taiwan in New Year's Speech

China's president says 'reunification' is 'unstoppable'

(Newser) - China's president used his New Year's Eve address to double down on one of his core goals: bringing Taiwan under Beijing's control. Speaking in Beijing a day after large-scale military drills around Taiwan wrapped up, Xi Jinping said, "The reunification of our motherland, a trend of...

Jimmy Lai's Daughter: Dad's Fingernails Are Falling Off

Daughter urges UK to press China for jailed mogul's release

(Newser) - Jimmy Lai's family says the 78-year-old Hong Kong media tycoon is physically breaking down behind bars, even as Chinese authorities insist he's in "good health." In a letter seen by the BBC , relatives of the British citizen are urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to press...

Ancient Chinese Record Hints Star of Bethlehem Was a Comet

Files regarding comet in 5BC align with biblical timeline of Jesus' birth

(Newser) - The famed star of Bethlehem may have been less miracle and more rare celestial alignment, according to a new study tying it to a comet recorded in ancient China. Researchers writing in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association argue that a "broom star," aka a comet, described...

Angered Over Taiwan, China Issues a 'Stern Warning'

Beijing stages military drills around Taiwan to warn 'external forces' after US, Japan tensions

(Newser) - China's military on Monday dispatched air, navy, and missile units to conduct joint live-fire drills around the island of Taiwan, which Beijing called a "stern warning" against separatist and "external interference" forces. Taiwan said it was placing its forces on alert and called the Chinese government "...

China's EV Revolution Has a Big Problem: Battery Waste

Gray-market recyclers, toxic waste challenge China's flourishing electric vehicle industry

(Newser) - China's electric-car revolution is about to collide with a far messier problem: what to do with all the worn-out batteries. What began as a heavily subsidized push to get drivers into EVs—nearly 60% of new vehicles sold in China by late 2025 were electric or plug-in hybrids—is...

China Slaps Sanctions on US Defense Contractors After Huge Taiwan Arms Sales

Beijing imposes sanctions on 20 US defense-related firms, 10 execs over massive arms sales

(Newser) - Beijing imposed sanctions on Friday against 20 US defense-related companies and 10 executives, a week after Washington announced large-scale arms sales to Taiwan. The sanctions entail freezing the companies' assets in China and banning individuals and organizations from dealing with them, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The companies include...

Trump: New Class of Battleship Will Be Named After Me

President says he will help design ships 'by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built'

(Newser) - President Trump announced plans Monday for a new class of battleships to be named after him. "They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built," he said during the announcement at Mar-a-Lago, per the AP . The Trump-class warships...

Report: China Is Working on a 'Manhattan Project' for Chips

Beijing is working to bypass West's export restrictions

(Newser) - China may be further along in its bid to break the West's chokehold on the most advanced computer chips than Washington expected. Reuters reports that Chinese scientists in a secure Shenzhen lab have built and are testing a prototype extreme ultraviolet lithography machine—the ultra-complex equipment needed to manufacture...

Secret Trial Video Shows General Who Balked Over Tiananmen

Gen. Xu Qinxian said he hoped to avoid 'bloodshed,' being named 'a sinner in history'

(Newser) - A newly surfaced court video is reshaping what we know about the one Chinese general who refused to send his troops into Tiananmen Square in 1989. The six-hour footage , now circulating on YouTube, shows Gen. Xu Qinxian, the former commander of the elite 38th Group Army, on trial in 1990...

China's New Plan to Make Babies: Tax Birth Control

New levy on contraceptives prompts backlash amid broader pronatalist push

(Newser) - China has a new plan to coax citizens into having more babies : tax birth control. Starting Jan. 1, Beijing will slap a 13% value-added tax on condoms and other contraceptives, ending a three-decade exemption as part of a broader overhaul of its VAT system, which supplies nearly 40% of national...

Finnish PM Apologizes to Asia for Lawmakers' Racist Gestures

3 members of Finns Party shared posts showing them pulling back their eyelids

(Newser) - Finland's top leader is trying to stamp out a racist controversy that jumped from Miss Finland to Parliament. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Wednesday issued an apology to China, Japan, and South Korea after several lawmakers posted photos of themselves tugging back their eyelids—a gesture widely recognized as...

For First Time in 53 Years, Japan Will Be Panda-less

4-year-old twins born in Tokyo zoo to head home to China

(Newser) - Popular twin pandas at a Tokyo zoo are set to return to their homeland in China in late January, officials said Monday, leaving Japan without a panda for the first time in about half a century. Prospects for their replacement are not favorable either as ties between the two countries...

Amid Scrutiny, Tencent Ditches Paramount's Warner Bros. Bid

Regulatory concerns out of the US prompt Chinese tech firm to withdraw $1B investment

(Newser) - Tencent has withdrawn from Paramount Skydance's hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, citing concerns over increased US regulatory scrutiny of foreign investment, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Chinese tech conglomerate had initially committed $1 billion to Paramount's Dec. 1 offer,...

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