How smartphone use is linked to falling birth rates

Birth rates across Europe have been falling for years. A new study highlights a possible cause.

Celebrity dog with over 1.5 million followers stolen, slaughtered in China as thief mistook it for a stray

The alleged thief reportedly said: “The dog is dead, so stop making a fuss. I did not break the law.”

Australia is the victim of an AUKUS ‘bait and switch’

At a security conference in Singapore over the weekend, the three AUKUS partners – the United States, United Kingdom and Australia – announced a tweak to their partnership that has generated quite a lot of attention in Canberra. Australia will now receive three second-hand

Watch: Four minutes to act—the new reality of Europe’s drone wars

After last week’s Russian drone crash into a Romanian apartment block, Moscow offered no apologies. Now, the EU is scrambling to answer a critical question: how can Europeans defend themselves from drones?

UMNO defends Johor polls timing as newly-relaunched Bersama party says it will contest state election

Parti Bersama Malaysia (Bersama) - helmed by former federal ministers Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad - said that further discussions would be held with party representatives in Johor to identify the seats the party would contest.

Africa: Liberia to Remain a U.S. Visa-Processing Hub Under Africa Consular Overhaul

[New Dawn] MONROVIA, June 2, 2026 -- Liberia will remain one of 20 U.S. visa-processing hubs in Africa under a planned State Department restructuring that would scale back routine visa services at dozens of other embassies and consulates across the continent.

How Conflict Helped Create Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and Its Legendary Guitar Solos

Even among the most acclaimed albums ever recorded, not a single one is perfect. That goes more so for the releases of what I call the “heroic age of the album,” which enjoyed its zenith around the late seventies. Not coincidentally, 1979 was the year that Pink Floyd put out

Genetically modified hookworms produce and deliver therapeutics

Hookworms, intestinal parasites that infect hundreds of millions of people in under-resourced tropical regions around the globe, have evolved to survive inside the human gut for years, secreting molecules that enable coexistence with their hosts. Now, researchers at Washington

Trump Push to Jail Foes Takes Darker Turn—and GOP Senators Are Rattled

Donald Trump just named William Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence, replacing the outgoing Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte is best known for abusing his administration position to ransack the mortages of Trump’s enemies for fake pretexts to get them prosecuted and jailed .

Japan’s fertility falls for a 10th year despite government push

Tokyo remained the lowest among Japan’s prefectures, with a fertility rate of 0.96.

All the reasons Cambodia should join the CPTPP

The natural instinct of any government facing a more fragmented global system is to guard its policy flexibility and keep its hands free to respond to whatever comes next. But the countries that consistently attract long-term investment tend to choose a different path. They

Constrained flexibility: Which European countries have the highest job insecurity?

France, Italy, Spain and Greece have some of the highest rates of workers in fixed-term or part-time jobs. Some of these countries are trying to tackle that, while elsewhere, part-time roles are increasingly popular.

Patience imperative for EU-China trade relations, Australian trade minister says

As Europe tries to stabilise turbulent trade relations with China, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell recommends that Brussels hold its nerve.

43 days and counting: Why the House is working way less than the Senate

The gap between the chambers is looming large as Republicans face a massive pre-midterm time crunch.

NATO chief Rutte arrives in Kyiv on unannounced visit, Ukrainian officials say

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is expected to meet with Rutte, has been appealing to members of the defence bloc for help protecting Ukraine from Russian ballistic missile attacks.

Google must let publishers opt out of AI Search features, rules UK

Online publishers are getting more control over whether their websites appear in Google's AI Search features, thanks to a UK regulatory ruling. The new conduct rule imposed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) requires Google to let website owners keep their content

Solomon Islands' PM says to review secretive security pact with China

EU Commission to defend Spain in €106m US energy lawsuit

When firm Blasket Renewables sought to enforce compensation in a US court, the European Commission argued that Spain could not legally pay it, highlighting a clash between international arbitration and EU law.

US, South Korea discuss nuclear cooperation in security talks

The talks were due to cover Seoul’s push for expanded uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing rights.

Taiwan says Japan, Philippines must respect its rights in maritime border talks

It added that China had no right to claim to speak on its behalf over the maritime boundary issue.

Drone strikes close Kuwait airport as Iran and US clash in Gulf

A drone strike on a passenger terminal in Kuwait's international airport wounded several people Wednesday and forced air traffic to be suspended, as Iranian and US forces traded attacks in the Gulf. The attacks marked one of the more severe tests yet of a fragile April 8

South Africa’s worsening xenophobia exposes a broken economic promise

As afrophobic violence in South Africa flares ahead of the November local elections, political leaders are opting for cheap scapegoating over tackling deep structural decline and broken public utilities.

Drone race: How Ukraine's defence tech redefined Russia's war

In its most recent attacks against Ukraine, Russia hit the cities with dozens of ballistic missiles, knowing very well that this is one of the very few weapons Ukraine remains vulnerable to. As for the drones — this is where Kyiv mastered both defensive and offensive know-how.

UK Treasury minister says it is inevitable that Britain will rejoin the EU

Embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to rebuild links with the EU and put the UK "at the heart of Europe".

Xi’s new US-China formula signals a self-confident shift in terms

One of the most notable outcomes of last month’s Xi-Trump summit in Beijing was not tangible. Rather, it was Xi Jinping’s introduction of a new authoritative formulation, or tífǎ, for US-China relations. Such authoritative concepts have long been an important means for the

Indian stars push to end elephants in Bollywood

India’s Animal Welfare Board must give permission for elephants to be used in films.

Iranian drone attack causes heavy damage to Kuwait airport as US and Iran trade strikes

Kuwait suspended commercial flights after drones heavily damaged its international airport, hours after Iran fired missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain and the US struck an Iranian military facility on Qeshm Island. Iran's IRGC said it had targeted the US Navy's 5th Fleet

Africa: Assane Sarr Named Best Goalkeeper After Inspiring Senegal to U-17 Afcon Title

[CAF] Assane Sarr has been named the best goalkeeper of the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2026, after playing a decisive role in Senegal's title-winning campaign.

Africa: Tanzania Teenage Star Athanasi Wins Golden Boot At TotalEnergies CAF U-17 Afcon

[CAF] Tanzania forward Dismas Shida Athanasi has been named the Golden Boot winner at the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2026, after finishing as the tournament's leading scorer with three goals.

Before SpaceX goes public, a scramble to get on bandwagon

As SpaceX prepares its long-awaited stock market debut, investors everywhere are scrambling to get a piece of the action—through investment funds, related company stocks, and even online prediction markets.

Africa: Tanzania's Issa Chole Named TotalEnergies Man of the Competition At U-17 Afcon Morocco 2026

[CAF] Tanzania midfielder Issa Mussa Chole has been named theTotalEnergies Man of the Competition at the TotalEnergies CAF U-17 AFCON, Morocco 2026, after playing a key role in the Serengeti Boys' historic run to the final.

Africa: African Fintech's Winning Formula - Build for the Constraint, Not the Fantasy

[Daily Maverick] At the RMB Think Summit 2026 this week, Michael Jordaan's argument about African fintech success was not the usual glossy conference pitch about apps, disruption and clever code. It was much more grounded and probably more useful. The winners in African fintech

Fire sweeps through New Delhi building, killing at least 21 people

Iran World Cup squad to reach Mexico early Sunday

Iran's World Cup squad will arrive early on Sunday in Mexico where they will be based for the duration of the global football tournament, a team statement said Wednesday. "The Iran national football team will depart Antalya for Tijuana at 15:20 (1220 GMT) on Saturday, June 6,

Kurt Vonnegut Diagrams the Shape of All Stories in a Master’s Thesis Rejected by U. Chicago

“What has been my prettiest contribution to the culture?” asked Kurt Vonnegut in his autobiography Palm Sunday. His answer? His master’s thesis in anthropology for the University of Chicago, “which was rejected because it was so simple and looked like too much fun.” The elegant

‘Time Machine Maidan’: A First-Person Doc Bridges the Ukraine War and 2013 Revolution to Paint a Portrait of Resistance (Exclusive Trailer)

The immersive film from Roman Liubyi and Volodymyr Tykhyy, debuting at the Sheffield DocFest on June 11, “time-travel” to show a generation "that once witnessed history" only to be called on "to defend the future it imagined."

Ötzi the murdered Iceman’s microbiome is still active

More than 5,300 years after Ötzi’s death, researchers found genetic material from his gut microbiome and identified yeasts that continue to exist despite the mummy being kept below freezing

Africa: Hidden Economies of the Wild - From Worms to Frankincense

[Daily Maverick] Can conservation pay for itself and create meaningful livelihoods beyond fenced protected areas? Researchers and entrepreneurs across southern and east Africa are exploring ways for rural communities to generate income from sustainably harvested wild resources.

Xi closes the door after promising US CEOs to open wider

TOKYO — The billionaire CEOs who accompanied US President Donald Trump to Beijing last month are probably feeling some whiplash. Some of that disorientation comes from Trump himself — a president who built two campaigns on confronting China and has since recast himself as an

Yakuza member among 3 more arrested over $3.4 million theft on Tokyo street

Investigators believe the victims of the theft had intended to use the cash to buy gold in Hong Kong.

Fire in Delhi hotel kills at least 21, police say

At least 40 people have been rescued so far, the police said.

Scientists lose critical climate record as ocean observatory will go dark under Trump funding cuts

A portion of one of the most ambitious ocean monitoring networks ever built will go dark this month when scientists board a research vessel and motor off the Oregon coast to pull a research buoy from deep out of the Pacific.

Mobile liver testing rolls into Brussels

Are you concerned about the possible state of your liver? Or, maybe you might just like a check up on this vital bodily organ? If so, an event outside the European Parliament in Brussels all this week is just for you. It has been organized by European Liver Patients’

Microsoft launches its own AI models to take on OpenAI and Anthropic

Seven in-house models unveiled at Build 2026 signal Microsoft's push to cut costs and compete directly on the AI frontier as its biggest investees plan to launch record-breaking IPOs.

Commission accelerates transition away from animal testing in chemical safety assessments

Page contents On 1 June, the European Commission presented a road map towards phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments, which lays out clear, tangible steps to ensure the transition to innovative non-animal approaches. The roadmap will also preserve the

Scott Pelley Accuses CBS of ‘Collapse of Values’ After ’60 Minutes’ Firing

"The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable," the long-time journalist wrote. "The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well"

Markets 'confused' by US-Iran uncertainty, expert says

Economics analyst Osama Rizvi believes the chance of markets getting "worse" or "ugly" is "more than getting better" due to the changing situation between the US and Iran. According to Rizvi, economic confidence is "going down" in Europe.

Tanzania’s defiant Samia pushes Russia on uranium assets during state visit

Isolated after October’s disputed elections, Tanzania’s Samia Hassan arrives in Moscow with a surprise trump card: control of a strategically vital uranium deposit the West would rather she didn’t touch.