🇮🇳 📉 India's Fertility Rate Drops Below Replacement Level for First Time, Reveals Government Report

India, the world's most populous country, is currently experiencing one of the sharpest declines in fertility rates in the world. From 4.5 children per woman in the 1970s, it has now fallen to 1.9, below the replacement rate of 2.1. In more than two-thirds of countries, population growth is now below 2.1. - "India's Fertility Rate Drops Below Replacement Level for First Time, Reveals Government Report"

While the national average indicates a slowdown in population growth, the report highlights stark regional contrasts. Bihar recorded the highest fertility rate in the country at 2.9, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 2.6, Madhya Pradesh at 2.4 and Rajasthan at 2.3 - the only major states still above the replacement level. In contrast, Delhi reported the country's lowest TFR at 1.2. Southern and western states continue to show significantly lower fertility rates. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal each recorded a TFR of 1.3, while Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and Punjab stood at 1.4. Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana each reported a TFR of 1.5.

The report also underlined the persistent rural-urban divide. India's rural TFR remained higher at 2.1 compared to 1.5 in urban areas. This trend was visible across almost all major states and Union Territories, except Kerala, where urban fertility was marginally higher, and Tamil Nadu, where fertility rates remained identical in both rural and urban regions.

https://www.ndtv.com/health/indias-fertility-rate-drops-below-replacement-level-for-first-time-reveals-government-report-11565147

🐣 🇯🇵 📈 Fertility rates rose in 13 of Japan’s 47 prefectures last year, according to preliminary figures, with some credit being given to support measures by local governments.

Although Tokyo’s fertility rate remained flat in 2025, the number of births rose by 857 from the previous year to 85,064, marking the first year-on-year increase in a decade.

The year-on-year decline in the number of births was 2.2%, the smallest since the decline began in 2016. In 2024, the fertility rate fell year-on-year in 46 prefectures, while remaining flat in Fukui Prefecture. In 2025, the fertility rate increased in 13 prefectures from the previous year, while remaining flat in six prefectures.

“We have no choice but to devote ourselves to creating an environment where young people don’t feel that life is difficult,” an official said.

Prof. Junya Tsutsui of Ritsumeikan University, who specializes in family sociology, said: “While the government’s support measures for families with children may have contributed to the narrowing of the decline, we cannot be at all reassured when considering the future sustainability of social security. It is crucial to establish mechanisms — such as job creation — to help young people in regional areas settle down, so as not to accelerate their exodus to the Tokyo metropolitan area.”

https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20260605-330856/

🗳 🇮🇱 📊 Pew Research: Israel Net Favorability

🇬🇭 Ghana: +13
🇳🇬 Nigeria: +6
🇮🇳 India: +4
🇰🇪 Kenya: +3
——
🇧🇷 Brazil: -19
🇺🇸 U.S: -23 (was +30 in 2013)
🇿🇦 South Africa: -31
🇦🇷 Argentina: -34
🇨🇦 Canada: -37
🇲🇽 Mexico: -37
🇰🇷 South Korea: -43
🇬🇧 U.K: -44
🇫🇷 France: -44
🇩🇪 Germany: -50
🇮🇹 Italy: -54
🇵🇱 Poland: -55
🇳🇱 Netherlands: -56
🇸🇪 Sweden: -59
🇦🇺 Australia: -60
🇪🇸 Spain: -62
🇯🇵 Japan: -70
🇮🇩 Indonesia: -73
🇵🇸 West Bank/E. Jerusalem: -81
🇲🇾 Malaysia: -84
🇵🇰 Pakistan: -92
🇹🇷 Turkey: -96

Conducted in Spring 2026
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/06/04/most-people-across-36-countries-have-negative-views-of-israel-and-little-confidence-in-netanyahu

📎 InteractivePolls

🇺🇸🇷🇺🚀 — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were instructed by NASA to shelter in their spacecraft and prepare for a possible evacuation earlier today as Russian crews worked to address a worsening air leak in the Russian segment of the station, Reuters reports.

➡️ The four members of NASA’s Crew-12 mission were directed to enter their docked SpaceX Crew Dragon and put on spacesuits as a precaution.

➡️ The leak in the Zvezda module increased from roughly one pound of air loss per day to about two pounds per day on Monday, prompting heightened concern while investigations and repair efforts continue.

🇺🇸🇦🇲🇦🇿🇷🇺🇮🇷 Armenia’s ‘Trump Route’ widens the fault line between Washington, Tehran, and Moscow

The South Caucasus is becoming a live test of how far Washington can push into Russia and Iran’s shared perimeter before the backlash begins.

On the eve of Armenia’s crucial parliamentary elections on 7 June, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a brief visit to Yerevan on 26 May, signed three highly significant agreements in a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

These included the “Framework Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America on Strategic Cooperation Concerning the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP),” the “Charter on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Armenia and the United States,” and the “Republic of Armenia–United States of America Framework For Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths.”

Rubio’s brief visit, which lasted only about an hour at Yerevan Airport, was a clear signal of US support for Nikol Pashinyan’s government ahead of Armenia’s pivotal parliamentary elections on 7 June.

Over the past several years, Pashinyan’s administration has gradually distanced itself from the Russian Federation and Moscow-led regional institutions, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and, more recently, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), while seeking closer ties with the EU, NATO, and the US.

In this context, the US secretary of state, who traveled to Yerevan two weeks before the elections, expressed strong support for Pashinyan and his team.

US President Donald Trump also wrote in a post on Truth Social: 

“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, of Armenia, a great friend and Leader, is making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure! Nikol completely shares my vision of PEACE and PROSPERITY for Armenia and the entire South Caucasus region…. Nikol has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for Re-Election on June 7, 2026.”

The three agreements signed during Rubio’s visit to Yerevan – particularly the TRIPP Agreement  – should be viewed as a continuation and complement to the peace agreement signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan at the White House on 8 August, 2025, under the mediation of Trump. 

Strongly critical of Pashinyan’s policies regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, these nationalist and conservative groups maintain hardline positions toward both Azerbaijan and Turkiye. They have traditionally enjoyed closer relations with Iran and Russia while maintaining a cautious and carefully calibrated distance from the west.

Opposition parties and political groups in Armenia argue that the large-scale “Trump Route” project is, in essence, the same transit corridor long sought by Azerbaijan under the name of the “Zangezur Corridor” and strongly supported by Ankara.

In Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Baghaei also reacted to Rubio’s visit and the signing of the Trump Agreement, stating:

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s position regarding security in the South Caucasus is clear and leaves no room for ambiguity. Iran welcomes the expansion of economic exchanges and the reopening of transportation and transit routes. However, given the United States’ long record of hostile conduct and intervention in various regions of the world, Iran harbors serious suspicions regarding Washington’s intentions and has explicitly expressed its opposition to any such destabilizing presence in the region.”

In recent weeks, Russian officials have openly warned Armenia, particularly in connection with the possibility of its withdrawal from the EAEU, about potential consequences, including higher gas prices or the suspension of preferential energy arrangements, restrictions on imports of Armenian goods, limitations on the diamond and energy trade, and even a reassessment of certain areas of economic cooperation.

🔗 https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38091

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The situation in Konstantinovka deteriorated for the Ukrainian army as Russian troops have consolidated control over a low density neighbourhood in the city's northwest.

Last week, as reported by many observers, Ukraine finalised the withdrawal of its drone operators from the city as it was too dangerous for them to stay with so many infiltrations by Russian troops.

Russian troops infiltrated the area from the village of Illinovka where some scattered Ukrainian positions still hold out. The Ukrainians remain entrenched in Konstantinovka's central microdistrict thanks to its apartment buildings which provide ample cover.

Battles like Pokrovsk-Myrnograd, Avdeevka and Toretsk have shown that the Ukrainians can keep a sustained defense even when semi-encircled however the few soldiers from the units stuck in cities under such circumstances make it out alive retreating towards their own lines.

🔗 Map by Thorkill

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner quietly visited the Oak Ridge nuclear facilities in Tennessee to meet with leading U.S. nuclear specialists as talks with Iran enter a decisive stage, Axios reports.

➡️ A team of around 100 experts has recently been assembled to support the implementation of a potential nuclear agreement. The discussions focused on technical preparations, with some of the specialists having recently participated in the recovery of enriched uranium from Venezuela.

➡️ Officials described the group as among the top nuclear experts in the U.S., tasked with handling the technical requirements of any future deal with Iran.