Switzerland is set to vote in a referendum Sunday on limiting its population size – a proposal driven by divisions over immigration that could, if approved, set the country on a collision course with the European Union. The Swiss electorate will be asked a simple question: Should Switzerland’s population be capped at 10 million? If a majority vote yes, it would be the first nation in Europe to set a population limit. The current population is a shade over 9 million – up from 8.3 million a decade ago. More than a quarter of its residents are foreign-born, according to government figures.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/13/europe/switzerland-population-cap-referendum-intl-cmd
The US fertility rate has been trending down for decades, leaving researchers and policymakers searching for causes that may help pinpoint solutions. There have been all kinds of theories, including soaring costs of childcare, the rise of birth control and even the role of car seat regulations. A new paper offers a provocative culprit in a succinct package: the smartphone. But some other researchers are skeptical that this single factor could play such an outsized role in a much longer-term trend. 2007 marked a particularly significant “inflection point” in the US fertility rate, said Caitlin Myers, an economist with Middlebury College and the National Bureau of Economic Research, who is the lead author on the new paper.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/health/fertility-decline-smartphone-study
Siri is finally getting the big AI upgrade Wall Street has been waiting for. But it’s just the beginning. Apple on Monday announced Siri AI, a major revamp the company hopes will thrust its roughly 15-year-old digital assistant into the spotlight alongside OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. The new assistant, which will launch in beta later this year, will help operate apps, analyze an iPhone’s screen to answer questions and incorporate personal context into responses, the company said. After falling behind in the AI race, Apple has been under pressure over the past couple of years to prove it has a plan to catch up. The company will soon have to prove it can leverage its AI assistant to drive iPhone upgrades, boost services revenue and power new types of products. But perhaps the most important question for investors is: Can Apple, a company known for turning nascent technologies into blockbuster products, convince people to pay for AI?
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/13/tech/apple-siri-ai-update
In recent weeks, Iran has dramatically escalated efforts to seal off its cache of near bomb-grade uranium, deliberately collapsing tunnels and booby-trapping entrances with explosive mines, according to five sources familiar with US intelligence. Getting to the roughly half-a-ton of highly-enriched uranium is now far more difficult, dangerous and time-consuming than it already was just a month ago, when President Donald Trump was publicly signaling that he might order the US military to seize it, the sources said. The new fortifications by the Iranians add an additional layer of complexity to the Trump administration’s proposed deal with Tehran to remove and destroy its uranium, and the move raises questions about who will take on the dangerous task of digging it out.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/13/politics/iran-sealed-uranium-cache-tunnels-placed-mines
There is suddenly newfound optimism about the Trump administration reaching an agreement with Iran to extend the ceasefire and to start to bring the war to an end — and not just inside President Donald Trump’s head this time. Even Iran’s foreign minister says an agreement “has never been closer.” But it’s important to note that, even if there’s good reason for the optimism, this would not be a peace deal, in and of itself. It’s the first step in a much longer process.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/politics/trump-iran-war-deal-pitfalls