This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Reviews weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. Its time for a partythe Conference of the Parties, that is. Talks kicked off this week at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Running for a couple of weeks each year, the global summit is the largest annual meeting on climate change. The issue on the table this time around: Countries need to agree to set a new goal on how much money should go to developing countries to help them finance the fight against climate change. Complicating things? A US president-elect whose approach to climate is very different from that of the current administration (understatement of the century). This is a big moment that could set the tone for what the next few years of the international climate world looks like. Heres what you need to know about COP29 and how Donald Trumps election is coloring things. The UN COP meetings are an annual chance for nearly 200 nations to get together to discuss (and hopefully act on) climate change. Greatest hits from the talks include the Paris Agreement, a 2015 global accord that set a goal to limit global warming to 1.5 C (2.7 F) above preindustrial levels. This year, the talks are in Azerbaijan, a petrostate if there ever was one. Oil and gas production makes up over 90% of the countrys export revenue and nearly half its GDP as of 2022. A perfectly ironic spot for a global climate summit! The biggest discussion this year centers on global climate financespecifically, how much of it is needed to help developing countries address climate change and adapt to changing conditions. The current goal, set in 2009, is for industrialized countries to provide $100 billion each year to developing nations. The deadline was 2020, and that target was actually met for the first time in 2022, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which keeps track of total finance via reports from contributing countries. Currently, most of that funding is in the form of public loans and grants. The thing is, that $100 billion number was somewhat arbitraryin Paris in 2015, countries agreed that a new, larger target should be set in 2025 to take into account how much countries actually need. Its looking as if the magic number is somewhere around $1 trillion each year. However, it remains to be seen how this goal will end up shaking out, because there are disagreements about basically every part of this. What should the final number be? What kind of money should countjust public funds, or private investments as well? Which nations should pay? How long will this target stand? What, exactly, would this money be going toward? Working out all those details is why nations are gathering right now. But one shadow looming over these negotiations is the impending return of Donald Trump. As I covered last week, Trumps election will almost certainly result in less progress on cutting emissions than we might have seen under a more climate-focused administration. But arguably an even bigger deal than domestic progress (or lack thereof) will be how Trump shifts the countrys climate position on the international stage. The US has emitted more carbon pollution into the atmosphere than any other country, it currently leads the world in per capita emissions, and its the worlds richest economy. If anybody should be a leader at the table in talks about climate finance, its the US. And yet, Trump is coming into power soon, and weve all seen this film before. Last time Trump was in office, he pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement. Hes made promises to do it againand could go one step further by backing out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) altogether. If leaving the Paris Agreement is walking away from the table, withdrawing from the UNFCCC is like hopping on a rocket and blasting in a different direction. Its a more drastic action and could be tougher to reverse in the future, though experts also arent sure if Trump could technically do this on his own. The uncertainty of what happens next in the US is a cloud hanging over these negotiations. This is going to be harder because we don't have a dynamic and pushy and confident US helping us on climate action, said Camilla Born, an independent climate advisor and former UK senior official at COP26, during an online event last week hosted by Carbon Brief. Some experts are confident that others will step up to fill the gap. There are many drivers of climate action beyond the White House, said Mohamed Adow, founding director of Power Shift Africa, at the CarbonBrief event. If I could characterize the current vibe in the climate world, its uncertainty. But the negotiations over the next couple of weeks could provide clues to what we can expect for the next few years. Just how much will a Trump presidency slow global climate action? Will the European Union step up? Could this cement the rise of China as a climate leader? Well be watching it all. Now read the rest of The Spark Related reading In case you want some additional context from the last few years of these meetings, heres my coverage of last years fight at COP28 over a transition away from fossil fuels, and a newsletter about negotiations over the loss and damages fund at COP27. For the nitty-gritty details about whats on the table at COP29, check out this very thorough explainer from Carbon Brief. DAN THORNBERG/ADOBE STOCK Another thing Trumps election will have significant ripple effects across the economy and our lives. His victory is a tragic loss for climate progress, as my colleague James Temple wrote in an op-ed last week. Give it a read, if you havent already, to dig into some of the potential impacts we might see over the next four years and beyond. Keeping up with climate The US Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule to fine oil and gas companies for methane emissions. The fee was part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. (Associated Press) This rule faces a cloudy future under the Trump administration; industry groups are already talking about repealing it. (NPR)Speaking of the EPA, Donald Trump chose Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, to lead the agency. Zeldin isnt particularly known for climate or economic policy. (New York Times) Oil giant BP is scaling back its early-stage hydrogen projects. The company revealed in an earnings report that its canceling 18 such projects and currently plans to greenlight between five and 10. (TechCrunch) Investors betting against renewable energy scored big last week, earning nearly $1.2 billion as stocks in that sector tumbled. (Financial Times) Lithium iron phosphate batteries are taking over the world, or at least electric vehicles. These lithium-ion batteries are cheaper and longer-lasting than their nickel-containing cousins, though they also tend to be heavier. (Canary Media) I wrote about this trend last year in a newsletter about batteries and their ingredients. (MIT Technology Review)The US unveiled plans to triple its nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Thats an additional 200 gigawatts worth of consistently available power. (Bloomberg) Five subsea cables that can help power millions of homes just got the green light in Great Britain. The projects will help connect the island to other power grids, as well as to offshore wind farms in Dutch and Belgian waters. (The Guardian)

Disney's CFO Hugh Johnston discussed Universal Studios' upcoming theme park, Epic Universe.Johnston said in a call it's "generally beneficial" for Disney when other attractions open in Central Florida.Both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort are adding new attractions. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Epic Universe's arrival in Central Florida might be good for its direct competitor, Walt Disney World.Disney's Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston discussed Universal Orlando Resort's upcoming theme park during Thursday's earnings call. When asked how Epic Universe's May 2025 debut could impact Walt Disney World, Johnston seemed optimistic."The early bookings that we have next summer are actually positive," Johnston said.He said that when other attractions and theme parks open in the area, it's "generally beneficial" for Disney. Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World in Florida. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Disney Dreamers Academy Dennis Speigel, founder of International Theme Park Services, Inc., told Business Insider that Epic Universe's opening will likely bring more foot traffic to Central Florida, which can benefit the local attractions industry."I think the length of stay for the tourists in Florida is going to increase dramatically," he said. "I think people are going to load another day or a day and a half during their visit because there's more to do."Representatives for Disney and Universal Orlando Resort did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.NBCUniversal first announced Epic Universe in 2019."Our new park represents the single-largest investment Comcast NBCUniversal has made in its theme park business and in Florida overall," Brian L. Roberts, chief executive of Comcast Corporation, said in a press release. "It reflects the tremendous excitement we have for the future of our theme park business and for our entire company's future in Florida." Illustration of Universal Orlando Resort's Epic Universe. Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort was the company's oldest park in 1990, followed by Islands of Adventure in 1999 and Volcano Bay in 2017.At Epic Universe, guests will get the opportunity to explore five worlds: Super Nintendo World, The Ministry of Magic from the "Harry Potter" franchise, the Isle of Berk from the "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise, Dark Universe featuring monsters from classic horror films, and Celestial Park.However, Disney shocked fans in August when Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro said its parks were also expanding. The announcement came after the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District's board of supervisors approved a $17 billion development deal from Disney two months earlier.Although Disney won't build a separate theme park, the entertainment giant will add new areas to its existing properties. Magic Kingdom will become home to a land dedicated to Disney villains and another based on the "Cars" franchise.Disney's Animal Kingdom will introduce a new land called Pueblo Esperanza, which will have attractions based on the 2021 film "Encanto" and the "Indiana Jones" series.At Disney's Hollywood Studios, guests will explore a new land based on the company's "Monsters, Inc" films. Finally, Disneyland Resort's Avenger's campus will expand and an attraction related to director James Cameron's "Avatar" series will arrive.According to Thursday's earnings report, Disney expects its Experiences segment's operating income to grow 6% to 8% compared to 2024.

At 50, Jennie Young started using several dating apps and felt that they were all toxic.The Burned Haystack Dating Method began as an academic project and now has a Facebook group with over 128,000 members.Young, a college professor, has advice for the companies behind dating apps. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Jennie Young is a professor of rhetoric and women/gender studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. In February 2023, she started a Facebook group for the Burned Haystack Dating Method.I thought I knew what to expect when I downloaded my first dating app. I was 50, had been divorced for 10 years, and had just gotten out of a long-term relationship. As someone who's generally tuned in to pop culture and social media, I thought I was prepared for what I would encounter. And, in some ways, I was.What I wasn't prepared for was the size or extent of the problem women were facing while looking for love online.There weren't just a few men acting badly whom I could quickly dispatch. It was the magnitude of the toxicity. There were a lot of bad actors, and the behavior wasn't just annoying; it was deeply problematic. It seemed that swiping left didn't make a difference; they'd just show up in my matches again a few days later.My frustration wasn't unique. Articles from 2024 alone included: "It's Not You: Dating Apps are Getting Worse" in The New York Times; "America is Sick of Swiping: Dating Apps are Falling Back to Earth" in The Atlantic; and "Why Gen Z is Ditching Dating Apps" in Time.I went from Match to Bumble to Tinder to Hinge and encountered the same problems ad infinitum. I felt frustrated and quickly realized it was not just me.I developed my own methodAfter a few months, I decided to make it an academic project. I'm a professor of rhetoric and women/gender studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.An understanding of rhetoric allows me to quickly parse text and read between the lines to determine what people are revealing without intending to, and a solid grounding in feminism helps me recognize the sometimes subtle flags of sexism and aggression that women encounter frequently on dating apps.The project evolved into a new dating method that I named the Burned Haystack Dating Method. My method encourages daters to filter out time wasters and red flags as soon as possible.As of November 13, there were over 128,000 women/nonbinary people in my private Facebook group and 60,000 followers on Instagram.I chose to share the method on social media because it's free. Accessibility was important to me from the beginning; I didn't want to monetize the information by keeping it behind a paywall, and I didn't want to charge women for consultation or "coaching."A little over a year and a half after creating the method and developing a following, I've learned a few things that I feel would keep daters happier with the apps.Women feel like their preferences are being ignoredHere is a typical scenario I've experienced, and that has been repeated to me on several occasions by women who have spent time online dating: A woman is excited to set up her new dating app profile. She carefully selects her prompts, writes thoughtful responses, and curates her pictures. She sets boundaries around things like age, geography, marital status, political orientation, and lifestyle factors.To me and many of those I've spoken to, the apps appear to honor almost none of this.A woman told me she had specified that she was looking for a 40-to-45-year-old politically liberal nonsmoker within 50 miles of her home. This didn't stop the app she was using from showing her a full line-up of 60-year-old chain smokers from three hours away. So she swiped left, but the next matches were even worse, and eventually, the same men she swiped left on originally reappeared.Other women have mentioned reporting toxic behavior directly to dating apps.Dating app companies are not responsible for fixing the users, nor is that even possible, but there are things I feel they could do better Here are three ideas.Listen to users: Honor the boundaries articulated. If someone swipes left, don't show the same person to them again. If you don't have anyone who meets the said criteria, then simply say that. Leave it up to the individual whether they want to expand their filters or just wait. They're all adults.Do a better job of screening: AI tools can now screen for tone problems such as aggression.Get the bad actors out: When reports are made regarding toxicity, aggression, and deceit even if it just means lying about age or marital status verify and remove the offenders. Users also need to be more vigilant about reporting bad behavior to the apps, as many of the companies will take the necessary steps to remove the profile.These changes won't solve the larger cultural problems women face in the dating market, but implementing them could improve the dating app experience while we continue to address the problems in society.But while it would improve things for daters, it's not likely it would improve things financially for the apps. Last month, Albert Fox Cahn, a journalist, wrote in BI that the apps face a problem when it comes to the popularity contest."It turns out dating apps face a unique barrier to success: The more effective your app is, the less profitable it becomes. People pay to find a partner, and once you find one, the app loses your business," Cahn wrote.In the end, it looks like dating apps and singles face a conflicting definition of success.A representative from Match Group., the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, told BI they have made investments to improve both their automated and manual moderation and review tools."These tools include automatic scans of profiles for red-flag language and images, manual reviews of suspicious profiles, activity, and user generated reports, as well as blocking email addresses, phone numbers and other identifiers," a Match Group. respresentive said.The representative said the company spends $125 million a year on the "trust and safety teams, technology, partnerships, and initiatives and is focused on improving safety across the Match Group portfolio."According to Bumble, the appmatches people who have mutually swiped on each other. The platform is set up so that women make the first move, and they can reply within 24 hours, or the match expires.Bumble said that anyone who experiences harassment is encouraged to use the app's "Block and Report" system. Bumble also said the app is using automated and AI-based technology to identify potential violations before members even report them.

In the two years since Elon Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, the platform has become crowded with deceptive ads and unchecked misinformation. Now, with President-elect Donald Trump heading to the White House and Musk joining his administration, countless people announced their departure from X. Rival social media site Bluesky told Vox that 2.25 million new users have joined in the last week alone. And theyre having a blast.Bluesky looks a lot like the old Twitter you knew and loved. Its a reverse chronological feed of posts, including images, videos, and links that you can like and repost. Like old Twitter, your feed is not ruled by an algorithm. Meanwhile, Blueskys open source, decentralized framework gives you a lot more control over how your feed works than X or even Threads, the X alternative Meta has been pushing onto Instagram users. In addition to the technical differences, theres also a different vibe on Bluesky. Its overflowing with weird memes and digital art thanks to early users who hurried to recapture that fun and serendipitous feeling of the original Twitter. But with an influx of a million users in the last month, Bluesky is growing fast and bracing for some sort of evolution. The people arriving from X seem like theyre having fun so far, too. You can also expect to see a lot less Elon Musk on Bluesky, if only because he doesnt own the place.If the good vibes continue, theres a chance that Bluesky could usher in a brighter future for social media, one that gives users more power over their experience. Theoretically, the companys model could give people a way to hang out on the social web outside of algorithmic feeds stuffed with targeted ads and ruled by trillion-dollar tech companies. For now, at the very least, Bluesky is a welcome breath of fresh air.Why people are fleeing XThis isnt the first time people have flocked to Bluesky. When Twitter accepted Elon Musks $44 billion bid to buy Twitter in April 2022, a lot of people freaked out about the possibility of the billionaire changing the platform into a place where trolls and grifters could run free all in the name of free speech. Those initial anxieties turned out to be correct. After Musk changed the name to X, what used to be Twitter filled up with white supremacists and became overrun with harassment, AI slop, and election misinformation. This overhaul turned into a huge opportunity for open source, text-based social networks, like Mastodon and Bluesky. Early on, it looked like the decidedly decentralized Mastodon would be the Twitter alternative of choice, but after it saw an initial burst of interest, some people felt like Mastodon was just too confusing. As a federated network, Mastodon let people set up their own servers, which functioned as independent but interconnected communities within the larger network. Its related to the larger concept of the fediverse, where a single protocol could allow information to be exchanged between all social media platforms. The fediverse, like Mastodon, is very confusing.Bluesky took this idea of a federated network and made it easy to use. It started back in 2019, when Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey announced that Twitter would fund a small team that would build an open and decentralized standard for social media. The ambition which would eventually result in Bluesky was to work toward an open social media ecosystem, where users could control how content appeared in their feeds and take their data and followers with them when they moved platforms. Bluesky registered as its own public benefit company in February 2022, just a couple of months before Musk offered to buy Twitter.The first Bluesky app launched in beta about a year later, and it looked a heck of a lot like Twitter, down to the blue logo, which would become a butterfly rather than Twitters bird. Rather than require you to figure out which server to join, as Mastodon does, Bluesky initially centralized the user experience on one server so users could see one feed, just like on Twitter. Within a few months, some prominent Twitter users, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chrissy Teigen, had set up Bluesky accounts.Bluesky has only gotten easier to use since its early days. While the company announced it was federating earlier this year, allowing users to store their data on their own servers, the Bluesky user experience remains very straightforward and Twitter-like, down to the look and feel of the app and website. Honestly, if youre not paying attention while youre scrolling your feed, you might think youre on Twitter circa 2021.That said, the future of Bluesky is supposed to be transformative. While social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have been plagued by content moderation problems, Bluesky wants to put users and communities in control of those policies. The same goes for what shows up in peoples feeds. Bluesky says that instead of one algorithm to rule all users, it will let developers create all kinds of different algorithms and empower users to choose their own experience on the platform. Im really excited that folks can choose the social media thats right for them. Ill say for me, I like small social media where I talk to barely a dozen people, Rory Mir, associate director of community organizing at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said of Blueskys open source architecture. And then if folks want a really big audience and to really blow up thats also available. This is not how Bluesky works for everyone quite yet. You can just set up an account, follow a bunch of people, and then see their posts. But looking ahead, Bluesky has an optimistic vision for a near future in which social media doesnt make people so miserable.Timing has proven crucial to Blueskys current position as the X alternative du jour that is, its had a significant amount of time to gather momentum leading to what seems to be this tipping point moment. When the platform launched over 18 months ago, it was as an invite-only space, prompting extremely online types and various public figures to flock to try to get in. (The fact many of those early adopters were journalists didnt hurt in terms of building hype.) That long period of limited entry served to build FOMO, of course, but it also served to allow a niche group of users time to help shape what the dominant modes of communication, moderation, and platform etiquette would be. The health and positivity of Blueskys community is very important to us, and weve invested heavily in Trust and Safety, Bluesky spokesperson Emily Liu told Vox in an email. Last year, Bluesky required invite codes to sign up not to build hype or exclusivity, but rather so we had time to grow the network responsibly and build our Trust and Safety team.When Musk first bought Twitter, the first things he did were rolling back moderation on transphobia on the platform and because of that we were the first group to leave Twitter in numbers, journalist Katelyn Burns told Vox. Because of that, a large group of funny, talented trans posters were the earliest adopters of Bluesky and were able to forge the platform into what it is today: funny, frequently horny, and with very strong moderation tools. If you like Blueskys vibe right now, thank a trans person.When the platform finally opened to the public in February, this culture was already well-established: Lots of shitposting passed down from the days of Weird Twitter (including various Alf memes that recently led to some confusion); a seemingly inevitable leftist tilt; a subcommunity of NSFW posters; and, perhaps most important, an emphasis on proactively curating your own experience using Blueskys robust moderation tools. The centrality of these tools are arguably the defining trait that allows Bluesky to stand out, especially compared to Twitter, which struggled for its entire existence to properly deal with bad actors on the site (until Musk more or less jettisoned that struggle altogether). Bluesky not only allows you to block and mute various people, words, and tags, it also allows you to hide individual posts on feeds, and allows users to subscribe to curated block lists directly from the platform that blocks users en masse. To me the biggest difference between Bluesky and every other social media platform Ive ever been on is the close relationship between the user base and the (quite small!) team of developers, journalist and longtime Bluesky shitposter Miles Klee told Vox. When people first joined, it was very bare bones, and the devs pursued new features according to what they heard users wanted. Because a lot of people were looking to escape the toxicity of X, that meant they ended up prioritizing safety and accessibility, Klee said. On Bluesky, many users feel that theyre building something new together, and that gives them a feeling of ownership, control, community.I adore Bluesky, author and Bluesky user Debbie Ridpath Ohi told Vox. While so many other new platforms chased user numbers, Bluesky focused on user safety first, and that made a huge difference. I am having fun using social media again.Bluesky does have one significant drawback. Because the platform is federated, accounts cant be locked away from public view the way they can on X. Still, for many people, thats likely a feature rather than a bug; after all, Xs easily accessible public interface and ease of searching and surfacing content made it indispensable to many users, especially the many journalists who used it and still continue to use it. These are all features that Bluesky replicates without, so far, the endless trolls that came with Xs recent era.For people who have spent many years on Twitter which launched in 2006, enough time to grow into an impossible teenager it may be sobering to contemplate actually leaving the platform. This is, after all, the supposed hellsite that many of its most active users were all but glued to for everything from live events to hilarious viral incidents that found us all united through the power of a virtually instantaneous, public, and collective social media.Yet for the vast majority of users, the thought of leaving X now probably feels much more plausible and realistic a possibility than it did a year ago, when Vox first declared that X was in its death throes. Thats not unusual; social media platforms very rarely die instantly. For the most part, platforms dont suddenly shut down and strand all of their users. That only happens in extreme cases when a platforms systems collapse, or its seized by the government, or the owner kills the site situations that just dont really happen to modern social media with complex infrastructure. The inverse scenario, in which all of a platforms users simply give up and leave en masse overnight, doesnt happen at all. Instead, as weve seen across various internet platforms, including mass migrations away from LiveJournal, Tumblr, Facebook, and now X, the exodus takes years and involves multiple inciting incidents that push people out of their comfort zone and off the platform in incremental movements. All of these steps shift users slowly and inevitably toward the decision to fully leave a platform sometimes before they even realize theyve made it.Social media is, by definition, social, Bluesky early adopter Maura Quint told Vox. People want to be at places where they get something from other users, and where the tools the site provides help them have the experience theyre looking for. If people are miserable in a space, they leave.Elon Musk made sure to design his version of Twitter to be an unpleasant, dull place, Quint continued. Why choose an awful room run by the worst guy youve ever met when theres an alternative where cool people are hanging out, telling jokes, creating their own goofy lore, and engaging on issues they care about?As a platform slips into decline, those inciting incidents often become more and more frequent and close together. X has had multiple such inciting incidents this year, including a major ban in Brazil that sent 500,000 users to Bluesky in a single weekend in August, a crucial step in jolting Xs massive international fandom community out of its complacency. Then came the twin announcements in October: first, that X would be allowing third-party AI companies to scrape all user data, and then that blocking a user would no longer prevent them from being able to see your content a change that arguably nullifies the point of blocking to begin with. Most recently came the US election and Musks unabashed weaponization of the platform in service of Trump and the far right. This latest inciting incident seems to have been the final straw for many users to not only leave X for Bluesky, but begin deleting all of their content from X. (Some extensions and apps allow you to import all of your content over from X to Bluesky first before you delete.) Still, while these actions suggest that momentum has well and truly shifted toward Bluesky, the newer site will likely have growing pains as old users adjust to newcomers and the platform itself grapples with the strain of millions of new users.Our infrastructure is holding up! Blueskys Liu told Vox. Weve prepared our infrastructure to be able to handle this demand, though there are definitely a lot of new users signing up right now. She added that the site is building a subscription model to aid sustainability, though the site will always be free to use.Despite the rapid growth, users are optimistic about the future. Every influx of users brings with it more voices, some with good intent and some with bad intent, but Bluesky is responsive to the people who use it in ways that encourage people to stick around, Quint said. When you compare that to sites where white nationalists organize mass attacks, spending money lets anyone drown out real discussion, and mass disinformation spreads at the whim of a billionaire, Bluesky is clearly the place to be.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have made clear including through stated policy positions and chosen campaign surrogates that his administration intends to bar trans athletes from playing on school sports teams that match their gender identity. The president bans it, Trump said at a Fox News event in Georgia last month. You just dont let it happen. Not a big deal.Trump and other Republicans have primarily threatened the participation of trans girls in K-12 sports programs, though college athletes wouldnt be immune from any action Trump decides to take. Trumps threats raise the question: Could he challenge trans athletes right to compete in school sports?How would Trump enact such a ban?The short answer is yes. Trump could strip away civil rights and nondiscrimination protections enumerated under the Biden administration, which specifically apply to trans students.The executive branch has a lot of control over what counts as discrimination in education, thanks to Title IX, a civil rights law originally meant to advance womens equality. The Biden administration took the position that the laws protections against discrimination on the basis of sex mean that discrimination against trans students on the basis of their trans identity qualifies as sex discrimination. That interpretation of the law faced legal challenges and has been rejected by about half of the states. The Trump administration can and likely will simply take the stance that Title IX offers no protections to trans students. The Trump administrations interpretation of Title IX could go even further by arguing that it is discriminatory against girls to have trans athletes participating in girls sports, according to Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. There could be new legal battles over Title IX if Democratic governors and attorneys general moved to stop the new interpretation essentially the reverse of the current Title IX landscape.Ultimately, the administration could go through Congress and try to rewrite Title IX, explicitly stating those positions rather than merely interpreting the current law that way, Valant said. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) already proposed a law in July undoing the Biden-era regulations. Trump has also said he will ask Congress to pass a bill stating that only two genders exist. Related:Why US schools are at the center of trans rightsRepublicans will hold narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate. Its possible that such a bill could pass, though it would likely face some difficulty in the Senate, where Republicans lack a filibuster-proof majority. Outside of federal action, some states like Florida already have bans against transgender students participating in school sports. Under that law, only people assigned female at birth can play on girls sports teams. These kinds of laws could be stepping stones in dismantling trans peoples right to nondiscrimination in schools and the workplace, as well as their ability to access health care, Gillian Branstetter, communications strategist at the ACLUs Womens Rights Project and LGBTQ & HIV Project, told Vox. I cant think of a single state or politician that has adopted this issue that has decided that theyre just going to narrowly focus on the rights of transgender athletes, Branstetter said. They have, using the exact same legal arguments, using the exact same legislative language, and usually using the exact same lawyers, also used these [tactics] to ban gender-affirming health care, to restrict what bathrooms trans people can use, and a long litany of other restrictions.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

A ghoulish scene: a shadowy figure has just shoved someone into a high-voltage circuit box. The victim is stuck at the moment of death, sparks flying as their body convulses; downstairs, everyone is frozen in surprise at the moment the lights went off. Scrutinising this scene, you must determine who everyone is, where they are, why they are there, and of course, who committed this murder. You examine faces and objects, go through everyones pockets to see what they have on them, read notes and signs and letters for clues. Eventually you piece it together, filling in a report with missing words that explains exactly who, what, when, where and why.Rise of the Golden Idol is an alternative-reality 1970s detective game where each individual scene, once solved, tells you something about a bigger mystery. Its a sequel to The Case of the Golden Idol, set 300 years after that games age-of-exploration mystery, but following the trail of that same cursed object. Some of these scenes are relatively innocuous, even funny, like the drive-in cinema where an unexpected fire sends the cosplaying customers scrambling for the exit. Others are gruesome: in the opening case, a strangling plays out on an infinite loop like an Instagram boomerang story.Intentionally grotesque art style Rise of the Golden Idol. Photograph: Color Gray GamesSolving these cases is supremely satisfying, though youd better hope you have a good memory for names and faces. Scenes might have 10 or more people in them, and I needed a notebook to keep track. There are increasingly obvious hints on offer when you get stuck, but as the game warns, using them robs you of the pleasure of using your deductive reasoning. Nonetheless, when I had figured out the main thrust of a case but couldnt get someones surname straight, I was glad of the button that showed me which blanks were filled in incorrectly on my reports.Its the strangeness of Rise of the Golden Idol that makes it so memorable: the intentionally grotesque art style, the characters asymmetrical faces and crazy, shifting eyes, the backgrounds daubed as if with paint pens. The murders and robberies and other crimes here are bizarre, the tableaux unsettling in their eternal two-second movement loops. I found it hard to get a scene out of my head until I had solved it, leaving me poring over my phone screen for half an hour at a time, thinking, cross-referencing and noting things down. Where is that characters glance leading me? Why is that rug disturbed? Where did that stain come from?The larger story that arises from these details is very much worth all the effort. Between chapters, your fill-in-the-blank case reports turn into fill-in-the-blank summaries of everything youve learned from the last few cases, helping you to draw the connections that make the story crackle with intrigue. This isnt a game that you can play with your mind on something else; it requires you to pay very close attention, to focus your thoughts, and see what your brain can do. I was pleasantly surprised by my own power of reasoning.The crime scenes are so weird that you never know where this game is going to take you, but youll always have what you need to figure it out.

Let me guess: you recently bought Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, strayed into the multiplayer mode and now youre being mercilessly pummelled by hundreds of teenagers with suggestive usernames? Dont worry, thats perfectly normal. Call of Duty has always been the arcade twitchfest of the online shooter scene, but Black Ops 6 has a whole new feel thanks to its omni-movement system, which lets you dive, roll and sprint in every direction. And the weapons have all been completely redesigned. It is, as Olivia Rodrigo put it, brutal out there.So I asked two excellent pro players Ethan Fifakill Pink and Liam Jukeyz James for their tips. Instead of laughing and pointing at me, they agreed.Use the right gunIf youre just getting into CoD, stick with the assault rifles or submachine guns [SMGs] they suit the smaller maps and intense engagement speed in Black Ops 6. My favourite assault rifle [AR] is probably the Model L, although its so good professionals have agreed not to use it theyve moved to the AMES, says Jukeyz. The SMG would be the Jackal which feels fun to use, or the KSV which is harder, but pretty over-powered.Meanwhile Fifakill recommends the Kompakt 92. It has a super high fire rate and very good movement speed, you can absolutely destroy with it. But if youre more of a mid-range player, Id say the Model L assault rifle is a really good option. It will take a while to unlock, but its worth the effort super TTK [time to kill] and very low recoil.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Photograph: ActivisionBecome a Gunsmith tinkererGunsmith is where you can add modifications to your weapon, and its vital for giving you the edge in encounters. For the majority of players, its best to start by reducing recoil, says Fifakill. Focus on attachments that reduce horizontal recoil if the gun is bouncing up or down its pretty simple to correct. But with left and right, while youre trying to track an enemy player, thats more difficult. Jukeyz prioritises aim-down sight speed (how quickly you can get the gun into an aiming position), but also suggests attaching a vertical foregrip to counter recoil. Id also suggest the Gunfighter wildcard, adds Fifakill. It gives you eight attachments per gun, so you can have it all: better movement, a bigger mag and less recoil.Perk yourself upBlack Ops 6 allows you to choose from 20 perks which give you buffs in specific areas. Theyre split into three categories Enforcer (red), Recon (blue) and Strategist (green) and if you pick three from the same type you get a bonus speciality perk. Ive been running the red perks because that gives you a super speed bonus and you get extra health re-gen after you make a kill it really benefits you if youre trying to run and gun, says Fifakill.If youre trying to push for kills run three red perks: I like Gung Ho, Assassin and Double Time. If youre a slower player Id go for blue perks and the speciality for that is useful. And if youre an objective player then run the three green perks.Jukeyz favours Dexterity, Assassin and then Double Time: And because theyre all red, it gives you the Enforcer speciality, which means killing enemies gets you a temp buff to movement speed and health re-gen. Its perfect for ARs or SMGs.Maximise your XPEarning experience points [XP] unlocks new items and scorestreaks so levelling up fast is a good idea. Use BankRoll as perk three, suggests Jukeyz. Once youre getting double or triple kills, youll unlock UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), Counter UAV and HARP (High-Altitude Reconnaissance Plane) a lot quicker. If you have all three activated at once, you get so much Assist XP from teammates using them all over the map. Its constant XP.Use a monitor and headphonesStop playing on the giant OLED television in your living room: the response time will be slower than a dedicated monitor and its hard to see everything on the screen while also checking your minimap and ammo count. Both our pros use a 27-inch monitor, with a 1440p resolution and at least 144Hz refresh rate. Also, switch from speakers to a headset. I use JBLs, says Fifakill. But as long as you have a headset that has decent spatial audio you should be fine, and there are in-game settings you can tweak, for example, enabling Dolby Atmos which will help you to hear where footsteps are coming from.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 team up. Photograph: MicrosoftBe a team playerCall of Duty multiplayer is a team game, so you need to think tactically even when youre with a bunch of strangers. If you really want to win an Objective mode (a multiplayer mode such as Control or Hardpoint which has a specific goal) on a public server, focus on spawn points, says Fifakill. Its about going ahead to a new area where you know an objective is going to be and try to lock down the spawn point at that position for your team. Its not the most glamorous role, but its useful. It means when the objective arrives, your team is going to be spawning close by, so you can get reinforcements a lot faster.Jukeyz recommends a more social approach. A bit of communication is a good start, he says. Whos watching what, whos taking the hard point. Get friends to play with you, or start chatting to people you meet in public servers who you think are good. Get a bit of structure with your gameplay even shouting left or right (to indicate threats or where to run), is a start.Use the minimapFifakill reckons he spends 70% of a match watching the minimap, which becomes a lot more viable once youve learned the maps inside out. Watch for red markers which show the position of rival players and enemy fire; watch where your teammates are running, listen out for anything they ping (mark on the map). Or as Jukeyz puts it: pay attention to everything.

TechApple Arcade users can snag iconic Final Fantasy Remake next monthApple Arcade is adding a whole bunch of fresh titles for users over the next few months, including a 3D remake of a Final Fantasy classic Pac Man, Hot Wheels, and much, much more.dailystarBookmarkShareTechByLloyd CoombesGames Writer17:47, 14 NOV 2024BookmarkFinal Fantasy 4 is back, this time in 3DApple Arcade is offering a whole host of games to subscribers this month - here's what's included. If you have an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or even Apple Vision Pro, Apple Arcade is well worth a look. The service features a whole host of games in just about any genre you can think of, but perhaps the best part is that they're all complete. No microtransactions or paywalls, just great mobile titles available for a low monthly fee, and one subscription covers all of your devices, too. There are over 250 games included in the service, and it's about to get even better as Apple revealed its next slate of titles. Skate City: New York is coming to Apple Arcade in January Apple Arcade adding Final Fantasy, Hot Wheels, and more in coming months Starting on December 5 players can download the following on their Apple devices: Boggle: Arcade Edition PAC-MAN 256+ Hot Wheels: Race Off+ Barbie Color Creations+ Talking Tom: Blast Park Little Cities: Diorama (Apple Vision Pro exclusive) December 9 will see the arrival of the Final Fantasy IV 3D Remake, bringing the 1991 original into 3D in a way similar to the Nintendo DS Remake from 2007. Apple has also revealed more titles coming at the start of 2025. Skate City: New York is a gorgeous new skateboarding title, while Gears and Goo is another great-looking Apple Vision Pro exclusive. January will also see remasters of Final Fantasy (the first game), and Trials of Mana, as well as Three Kingdoms Heroes, Rodeo Stampede, and It's Literally Just Mowing which all arrive on January 9. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters. Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.More On

Who is Ghostface? Many killers have worn the mask, but there are new additions with Mortal Kombat's latest version of the character - here's all we know about him so far

Overwatch Classic is an unexpected reminder of how good Overwatch 2 isGameCentralPublished Nov 14, 2024, 7:00pmOverwatch: Classic you can never go back (Blizzard Entertainment)As Blizzard turns back time, to the launch of the original Overwatch, the new retro mode only goes to show how good we have it with Overwatch 2.While its easy to convince yourself that live service games are a recent trend, the truth is the most popular games have been around for a long time. Fortnites Battle Royale mode has been rocking for over seven years, Overwatch is eight years old, and even the comparatively spritely Apex Legends is coming up to six years old.Thats long enough to invoke a sense of nostalgia across these games, something Fortnite capitalised on last year with its OG mode. As is often the case in live service games, where Fortnite marches, others follow. Apex Legends is in the midst of Launch Royale, its return to the original Kings Canyon layout, and Overwatch is not far behind.Earlier this week, it launched Overwatch: Classic, an event where players can play the game in its original launch state. For many, that will sound like a godsend. Theres a lingering consensus that Overwatch used to be good and that somehow Overwatch 2 ruined the franchise. So, developers offering players the chance to go back puts that to the test.Classic is a very novel mode and a surprisingly deep recreation of the original experience. Even with changes to the engine over time, Blizzard has been able to replicate just about everything in the game as it originally was yes, including a 6v6 environment.While there are more serious tests planned for the future, to explore that format, this is the first Blizzard-endorsed taste of a return to having 12 players in a lobby since the launch of Overwatch 2 last year. Its an amazing snapshot and one of the most interesting modes introduced to the game. And man, it feels awful and thats perhaps the most interesting thing about it.Overwatch: Classic the gang as they used to be (Blizzard Entertainment)For only being a limited-time event, a lot of work has been put into Overwatch: Classic. These characters have changed so much over time. The move from Overwatch 1 to Overwatch 2 also came with an engine overhaul, so reverting everything to how it was will have been a much more complex endeavour than just reinstating a previous patch state.When you jump in, youre bound to have stark reminders about some of these heroes and their initial states in 2016. Play as D.Va and you will quickly remember how slow you move when shooting, that Defence Matrix is a one-off ability, and that, of course, your D.Va bomb can kill you.Lucios wall-riding is significantly worse, as it feels like youre skating with boulders in your shoes. Also, the first time you try to use Transcendence as Zenyatta will make you feel like youre moving through molasses.For the opening few days of Classic, theres no hero lock, in order to mirror the original Overwatch 1 launch. This means you can have as many of the same heroes on your team as you want. That includes the nightmare of six Torbjorns, or the hilarity of six Winstons causing primate chaos from the sky.Its all hilariously weird, and we shouldnt lose sight of that. This is a really neat way to play Overwatch in 2024. Its a mess of broken abilities and an absurd regression of the quality of life in the game now, but thats part of the charm.That said, it is still a mess. Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Its whispers always try to convince you that things were better in the past. Often, the stuff we love feels like it used to be better. Things restored from yesteryear still have to exist in the context of today though.As we get older, our responsibilities grow. No matter how much something improves over time, its always going to feel better when you were younger, less jaded, and could interact with it for hours on end instead of having to go to work.Overwatch: Classic is a rare chance to see the stark reality of how things were. It feels bad if youve put any significant time into the modern version of the game. In the ensuing eight years since the franchise launched, the game has improved so much through quality of life aspects but also balance and flow.Overwatch 2, while certainly able to throw out some head-scratching patch notes, is just a better experience. Classic is a well-realised celebration of the history of the franchise. It also feels like Blizzard slyly demonstrating, you have no idea how good you have it.And thats not wrong. Overwatch is getting more updates than ever right now. Heroes are releasing faster, and the audience has never had a more content-rich environment. While Overwatch 2 has its issues, its ultimately a game built on eight years of learning.Sadly, we can never go back to 2016. Overwatch was something completely new then. We werent really living in a world of live service titles yet. Theres a reason it won a lot of Game of the Year awards. It was special, but bringing back the game in that state cant recapture that magic. The reason it worked back then was there was nothing like it.Importantly, no one had any idea what they were doing. The player-base hadnt spent years learning the flow of games. You can take Overwatch back, but you cant revert the player-base as well. Unfortunately, modern players have learned how Overwatch is played. We know if Reaper is wraithforming into six players recklessly, hes probably going to use his Death Blossom. Alas, our ignorance was bliss, and our whimsy has hardened with the burden of knowledge.Still, Overwatch: Classic is an awesome exercise by Blizzard and one that should continue in the future. The developers have already said that it would explore other metas from Overwatchs past, such as moth Mercy and the infamous goats.These might be more interesting comparison points for the modern day, as Overwatch changed a lot and quickly in its first few years. Even so, seeing the game as it was in May 2016 is an amazing relic to have access to. Its a chaotic mess and theres fun to be had in that. However, its certainly much easier to appreciate where the game is today after just a few rounds of Classic.Overwatch: Classic party like its 2016 (Blizzard Entertainment)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.MORE : Two beloved 90s shooters are being preserved online for free with Epic Games approvalMORE : PS5 Pro has already had a price cut in the UK ahead of Black FridayMORE : Honouring 30 years of Warcraft: how remasters and classic Classic WoW will workSign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.Privacy Policy This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.