India, world's most populous country, sees sign of future shrinking
The South Asian nation's population is estimated to have reached 1.46 billion this year and is expected to increase to 1.7 billion before it begins falling about 40 years from now, says the State of World Population 2025 report published this month by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
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Asahi Shimbun
4 days ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Sen Soshitsu XV, tea master and peace advocate, dies at 102
Famed tea grand master Sen Soshitsu XV, who dedicated his life to promoting international exchanges and advocating for world peace through 'chado' tea culture, died on Aug. 14. He was 102. Sen Soshitsu XV was the 15th 'iemoto' head of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony. After retirement, the grand master was known by his honorary name, Sen Genshitsu. He was born in Kyoto in 1923, the year of the Great Kanto Earthquake, as the eldest son of the 14th head of the Urasenke tea school. While a student at Doshisha University, he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Navy through the student mobilization program during World War II. While there, he was chosen to become a kamikaze pilot, but he survived the war because he was not deployed on a suicide mission. In 1949, he was ordained at Daitokuji temple, the family's ancestral temple in Kyoto's Kita Ward. In 1950, he became the 'wakasosho' heir apparent, and began traveling across the United States to promote the way of tea. After the death of the 14th head, he succeeded as the 15th Urasenke head in 1964. He retired in 2002, passing the iemoto position to his eldest son and adopting the honorary name Sen Genshitsu. Sen Soshitsu XV devoted himself to 'tea diplomacy.' One notable occasion was in 1986, when he served tea to then-Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana during their visit to Kyoto. Embracing the motto 'Peacefulness through a Bowl of Tea,' he dedicated his life to international exchanges and peace activities through the harmonious tea ceremony. He conducted peace prayer tea ceremonies at locations such as Vatican City, the United Nations headquarters in New York, and the U.S. Congress in Washington. Even after turning 100 in June 2023, he held a tea ceremony offering in Sydney, Australia. Over his lifetime, Sen Soshitsu XV visited more than 70 countries. He advanced the internationalization of the Japanese tea ceremony, establishing numerous Urasenke branches overseas. He also focused on tea ceremony education abroad, delivering lectures at universities worldwide, including the University of Hawaii. In 1997, he became the first person in the tea ceremony world to receive the Order of Culture. In 2020, he was awarded the Commandeur of the French Legion of Honor. He also served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Sen Soshitsu XV authored numerous works on the spirit of tea, including titles such as 'The Japanese Way of Tea: From Its Origins in China to Sen Rikyu.'
Japan Today
05-08-2025
- Japan Today
Plastic pollution treaty talks open with 'global crisis' warning
Nations are trying to secure the world's first treaty on plastic pollution By Robin Millard and Isabel Malsang The 184 countries gathering to forge a landmark treaty on combating plastic pollution were told Tuesday they must find a way to tackle a global crisis wrecking ecosystems and trashing the oceans. States should seize the chance to shape history, the man chairing the talks said as 10 days of negotiations kicked off at the United Nations in Geneva. "We are facing a global crisis," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso told the more than 1,800 negotiators as they prepared to thrash out their differences in the search for common ground. "Plastic pollution is damaging ecosystems, polluting our oceans and rivers, threatening biodiversity, harming human health, and unfairly impacting the most vulnerable," he said. "The urgency is real, the evidence is clear -- and the responsibility is on us." Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. But after five rounds of talks, three years of negotiations hit the wall in Busan, South Korea, in December when oil-producing states blocked a consensus. Key figures steering this revived attempt insist a deal is within reach this time around. "There's been extensive diplomacy from Busan till now," the U.N. Environment Program's Executive Director Inger Andersen told AFP. The UNEP is hosting the talks, and Andersen said conversations between different regions and interest groups had generated momentum. "Most countries, actually, that I have spoken with have said: 'We're coming to Geneva to strike the deal.' Will it be easy? No. Will it be straightforward? No. Is there a pathway for a deal? Absolutely." Dumped, burned and trashed More than 400 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled. Nearly half, or 46 percent, ends up in landfills, while 17 percent is incinerated and 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter. In 2022, countries agreed they would find a way to address the crisis by the end of 2024. However, the supposedly final negotiations on a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the seas, flopped in Busan. One group of countries sought an ambitious deal to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals. But a clutch of mostly oil-producing nations rejected production limits and wanted to focus on treating waste. A cap on plastic production is one of the thorniest issues being debated in Geneva. Katrin Schneeberger, the director of Switzerland's environment ministry, told the opening press conference: "This is no call for a production cap. Clarifying this in informal meetings was an important message to producing countries." Without commenting on whether there would be a cap, Andersen then stressed that the treaty would cover the entire life cycle of plastics, from production to waste. More than 600 non-governmental organizations are in Geneva, and this time have access to the discussion group meetings. "We have to stop making so much plastic," Greenpeace's delegation chief Graham Forbes told AFP. The group and its allies want a treaty "that cuts plastic production, eliminates toxic chemicals and provides the financing that's going to be required to transition to a fossil fuel, plastic-free future", he said. "The fossil fuel industry is here in force," he noted, adding: "We cannot let a few countries determine humanity's future when it comes to plastic pollution." France's Ecological Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher -- one of a few dozen ministers planning on heading to Geneva later in the talks -- warned Tuesday that the negotiations would be "difficult". "I call on each state to take responsibility before we are overwhelmed by this pollution," she said in a statement. Panama's delegate Juan Monterrey Gomez -- a fellow proponent of an ambitious treaty -- voiced optimism that a treaty could be struck on August 14. "The beginning is better than Busan," he said of the start of talks. No country wanting to be held responsible for sinking the negotiations "is probably the biggest trigger we can push", he told AFP. © 2025 AFP
Yomiuri Shimbun
05-08-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Dozens Killed as Palestinians in Gaza Scramble for Aid from Air and Land
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded on Monday as desperate crowds headed toward food distribution points and airdropped parcels in the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses and local health officials. Israel's blockade and military offensive have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid, contributing to the territory's slide toward famine nearly 22 months into the war with Hamas. Aid groups say Israel's week-old measures to allow more aid in are far from sufficient. Families of hostages in Gaza fear starvation affects them too, but blame Hamas. Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since May while heading toward food distribution sites and aid convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations human rights office. The military says it has only fired warning shots and disputes the toll. As international alarm has mounted, several countries have airdropped aid over Gaza. The U.N. and aid groups call such drops costly and dangerous for residents, and say they deliver far less aid than trucks. AP video shows scramble for airdropped aid Many food parcels dropped by air have splashed into the Mediterranean Sea or landed in so-called red zones from which Israel's military has ordered people to evacuate. In either case, Palestinians risk their lives to get flour and other basic goods. On Monday, Palestinians cheered as pallets of aid were parachuted over Zuweida in central Gaza. Associated Press footage showed a desperate scramble when the parcels hit the ground, with hundreds of people racing toward them. Fistfights broke out and some men wielded batons. 'I wish they would deliver it through the (land) crossings,' Rabah Rabah said earlier as he waited for the airdrop. 'This is inhuman.' At least one parcel fell on a tent where displaced people had been sheltering, injuring a man who was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known. Dozens killed seeking aid At least 16 people were killed late Sunday near the Israeli-controlled Zikim Crossing, the main entry point for aid to northern Gaza, according to records at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which showed that more than 130 people were wounded. The circumstances were not immediately clear, but the crossing has seen several shootings in recent days that witnesses and health officials blamed on Israeli forces. There was no immediate comment from the military. At least 10 people were killed as thousands waited for aid trucks in the Morag Corridor, which the Israeli military carved out between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah. Mohammed al-Masri, who was among the crowds, said Israeli forces opened fire when a group of young men tried to make their way to the front. 'The occupation forces shot many people in the head and in the back,' he said, adding that he saw four wounded people, one motionless on the ground. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 10 bodies from Morag and another five who were killed near an aid site in southern Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor. GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites. It said a new U.N. route runs near two of its sites in the south and has drawn large crowds of people who unload the convoys. GHF says its contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots on a few occasions to prevent deadly crowding since it opened four sites in May. 'It's a death trap' Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of eight people killed near a GHF site in the Israeli-controlled Netzarim Corridor, and that another 50 people were wounded. Witnesses and health officials said Israeli forces had fired toward the crowds. An Associated Press photo showed a man carrying a body away from the site, as others hauled bags of food. 'It's like yesterday, and the day before,' said Ayman Ruqab, a young Palestinian who said he had tried unsuccessfully to reach the site for the past three days. 'It's a death trap.' The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people who approached 'in a manner that posed a threat to the troops,' without elaborating. It said it was not aware of any casualties. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. They still hold 50 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says around half the dead have been women and children, is staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own.
