Cüneyt Toros

We’re dropping Gemini Omni: our first step towards a model that can create anything from anything - starting with video. It combines Gemini’s intelligence with our generative media systems - representing a leap forward in world understanding, multimodality, and editing 🧵

A basket of groceries in Istanbul is now more expensive than in the UK. I compared two online shopping baskets - 1 from Carrefour for delivery in Istanbul; one from Sainsbury's. The price of 19 basic items in the UK totalled £44.53. The price of the 19 basic items in Istanbul totalled 4,425.18 TL / £71.99 at today's exchange rate. I compared using the cheapest available options and the most similar items/quantities available. There are a few items that really push up the cost of the grocery basket in Turkey, namely beef and instant coffee (?!). Some goods such as olive oil are roughly the same price as in the UK, while some items such as eggs, milk and onions are quite a bit cheaper in Turkey. The gross minimum wage in Turkey is 33,030 (£537.88) a month. The gross minimum wage in the UK is £12.71 an hour for people over 21. Assuming a 35 hour working week, this is £444.85 a week. None of this is to say that people in the UK have it easy. I know the cost of living crisis - already years in the making and now exacerbated by the war in Iran - is hitting many people very very hard. The point I'm rather trying to make is that inflation in Turkey is crazy, pushing living costs up to levels that far outstrip what many people earn.

ITALY IS DYING — AND THE NUMBERS ARE BRUTAL Italy just recorded its lowest number of births since 1861. Only 355,000 babies were born in 2025, while deaths reached 652,000 — a net loss of nearly 300,000 people in a single year. The total fertility rate has collapsed to 1.14 children per woman, far below the 2.1 needed to sustain a population. This isn’t a temporary dip. It’s a long-term demographic collapse that threatens Italy’s entire future: shrinking workforce, collapsing pensions, aging society, and disappearing regions. Without massive immigration, Italy’s population would be shrinking even faster. This is what happens when birth rates stay critically low for decades. Italy is the clearest warning sign for many other developed nations heading in the same direction.