Latest news with #JonWertheim
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tennis watchdog adds ‘creepy' new shower rule for players
Tennis followers are calling foul after a watchdog organization announced a new rule involving post-match showers that some have called 'creepy.' In a bid to catch users of performance-enhancing drugs, chaperones will watch players shower if a urine sample hasn't been provided. The International Tennis Integrity Unit (ITIA) reportedly informed players of a new rule last week which will see drug tests conducted immediately after matches. However, it's an update regarding post-match showers that has gone viral. 'The ITIA and ITF have been working tirelessly to ensure that post-match showers can constitute an allowable delay for doping controls, especially when the absence of a shower can have a detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of a player,' the ITIA statement read. 'However, taking a shower is not a right. For this reason, the ITIA kindly requests players to shower while remaining in clear view of the chaperone observing them at all times. 'If a player feels uncomfortable being watched during their shower, we suggest considering whether it is necessary to shower before providing the doping control sample.' Jon Wertheim, a journalist for Sports Illustrated, posted the release with the caption: 'This is … extraordinary.' Other fans called out the ITIA for the statement for social media, saying the policy is 'creepy,' among other comments. 'Chaperone in full view while the players are showering??? This is creepy, given how some players, males and females, are in their teens. Ew,' one fan posted on X. 'Next from ITIA: What if we put a hidden camera in the bathroom,' another user commented. 'This is unacceptable,' a third added. Canadians Auger-Aliassime, Andreescu ousted at Madrid Open Carlos Alcaraz withdraws from Madrid Open but expects to be fit for French Open Rennae Stubbs, a four-time Olympian and former World No. 1 doubles player, said the statement was just poorly worded and that drug testing officials always have been present once players leave the court. 'We always have had to shower with the door open,' Stubbs wrote on X. 'The drug testing people were with us every minute from the moment we walked off the court including watching us shower. I don't know why they're putting this out now.'
New York Post
28-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Tennis world rails against ‘creepy' new shower rule: ‘This is unacceptable'
The tennis world is up in arms after a new 'creepy' shower rule was revealed in a bid to further help catch those using performance-enhancing drugs. The International Tennis Integrity Unit (ITIA) informed players of the new rule on Friday, which will see drug tests conducted immediately after matches. Advertisement 'The ITIA and ITF have been working tirelessly to ensure that post-match showers can constitute an allowable delay for doping controls, especially when the absence of a shower can have a detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of a player,' the ITIA statement read. The International Tennis Integrity Unit (ITIA) informed players of the new rule on Friday, which will see drug tests conducted immediately after matches. Getty Images 'However, taking a shower is not a right. For this reason, the ITIA kindly requests players to shower while remaining in clear view of the chaperone observing them at all times. 'If a player feels uncomfortable being watched during their shower, we suggest considering whether it is necessary to shower before providing the doping control sample.' Advertisement Sharing the new rule on X, American sports journalist Jon Wertheim wrote: 'This is … extraordinary.' And other tennis fans were even more shocked, calling out the 'creepy' new rule. Rennae Stubbs said the statement was just poorly worded and a drug testing officer is always present from the time players leave the court through to giving a sample. Getty Images 'Chaperone in full view while the players are showering??? This is creepy, given how some players, males and females, are in their teens. Ew,' one fan wrote in response to the announcement on X. Advertisement 'This is unacceptable,' another added. While a third wrote: 'I cannot believe what I just read.' However, four-time Australian Olympian Rennae Stubbs said the statement was just poorly worded and a drug testing officer is always present from the time players leave the court through to giving a sample. Advertisement 'We always have had to shower with the door open,' Stubbs wrote on X. 'The drug testing people were with us every minute from the moment we walked off the court including watching us shower. I don't know why they're putting this out now.'
CBS News
27-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Why Japan's birth rate is falling and what the country's doing to try and reverse the population decline
The world's population may have recently exceeded eight billion, but it's a deceptive number. Not only is growth unevenly distributed, but in so many countries, population is in decline. In some cases, steep, deep decline. Maybe most graphically (and demographically) there's Japan: a country that, since hitting a high of 128 million citizens in 2008, has lost population for 15 years running and is on pace to shrink by half by this century's end, despite government measures to halt the decline. This has huge impacts on the economy, the health care system, education, housing, national defense, immigration, the culture at large. Governments can control interest rates and inflation rates; stimulating birth rates is far harder. We report from the land of the rising sun—now also the land of declining sons (and daughters)... Ichinono, Japan, sits regally, wedged between mountains, an hour and a half west of Kyoto. Its listed population: just shy of 50, but if it seems like more, it's for good reason. The village comes embroidered with 40 lifelike puppets. In the middle of town. On a playground. Pedaling off toward the woods. Puppets in Ichinono 60 Minutes Shinichi Murayama: (In Japanese/English translation) It's lonely here… Back in my day, the village was full of kids. Shinichi Murayama is the town puppet master, overseeing the making and then scattering of dolls throughout Ichinono, populating a depopulating village. Jon Wertheim: You say it's lonely here. Are the puppets a way to make things a little less lonely? Shinichi Murayama: (In Japanese/English translation) Puppets are no substitute for people, of course. But making them cheers us up. This is as good a snapshot as any of Japan's demographic crisis. There are hundreds of communities here, fading like Ichinono. Jon Wertheim: Do you think there might come a day when the-- the puppet population exceeds the human population? Shinichi Murayama: (In Japanese/English translation) So, if things keep going the way they are right now, of course our population will decrease, maybe it'll go down to 40, or maybe 30. But at the same time my ability to continue making puppets is finite. So, yes. I am deeply worried about the future of our village. Modern Japan sounds like a sci-fi premise: the incredible shrinking country. Go-go Tokyo is the world's largest city, and Japan has one of the world's longest national life expectancies—85 years—but it's also losing population at a staggering rate. Last year, more than two people died for every new baby born, a net loss of almost a million. Today, Japanese buy more adult diapers than buy baby diapers. Jon Wertheim: Is there a more urgent issue in Japan right now than this demographic crisis? Taro Kono: There are climate change, government deficit. But, if there's no people living in Japan... Jon Wertheim: It's all – it's all relevant, climate change, and government deficits, and the military, if you don't have people living here. Taro Kono: That's right. Taro Kono 60 Minutes A longtime high-ranking minister in Japan's parliament, Taro Kono was nearly elected prime minister in 2021, and says he intends to seek the highest office again. Jon Wertheim: What does Japan look like if it continues to shrink like this? Taro Kono: There are less and less number of a young generation. And, the all the burdens are on the young generation. And they won't be able to sustain. So society is going to be breaking up. Economy is just going to stagnate. Even for Self-Defense Force, last year. we recruited only half of what we need. Jon Wertheim: The Japanese military? Taro Kono: Uh-huh. You feel it. Declining population is hardly unique to Japan. Name a country outside Africa and odds are good it's losing people, or about to. In the U.S, the fertility rate is at an all-time low. Donald Trump has declared the collapse of fertility a crucial threat to the West. Kono wishes his country had been better prepared. Taro Kono: Every sector, even in the government, there's a labor shortage. And we really need to invest in technology to replace the human being. But, we are still slow to do that. The alternative is to open up the country to foreign immigrants. But there's some psychological barrier to open up the country. Jon Wertheim: What do you mean by that? Taro Kono: Well, I mean, the Japanese have been very homogeneous. Many Japanese don't know how to deal with non-Japanese living in the society. Jon Wertheim: Japan is also the world's fourth largest economy. Can it continue to be a power like that if the population keeps declining? Taro Kono: Nope. In part, Japan's declining demographics owes to a spike in the success of women in the workforce. And in Japan, a famously punishing work culture—coupled with a men-first social culture—makes it all the more difficult to balance career and family. Still more so amid a persistently stagnant economy. Jon Wertheim and Roland Kelts 60 Minutes Roland Kelts: Up through the 1980s, the bubble years, Japan had omiai. They had arranged marriage. You know, the corporate guys would marry the office ladies. And this was all set up. It's gone, now. And the office ladies make more money than the corporate guys. So now, you have this shift in economics that has not been reflected in social norms. Roland Kelts is a Japanese American writer. He's married, but he's well aware that he's the exception. In 2023, fewer than 500,000 Japanese couples married, the lowest number since 1917. Jon Wertheim: I'm not sure other societies in the world have an implosion of marriage. Roland Kelts: Well, Japan's, I think, ahead of the game. Japan's where we're all headed. Jon Wertheim: You think this is-- this is a harbinger. Roland Kelts: I do. I think it's a canary in a coal mine. It doesn't help Japan's marriage rates—and therefore birth rates—that a growing number of businesses now cater to the rise of parties-of-one… We met Kelts at a ramen joint designed specifically for dining in solitude. There's single karaoke. We visited a bar open only to those arriving stag. There are 'solo weddings,' replete with professional photoshoots. But that's not all. Lately, alternative romance is highly in vogue. Just as robots today are helping ease some of the national labor shortages, inanimate objects are also making their way into the bedroom. We met Akihiko Kondo, who told us he sleeps alongside the anime character Miku, whom he married in a formal ceremony in 2018. Akihiko Kondo says he married the anime character Miku in a formal ceremony in 2018. 60 Minutes He's one of thousands of Japanese who, unashamedly, say they are in a monogamous romantic relationship with a fictional character. Staggeringly (or maybe not), almost half of the country's millennial singles (ages, 18-34) self-report as virgins (compared to barely 20% in the U.S.) and, of course, less human copulation, means less human population. Roland Kelts: AI relationships, they're going to get better, and better, and better. And they're going to supersede, in some ways real physical relationships. To foster human relationships, the Tokyo government has taken action. Yuriko Koike is the city's governor. Gov. Yuriko Koike: We are promoting for matchmaking by artificial intelligence. Jon Wertheim: Tokyo government is playing Omiai, playing– playing matchmaker. Gov. Yuriko Koike: That's right. Yes, the Japanese capital city has launched its own dating app. Jon Wertheim: Is it working? Gov. Yuriko Koike: Yes, it's-- it's working. And, number of application is more than we expected, three or four times. Tokyo is also set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees, designed to help working mothers and, hopefully, boost birth rates. Gov. Yuriko Koike: When the bubble economy was bursting there was a commercial advertisement, "Work 24 hours." But, the longer we work, the–the less children we have. So demography is the one of the biggest national issues that we have to tackle. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks with Jon Wertheim. 60 Minutes Jon Wertheim: The Japanese government has rolled out a number of programs to—to address this declining birth rate. Are any of them working? Hanako Okada: (In Japanese/English translation) The total fertility rate for 2024 was reported to hit an all-time low. The continuing slide in the birth rate clearly indicates our current policy isn't working at all. Until last year, Hanako Okada now 44, was a lawyer in Tokyo, and primary caregiver for her two children. Overworked and under-fulfilled, she ran for parliament on a platform of trying to alter the culture for women, even breaking down in tears on the campaign trail, describing her stress. Hanako Okada: (In Japanese/English translation) I remembered how tough it was to raise my child and I burst into tears. It was overwhelming. And viewers probably thought, I'm a politician who gets what ordinary people have to deal with. It was effective. She won unexpectedly, and Hana-san as she's called, is now something of a political change agent. She says confronting the population problem requires not dating apps and shortened workweeks but a sweeping mindset change. In particular: a rethinking of living in urban areas—as 92% of Japanese currently do. She practiced what she preaches, moving back to her rural hometown of Aomori, a northern prefecture known for its apple orchards — but one that is rapidly aging, rapidly losing people. Built for 600 students, this Aomori middle school is now only one-third filled. They still learn the traditional shamisen, but there are too few kids to field a soccer team. And a competitive snowball fight means recruiting a visiting ringer… Jon Wertheim: Why'd you return? Hanako Okada: (In Japanese/English translation) Aomori is my hometown. The precipitous drop in population, and vitality, of this city is deeply troubling not just personally but from a national perspective. If our regions collapse, it imperils our country's strength. I thought, we can't allow this situation to go on. Jon Wertheim: You've seen the math, I'm sure. Do you believe Japan can overcome this population crisis? Hanako Okada: (In Japanese/English translation) We need to stop the over-concentration of people in Tokyo. In the rural areas, we need interesting jobs with decent pay that allow young people to support themselves. Hanako Okada 60 Minutes Her thinking: once there are more jobs in rural areas, the younger people will come. Once they come—and experience the space, the slower rhythms, the quality of life—they'll be motivated to start families. Hanako Okada: (In Japanese/English translation) The values of our younger generation are gradually shifting. Tokyo is no longer the be-all end-all. One such Japanese family that agrees: the Katos. They recently exchanged city life for this spacious house in Ichinono, land of puppets. Their son Kuranosuke was the first baby born in the village in more than 20 years. Toshiki Kato: (In Japanese/English translation) We've got a mountain and a river to explore. We make our own toys and grow our own vegetables. For a kid, there's plenty of ways to have fun here. Jon Wertheim: You're happy here? Toshiki Kato: (In Japanese/English translation) Yes, I truly enjoy this lifestyle. The Katos hope others will follow, that Kuranosuke will have friends and classmates among all the town's dolls. Toshiki Kato: (In Japanese/English translation) It takes us back to our roots. I want Japanese people to become more aware of this lifestyle, which is closer to our traditional way of living. It might be a traditional Japanese lifestyle. But amid a population decline, it will be in a smaller, lonelier and fundamentally different Japan. Produced by Jacqueline Williams. Associate producer, Elizabeth Germino. Broadcast associate, Mimi Lamarre. Edited by Mike Levine.
CBS News
27-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
The trends behind the historically low U.S. birth rate
What could be driving a low U.S. birth rate What could be driving a low U.S. birth rate This week, correspondent Jon Wertheim reported from Japan, the land of declining sons and daughters. Over the last 15 years, the East Asian country has seen its population decline, amid low birth rates and falling marriage rates. Last year, more than two people died for every baby born in Japan, a net loss of almost a million people. 60 Minutes reported on efforts by the Tokyo government to reverse this: shortened workweeks for government workers and a citywide dating app, both initiatives aiming to encourage people to get married and start families. A young leader was elected to the Japanese Parliament last year; her campaign centered on transforming rural areas—where there have been diminishing economic opportunities—into viable working and living environments for young families. She believes revitalizing the countryside will help ease the population decline. While these efforts are just the latest attempts to address demographic issues, previous attempts by the government have not made a significant impact on the country's fertility rate. Wertheim told 60 Minutes Overtime that, in some ways, Japan is a "canary in a coal mine." "This is a real barometer of what a number of countries, the United States included, is going to confront in terms of demographics in the next decades and even centuries," he said. In fact, like Japan, the United States has seen its birth rate steadily decline over the last 15 years. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the total fertility rate was 1.6 children per woman in the United States, or 1,626.5 births per 1,000 women. That is a less than 1% increase from 2023— a year that marked a record low, and well below the total fertility rate of 2.1 needed to naturally maintain the population. 60 Minutes Overtime spoke with Dr. Thoại Ngô, chair of Columbia University's Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health. "The big data story from the CDC data is that women under the age of 30 are having less babies," Dr. Ngo explained. "Teenage pregnancy has been declining and… [there's] a macro-societal shift on how people value family, work, and personal fulfillment moving forward." Breaking down the data The recent CDC data shows the birth rate of teenagers between 15 and 19 dropped from 13.1 to 12.7, part of a long downward trend that started in the 1990s. 60 Minutes Overtime also spoke with Dr. Karen Benjamin Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina. Guzzo said the largest contributing factor to the decline in teenage pregnancies is the increased use of more effective contraception. "The United States has always had much higher rates of teen and unplanned pregnancies than other countries," Dr. Guzzo explained. "This is a success story… that people are able to avoid having births early on, when they themselves would say, 'This is not the right time for me.'" But taking overall trends into account, American women between the ages of 20-29 are also having fewer babies, and may be opting out of having children altogether. Dr. Kenneth M. Johnson is senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. In an interview, Dr. Johnson said finding out what's happening among this particular age group is the "big question" and many factors are at play. He pointed to one trend that could explain part of it: many young women are delaying marriage, and a significant share of that group is delaying having children. And within those marriages, the time taken between marriage and childbirth is now longer than it has historically been. "In a sense, it's just pushing everything further out," he told 60 Minutes Overtime. And despite more women in their late 30s having children, "it's not making up for fertility declines among younger women," he said. "What's coming to appear is that a lot of these babies are just going to be forgone entirely. They're not going to be born." A fear of economic decline The worrisome scenario for countries who face low birth rates is a small young population and a much larger elderly population. In theory, a smaller young population would not be able to contribute to the workforce, attend schools and universities, pay for goods and services, pay taxes, start businesses and create economic growth at the level that the previous generation did, since there would simply not be enough people to contribute at the same scale. In that scenario, institutions used to larger amounts of young people, like hospitals, schools, and businesses, wouldn't have the number of patients, students and customers needed to maintain growth. And that could create economic decline and unemployment due to reduced demand. Dr. Ken Johnson of the University of New Hampshire described a scenario feared by universities called the "demographic cliff." "Right now, [the demographic cliff is] a big worry at the university level, because the amount of young people is declining," he told Overtime Dr. Johnson explained that babies who were born in 2008, when the birth rate first started to decline, are now 17 years old and matriculating into college. And the gap between how many babies would have been born, based on the birth rates then, and how many were actually born has already started to widen. "There will be 100,000 fewer kids than there might have been who reach the age of college freshmen next year, and the gap will widen to 500,00 a year in three years and nearly a million a year in ten years," Dr. Johnson said. Another concern is Social Security and elder care, which arguably requires a proportionate young population to take care of the elderly population. "Young people are paying tax into the system so that it can keep the [Social] Security system up and running for the older generation," Dr. Thoại Ngô of Columbia University told Overtime. "But it's also the young people [who] are meant to take care of the older generation." Trump administration hearing proposals The Trump administration is listening to proposals that would encourage more people to have children. Some of these ideas include financial incentives like a "baby bonus" for new mothers and an expanded child tax credit that would reduce the tax burden on new families. But Dr. Ngô thinks cash incentives are unlikely to have a significant impact on the U.S. fertility rate. "I think the global evidence is very clear: we can't buy fertility," he told 60 Minutes Overtime. "Japan [has] invested so much in the last 40 years, and their fertility [rate] is still at 1.2…South Korea [has] invested $200 billion into boosting up fertility, and it hasn't worked. Their total fertility rate is at 0.7." The University of North Carolina's Dr. Karen Benjamin Guzzo explained that the state of the economy and a hopefulness about the future are stronger influences on would-be parents. "People really need to feel confident about the future… having kids is sort of an irreversible decision and it's a long-term one,'" she explained. She said the Trump administration should take a closer look at solving the difficulties and expense of child care. "We have child care deserts in the United States where you cannot find affordable, accessible childcare in a reasonable distance," she said. "[If] you're in major cities… you're talking like $1,400 a month in child care and there's a nine month waiting list. "We don't have sufficient child care infrastructure. That's where we should be building." The Trump administration has also issued an executive order that aims to make IVF treatments more accessible for those who can't afford them. Dr. Thoại Ngô is optimistic that affordable IVF treatment would have an impact and allow couples who want children to do so more easily. "Lowering the cost of IVF is great for a couple who wants to have babies. And I think we have to do it in a fair way… all couples who want [a] baby should have access to that." Finding demographic solutions Fertility rates and birth rates are helpful indicators to understand where a population may be heading, but these statistics only focus on births. Population change is also influenced by mortality, immigration, technological advancements and many other social, economic, and technological factors. "Not everybody is going to like it, but… immigration, technology, and education can all help keep the economy dynamic," Columbia University's Ngô told Overtime. "The rise of AI [will] replace a lot of mundane and repetitive jobs… it opens [the] door for investment in training, and education in quality jobs, in enjoyable jobs." UNC's Dr. Karen Benjamin Guzzo believes that immigration could make up for future shortfalls in labor. "Our health care industry actually uses quite a bit of immigrant labor… they're often willing to work in places that are rural, where it's harder to get [Americans] to live." Dr. Ngô said a reallocation of resources, a supportive set of policies and programs, like paid family leave and better child care, and a strong economy could allow all parents to have a child more easily, without worrying about the financial stress. "Better health care, economic stability, and a more thriving set of [policies could] allow people to have a freedom of choice in terms of what kind of life they want for themself." The video above was produced by Will Croxton. It was edited by Sarah Shafer. Jane Greeley was the broadcast associate.
The Sun
21-04-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Tennis stars warned over ‘creepy' rule that forces them to shower while being watched as fans slam it as ‘unacceptable'
TENNIS fans have slammed a "creepy" shower rule that was posted by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The governing body revealed that players chosen to give urine samples for drug testing must remain in full view of chaperones, if they choose to take a shower first. 2 The regulations are in place to combat drug cheating in the sport, which has become a growing problem in recent years. The ITIA reminded that players chosen for testing, who want to shower immediately, must stay in "full view" of a chaperone when they're washing after a match. It argued that showering before the test "is not a right". But if players want to clean off their sweat before any samples are taken, they must remain in sight. An ITIA statement read: 'The ITIA and ITF have been working tirelessly to ensure that post-match showers can constitute an allowable delay for doping controls. 'Especially when the absence of a shower can have a detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of a player. 'However, taking a shower is not a right. For this reason, the ITIA kindly requests players to shower while remaining in clear view of the chaperone observing them at all times. 'If a player feels uncomfortable being watched during their shower, we suggest considering whether it is necessary to shower before providing the doping control sample.' Sharing the new rule on X, American sports journalist Jon Wertheim wrote: 'This is … extraordinary'. And other tennis fans were even more shocked, calling out the 'creepy' new rule. Novak Djokovic's wait for 100th title goes on after he's beaten by teenager who only played because referee was at lunch One said: "This is unacceptable", while another added: "That's completely bonkers". And a second wrote: 'I cannot believe what I just read.' Following backlash on social media, the ITIA issued a new statement on Saturday. It read: 'We recognise that parts of the anti-doping testing process are uncomfortable. 'However, as with all World Anti-Doping Agency-compliant sports – not just tennis – players who are notified for a test after a match are observed at all times by an anti-doping chaperone until the test is completed. 'This is a requirement of the world anti-doping code.'
