Demography

A new demographic report by Italy's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) presents a worrying picture: birth rates are at their lowest since 1861, and the working-age population is shrinking. Despite Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's pledges, the country faces an unprecedented economic challenge.

Anxiety over declining birth rates and changing population composition is increasingly shaping politics, but history teaches that demographic processes are far more complex than apocalyptic forecasts.

Professor Arnon Sofer, a founder of the University of Haifa and the architect of the Gaza disengagement plan, has passed away at 90 following a battle with Parkinson's disease. Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav paid tribute to the renowned scholar.

Yoaz Hendel warned that in just 22 years, Israel might lose its Zionist majority. Research bodies dealing with this show that it is probably not that close. Globes' 'Hamashrokik' (The Whistle).