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The UN human rights chief has called on leaders and international stakeholders to radically rethink global drug policy, stating that the decades-long “War on Drugs” approach has “destroyed countless lives and damaged entire communities”.

Barely half the teenagers who tried to pass the critical NCEA literacy and numeracy benchmark via online tests this year have succeeded, final results indicate.

They show that more than 100,000 students attempted at least one of the tests over the two rounds, with more than 80,000 sitting each subject. They had pass rates of 55 percent in numeracy, 66 percent in writing and 70 percent in reading.

Students must pass all three tests before they can receive any NCEA qualifications.

A new type of technology will connect Tai Rāwhiti communities to civil defence during disasters - even when all other communications are wiped out.

During Cyclone Gabrielle, power and cellphone connections to most of Gisborne and Hawke's Bay were cut, but Tai Rāwhiti's Civil Defence has now come up with a solution, as part of its new kit for disaster preparedness.

Danish researchers created a private self-harm network on the social media platform, including fake profiles of people as young as 13 years old, in which they shared 85 pieces of self-harm-related content gradually increasing in severity, including blood, razor blades and encouragement of self-harm.

The aim of the study was to test Meta’s claim that it had significantly improved its processes for removing harmful content, which it says now uses artificial intelligence (AI). The tech company claims to remove about 99% of harmful content before it is reported.

But Digitalt Ansvar (Digital Accountability), an organisation that promotes responsible digital development, found that in the month-long experiment not a single image was removed.

rather than attempt to shut down the self-harm network, Instagram’s algorithm was actively helping it to expand. The research suggested that 13-year-olds become friends with all members of the self-harm group after they were connected with one of its members.

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The Letterbook team have published some research into moderation tooling & strengths+weaknesses thereof on the Fediverse. It contains some great analysis and recommendations, check it out!

Despite New Zealand’s image as a global leader in environmental stewardship and animal welfare, mud farming paints a far bleaker reality – one rooted in cruelty, neglect, and environmental disregard.

It was long thought that planets couldn’t stably orbit systems containing three stars. GW Orionis is the first counterexample.

...more or less.

Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid.

In 2018, Turner published one of the earliest papers positing that black plastic products were likely regularly being made from recycled electronic waste. The clue was the plastic’s concerning levels of flame retardants. In some cases, the mix of chemicals matched the profile of those commonly found in computer and television housing, many of which are treated with flame retardants to prevent them from catching fire.

On more than 30 occasions, the United Nations Assembly has discussed the blockade against Cuba, which costs the island 5 billion dollars annually, according to some estimates. Every year the resolution is proposed and the whole world, through the vote of the absolute majority of the member countries of the United Nations General Assembly, has condemned the imperialist attitude of the United States towards Cuba.

edit: result of the vote: https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/system/cache/media_attachments/files/113/398/372/180/881/996/original/82c4d1f509e933fa.jpg