Cases reported in 83 countries, with at least 10,600 students and staff killed, injured, abducted or arrested, GCPEA saysAttacks on education globally have surged by 40% with more than 8,556 recorded incidents and 10,600 students and staff killed, injured, abducted, arrested or otherwise harmed in 2024 and 2025, according to new research.Attacks were reported in 83 countries, with the highest incidences recorded in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Palestine and Uk
Cases reported in 83 countries, with at least 10,600 students and staff killed, injured, abducted or arrested, GCPEA says
Attacks on education globally have surged by 40% with more than 8,556 recorded incidents and 10,600 students and staff killed, injured, abducted, arrested or otherwise harmed in 2024 and 2025, according to new research.
Attacks were reported in 83 countries, with the highest incidences recorded in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Palestine and Ukraine.
A photographer sued a blogger for copyright infringement after the defendant allegedly used a photo without permission or license. The defendant then claimed that because they could have created the picture using AI, it should not be protected. Thankfully, a U.S. District Court dismissed this notion.
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A photographer sued a blogger for copyright infringement after the defendant allegedly used a photo without permission or license. The defendant then claimed that because they could have created the picture using AI, it should not be protected. Thankfully, a U.S. District Court dismissed this notion.
The Hong Kong government has denied any link to the high-profile UK court case after its trade officer was convicted of spying on overseas activists.
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
“From the outset, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has been clearly stating that the allegations in this case are absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (London ETO), nor are
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
“From the outset, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has been clearly stating that the allegations in this case are absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (London ETO), nor are we party to the case,” a government statement sent to the media on Friday morning read.
“We firmly oppose any unfounded allegations against the HKSAR Government and the London ETO.”
The statement was issued shortly after Bill Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and former UK Border Force official Peter Wai were found guilty under Britain’s national security laws of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
Yuen and Wai – both British-Chinese dual nationals – were accused of spying on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in Britain.
From left: Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO) official Bill Yuen and former UK Border Force officer Peter Wai. Photos: Metropolitan Police.
Among those the pair were said to have surveilled was Nathan Law, who is wanted by national security police in Hong Kong with a bounty of HK$1,000,000.
Yuen and Wai were charged in May 2024 alongside a third person, UK immigration officer Matthew Trickett. A week after Trickett was charged, he was found dead in a suspected suicide.
According to a statement by UK counter-terrorism police, published after the guilty verdict on Thursday, Yuen had been receiving tasks from Hong Kong authorities and delegating them to Wai and Trickett.
Up to 14 years jail
Yuen and Wai were found guilty by a 10-2 jury verdict on Thursday. Wai was also found guilty of misconduct in public office in relation to abusing Home Office systems while working as a border control officer.
Yuen and Wai will be sentenced on a date yet to be determined. They face up to 14 years in jail.
A Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong SAR flag in Hong Kong. Photo: GovHK.
According to the Friday statement, Hong Kong has 15 overseas ETOs in different cities, including the UK capital.
The London office maintains “close liaison with interlocutors in government, business, think tanks and various sectors to enhance the bilateral ties between Hong Kong and the UK in areas including trade, investment, and arts and culture,” it said.
After the guilty verdict, the UK said that it would summon the Chinese ambassador.
“We will continue to hold China to account and challenge them directly for actions which put the safety of people in our country at risk,” UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis said on Thursday. “That is why the Foreign Office will summon the Chinese Ambassador to make it clear activity like this was, and will always be, unacceptable on UK soil.”
In a statement issued the same day, the Chinese embassy in London condemned the verdict, saying that the UK had manipulated the judicial process as part of its “political move.”
“Its sole purpose is to embolden those anti-China elements who are hiding in the UK and bent on destabilising Hong Kong, and to smear the Chinese government and the Hong Kong SAR government,” it said.
On June 4, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) is hosting a free educational webinar where the organization's CEO Thomas Maddrey, who is also a lawyer, will explain the difference between an employee and a contractor as it pertains to photographers.
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On June 4, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) is hosting a free educational webinar where the organization's CEO Thomas Maddrey, who is also a lawyer, will explain the difference between an employee and a contractor as it pertains to photographers.
After having his registration request rejected by the U.S. Copyright Office, the author of an image that combined a photograph with Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night is suing.
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After having his registration request rejected by the U.S. Copyright Office, the author of an image that combined a photograph with Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night is suing.
Long before the Metaverse, Oculus, and Charlie Brooker's acclaimed speculative sci-fi series, master director David Cronenberg plumbed the depths of virtual reality's implications with his fleshy, frantic masterpiece Existenz. Featuring an uncanny lead performance by Jennifer Jason Leigh as the "game pod goddess" whose creations kick off the intrigue, as well as Jude Law and Willem Dafoe, it's an utterly unique vision of video gaming and the horror that can ensue when it bleeds into reality.
Long before the Metaverse, Oculus, and Charlie Brooker's acclaimed speculative sci-fi series, master director David Cronenberg plumbed the depths of virtual reality's implications with his fleshy, frantic masterpiece Existenz. Featuring an uncanny lead performance by Jennifer Jason Leigh as the "game pod goddess" whose creations kick off the intrigue, as well as Jude Law and Willem Dafoe, it's an utterly unique vision of video gaming and the horror that can ensue when it bleeds into reality.
Canadian lawmakers have introduced the Safe Social Media Act, which proposes to ban children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts.
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KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — The Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) has confirmed that all personnel of the Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) 850-13 serving in southern Lebanon are safe and unaffected following a mortar attack on UNP 7-2, the Spanish Battalion (Spanbatt) position in the Eastern Sector, on Wednesday.In a statement today, the MAF said the incident, which occurred at 11.20pm local time, left three Spanbatt peacekeepers injured, while one of them was confirmed dead
KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — The Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) has confirmed that all personnel of the Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) 850-13 serving in southern Lebanon are safe and unaffected following a mortar attack on UNP 7-2, the Spanish Battalion (Spanbatt) position in the Eastern Sector, on Wednesday.
In a statement today, the MAF said the incident, which occurred at 11.20pm local time, left three Spanbatt peacekeepers injured, while one of them was confirmed dead yesterday morning.
“The MAF extends its condolences to the family of the fallen Spanbatt peacekeeper and prays for the swift recovery of those injured,” the statement said.
The MAF reiterated its firm position that any form of attack, including indirect fire targeting peacekeeping forces, constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
“As a tactical response to this development, the security and base protection profile of the Malbatt 850-13 contingent has been immediately elevated to the highest warning level (Status Level Red).
“All patrol movements have been temporarily suspended. The contingent is now operating under the strictest Standard Operating Procedure and defensive Rules of Engagement as stipulated by the Unifil Headquarters,” the statement said.
The statement added that the MAF, through the Joint Forces Headquarters, is continuously monitoring the operational situation to ensure the highest level of safety for Malaysian personnel carrying out their mandate in the conflict zone. — Bernama
Disney is facing a class action lawsuit over the alleged use of facial recognition technology at its park entrances in California without proper disclosure to guests.
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Disney is facing a class action lawsuit over the alleged use of facial recognition technology at its park entrances in California without proper disclosure to guests.
A victory for freedom of eats.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been hard at work drafting a bill to criminalize desecration of the Japanese flag. It’s apparently a pressing matter, even though I’ve never seen anyone do anything bad to a flag before. In fact, I rarely see the flag used much at all, good or bad. But it’s perhaps in anticipation of continuing protests to the current administration’s efforts to roll back the pacifist elements of the constitution that they feel this is a pr
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been hard at work drafting a bill to criminalize desecration of the Japanese flag. It’s apparently a pressing matter, even though I’ve never seen anyone do anything bad to a flag before. In fact, I rarely see the flag used much at all, good or bad. But it’s perhaps in anticipation of continuing protests to the current administration’s efforts to roll back the pacifist elements of the constitution that they feel this is a priority.
There has been a lot of discussion about the specific details of this law as it rubs up against people’s freedom of expression. One major point is what exactly constitutes the national flag of Japan. Especially since it’s just a red circle on a white background, I could drop some spaghetti sauce on my shirt and end up wearing the flag. So, how is it legally different from a real flag?
According to the latest revision of the bill, the flag is defined as generally made of cloth or paper, primarily displayed on poles as a sign or decoration, and usable in real society. This means the Japanese flags in the virtual world are fair game, which is great news for my upcoming smartphone game Flag Blaster 3000.
But where does that leave those little toothpick flags that restaurants in Japan stick in the potato salad or rice of kids’ meals? They’re made of paper, displayed as a decoration, and used in society.
▼ The countries are usually randomly given out, so there’s only a small chance of getting a Japanese flag a lot of the time.
Since they technically fit the legal definition of a flag, the makers of the bill decided to explicitly exclude kids’ meal flags from the law. This means you wouldn’t have to worry about getting in trouble with the law if you attacked some ketchup rice extra hard and made a mess of your flag. Another exemption involves flags depicted in paintings. That being said, destroying other people’s paintings can land you in a whole other spot of trouble.
Online commenters have been less than happy that this is what the government is choosing to spend its time on when so many other things in the country seems to be getting less and less bearable.
“This is what they’re discussing?” “They can’t seriously be spending time on kids’ meal flags.” “Just ignoring all of our other anxieties.” “Didn’t they recently say they didn’t have time to discuss same-sex marriage or separate surnames?” “I should get a tattoo of the flag. Then no one will hurt me.” “Just copy whatever they do in France and get it done with.” “When I was a kid, I used to carefully save my kids’ meal flag and take it home. I’d usually forget all about it 10 minutes after that.”
The draft bill also includes a provision that freedom of expression should be considered when pressing charges. According to the wording,artistic expression, such as live-action films, using real national flags as props would be exempt if considered socially acceptable.
That last part about being “considered socially acceptable” is still a matter of contention in the bill, since it is greatly open to interpretation. I think we can all agree that Godzilla torching the flag with its atomic breath is completely acceptable because that big lug just doesn’t know any better. But if King Kong hurls a colossal turd at one, the issue becomes much less black and white.
They’re very good at using chopsticks.
Every day, millions of people in Japan crack open a bento or dig into a restaurant’s meal while holding a pair of chopsticks that are destined for the garbage once finished, possibly even sooner if one is dropped on the floor. On the bright side, they’re biodegradable compared to plastic utensils, but it still seems wasteful to discard so much material after one use.
It’s something the Canadian company ChopValue has been working to address by developing a
Every day, millions of people in Japan crack open a bento or dig into a restaurant’s meal while holding a pair of chopsticks that are destined for the garbage once finished, possibly even sooner if one is dropped on the floor. On the bright side, they’re biodegradable compared to plastic utensils, but it still seems wasteful to discard so much material after one use.
It’s something the Canadian company ChopValue has been working to address by developing a method to engineer used chopsticks into a durable and aesthetically pleasing building material. They do this by collecting discarded chopsticks, sterilizing them, and compacting them into a block that’s harder than maple and stronger than oak.
The process has been catching on well, and there are currently ChopValue micro-factories all over the world, with ChopValue Japan having recently opened in 2024 in the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. It goes without saying that Japan goes through a lot of chopsticks, and if this business model can expand across the country, it could result in the upcycling of some 20 billion chopsticks a year.
However, one hurdle to accomplishing this is Japan’s very strict laws regarding waste management. Since chopsticks are considered waste, one would require a special license to be able to collect them from places like restaurants. These are extremely difficult to obtain and are handled by municipalities, meaning ChopValue would have to get a permit in every single city they operate in. Not only that, the restaurants and businesses would also be required to keep detailed records of their chopstick usage and disposal, and that’s not a burden many businesses would be willing to take on.
In the face of this difficulty, ChopValue Japan began working with the Kawasaki City Government on research regarding their techniques for reusing chopsticks. Thanks to this cooperation, the city has officially upgraded used chopsticks from the classification of “waste” to “valuable material.” This means the chopsticks are treated like any normal commodity that can be freely traded and collected without government regulations.
▼ So, keep an eye out for chopstick bins in your area.
Now, before any residents of Kawasaki reading this begin hoarding their own used chopsticks to get rich now that they’re “valuable material,” there is a very important caveat to this designation. Only bamboo chopsticks collected by ChopValue are considered “valuable material,” and any other used chopstick remains as “waste” in the eyes of the law.
Nevertheless, this is a pretty big moment for circular business models in Japan. It set a precedent that ChopValue can take advantage of when setting up micro-factories in other Japanese cities. It also creates a framework that other circular business models can emulate in order to get around longstanding and strict Japanese laws.
With the future looking bright for ChopValue Japan, we might be nearing a day when tossing out disposable chopsticks isn’t creating garbage but creating things we can use in our daily lives.
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