A provocative new study is reigniting debate over one of the biggest demographic shifts of the modern era: why are fewer people having children?
Researchers from the United States have examined whether the rise of smartphones, beginning with the launch of Apple's first iPhone in 2007, may have played a role in the country's steadily falling birth rates. Their findings suggest the technology could be one factor behind a decline that has puzzled economists and policymakers for years.

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has been arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to his posts on X. He was arrested by five officers after arriving on a flight from the US, and said in an online Substack article that officials then became concerned for his health after taking his blood pressure, and took him to hospital. The Metropolitan Police said that a man in his 50s was arrested on 1 September at Heathrow Airport and taken to hospital, adding his condition "is neither life-threatening nor life-changing" , and he was bailed "pending further investigation". Linehan said in an online article on Substack that his bail condition stipulates he is "not to go on Twitter" and that his arrest related to three posts on X from April, on his views about challenging "a trans-identified male" in "a female-only space".