Thousands of Capital One customers recently experienced the fallout of a multi-day outage. Customers could not access online banking services and faced delays in receiving direct-deposited paychecks, The New York Times reported.Capital One attributed the outage to a technical issue with a third-party vendor, according to a Jan. 16 post on X.The third-party vendor in question? Fidelity Information Services (FIS), a financial technology company. On Jan. 19, Capital One posted that all customer account functionality was restored.Capital One was one of several banks impacted by the FIS system outage.Whether via malicious actors executing ransomware attacks or unintentional mistakes, third-party outages can have widespread ripple effects. We can see that here with the FIS outage and thousands of banking customers. Last year, we saw impact on a global scale with the CrowdStrike and Microsoft outage.In a time when most companies rely on third parties to operate, this kind of risk isnt going anywhere. What can enterprise leaders learn from the Capital One outage as they assess the ongoing third-party risk their organizations face?The OutageFIS attributed the outage to a local area power loss and a hardware failure, according to a company statement.Related:The company did not share more details regarding the nature of the outage, but it does raise questions about the testing and backups it has in place.There should be testing done. There should be the right tools in place with backups, Randolph Barr, CISO at Cequence Security, an API security company, tells InformationWeek. Surprising that there was a power outage that caused a disruption in their customers environments.When an outage like this happens, who gets the blame depends on who you ask. FIS attributes the outage to power loss and hardware failure. Its customers are likely to place blame on FIS. For consumers, their relationship is with their bank.A Capital One consumer they don't know who FIS is and they don't care, says Jason Rebholz, vice president, cyber risk officer at insurance company Travelers. At the end of the day, your customers are going to hold you accountable. They don't care about the details.Regardless of the ultimate cause of the outage, the impacted companies -- FIS, Capital One, and other impacted banks -- must manage the fallout.Evaluating Third-Party Relationships and Managing RiskThe interconnected nature of business and the supply chain is unlikely to change anytime soon. If anything, it will continue to grow more complex as companies look for partners in AI and machine learning. That means the possibility of outages and breaches, related to third parties isnt going anywhere either. Most organizations (98%) have a third party that has been breached in their supply chains, according to SecurityScorecard.Related:How can enterprise leaders evaluate their relationships with third-party vendors to better understand and manage that risk?Review contracts. A major outage is always a reminder for enterprise leaders to consider their third-party contracts. What kind of service level agreements (SLAs) are in place? What uptime guarantee does a vendor offer?The larger the company, typically, the more power it possesses to negotiate on these terms. If I were to look at small-, medium-sized companies, they don't have that much flexibility working with larger organizations. But when you're a large fintech company or banking company -- Capital One being a large one -- they have a lot more influence over the contracts and working closely with their vendors, says Barr.Conduct regular assessments. A businesss security is only as good as its vendors security and business continuity plans. What steps does a third party take to protect its operations, and by extension its customers operations?Related:Start off with classifying your vendors based on the criticality [to] your business, says Rebholz. The bigger impact a vendor outage would have on your business, the more critical it is.Regularly conduct assessments of that vendors security and business continuity practices.Evaluate vendor scale. As companies grow, leaders need to consider their third-party vendors ability to keep up. As [businesses] grow , they have to reevaluate every single one of [their third parties] to make sure that they can scale right along with them, says Barr.Businesses can manage those third-party relationships and diversify their supply chains to create more fail-safes, but that doesnt mean that outages or breaches wont happen.There are always these edge cases that pop up no reasonable person [who] would assume that all of these things are going to happen together, says Rebholz.When the perfect storm hits, whether its a power outage and hardware failure or something else, enterprise leaders need to be ready.You still have a lot of work that you should be doing on your side to make sure you plan for the inevitable failure or security incident at your critical vendors, Rebholz points out.Insurance can play an important role in that business continuity planning process. What kind of coverage does an enterprise have, and is it enough?The cyber insurance business is going strong; annual premiums are expected to hit approximately $23 billion by the end of 2026, according to S&P Global. But enterprise leaders need to examine the details of any policy they have or are thinking about buying.A lot of cyber insurance policies are very much geared towards malicious events, cyberattacks that type of stuff, and don't cover the accidental, Scott Kannry, CEO and cofounder of cybersecurity company Axio, points out.Risk quantification can help enterprise leaders determine the type of insurance coverage they need and the amount. What is the risk of a third-party vendor outage? How big is the potential financial loss? Does my policy cover third-party outages, accidental and caused by cyberattack?The FIS outage and its impact on Capital One and other customers is not the last incident of this nature the market willsee.We need to learn from a lot of these incidents, and we need to remind ourselves on a regular basis that this can happen to anybody, says Barr. Therefore, we need to make sure we step up our game in assessing these vendors.

Robert Eggers is adding another cult classic to his resume.After turning the Germain silent horror filmNosferatuinto a modern hit, Eggers will soon begin work writing and directing a newLabyrinth, based on the 1986 fantasy film directed by Jim Henson.According toDeadline, the film is a sequel to, rather than a remake of, Jim Hensons 1986 classic. Eggers is writing the script with Sjn, his collaborator on 2022 Viking actionerThe Northman.Eggers andSjn are already working onanother new project as well, this one titledWerwulfabout a farmboy from an alien world who receives a call to adventure from an old wizard and journeys into deep space and discovers a massive battle station whoops no sorry, wrong movie, no okay itsactually about a werewolf, that makes more sense.TriStar PicturesTriStar Picturesloading...READ MORE: The 10 Worst Cult Movies EverThe originalLabyrinth starred Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie; the former as a teenager who must save her baby brother from the latter, the Goblin King who rules over the labyrinth where the kid has been stashed. Although the movie (Hensons finalfeature as a director) was not a massive success with critics or with audiences in 1986, its reputation has grown steadily through the years.There have been other works set in theLabyrinth universe, mostly comics, but this will be the first full-fledged sequel if it comes off.It joins other 80s Henson favorites in getting legacyquels in recent years. Netflixreleased aDark Crystal television series and Apple TV+ has made several new seasons of the popular childrens showFraggle Rock.EggersNosferatu has become the directors biggest hit to date, grossing over $156 million worldwide. Earlier today, it receivedfour Academy Award nominations, for Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costumes, and Best Production Design.Get our free mobile app12 Hit Movies That People Mistakenly Call Cult FilmsDespite what people write about them, these movies were hits they were not cult films.

The reputation of theStar WarsSequel Trilogy The Force Awakens,The Last Jedi, andThe Rise of Skywalker is not so great these days. And here at ScreenCrush and on our YouTube channel weveleveledour fair share of criticism against these three films (especially the last one).But this trilogy is now five years old. That gives us something we never had before: The benefit of hindsight. And with the benefit of hindsight we can see that for all their flaws (and they do have some!) theStar Wars sequels have a lot going for them, and a lot to say about the world as we live in it today.In our latestStar Wars video, we break down all three films and talk about why these films arenotas bad as you think evenThe Rise of Skywalker and why a lot of the bad stuff in that movie, and all three sequels, actually makes a lot of sense. Watch our full defense of the Sequel Trilogy below:If you liked that video on why the Star Wars sequel trilogy is way better than you remember, check out more of our videos below, including one on the one line of dialogue that ruined Star Wars, one on Daisy RidleysStar Wars movie and the state ofStar Warscinema in 2024, and one onDarth Plagueis cameo in Star Wars: The Acolyte and why it is maybe the single most important event in the entire season. Plus, theres tons more over at ScreenCrushs YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes.The new Star Wars TV show, Skeleton Crew, is now streaming on Disney+.Sign up for Disney+ here.10 TV Show Flops That Turned Out to Be Huge HitsUniversally beloved TV shows aren't always universally beloved from episode one.Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky

After weeks of buzz, OpenAI has released Operator, its first AI agent. Operator is a web app that can carry out simple online tasks in a browser, such as booking concert tickets or filling an online grocery order. The app is powered by a new model called Computer-Using AgentCUA (coo-ah), for shortbuilt on top of OpenAIs multimodal large language model GPT-4o. Operator is available today at operator.chatgpt.com to people in the US signed up with ChatGPT Pro, OpenAIs premium $200-a-month service. The company says it plans to roll the tool out to other users in the future. OpenAI claims that Operator outperforms similar rival tools, including Anthropics Computer Use (a version of Claude 3.5 Sonnet that can carry out simple tasks on a computer) and Google DeepMinds Mariner (a web-browsing agent built on top of Gemini 2.0). The fact that three of the worlds top AI firms have converged on the same vision of what agent-based models could be makes one thing clear. The battle for AI supremacy has a new frontierand its our computer screens. Moving from generating text and images to doing things is the right direction, says Ali Farhadi, CEO of the Allen Institute for AI (AI2). It unlocks business, solves new problems. Farhadi thinks that doing things on a computer screen is a natural first step for agents: It is constrained enough that the current state of the technology can actually work, he says. At the same time, its impactful enough that people might use it. (AI2 is working on its own computer-using agent, says Farhadi.) Dont believe the hype OpenAIs announcement also confirms one of two rumors that circled the internet this week. One predicted that OpenAI was about to reveal an agent-based app, after details about Operator were leaked on social media ahead of its release. The other predicted that OpenAI was about to reveal a new superintelligenceand that officials for newly inaugurated President Trump would be briefed on it. Could the two rumors be linked? OpenAI superfans wanted to know. Nope. OpenAI gave MIT Technology Review a preview of Operator in action yesterday. The tool is an exciting glimpse of large language models potential to do a lot more than answer questions. But Operator is an experimental work in progress. Its still early, it still makes mistakes, says Yash Kumar, a researcher at OpenAI. (As for the wild superintelligence rumors, lets leave that to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to address: twitter hype is out of control again, he posted on January 20. pls chill and cut your expectations 100x!) Like Anthropics Computer Use and Google DeepMinds Mariner, Operator takes screenshots of a computer screen and scans the pixels to figure out what actions it can take. CUA, the model behind it, is trained to interact with the same graphical user interfacesbuttons, text boxes, menusthat people use when they do things online. It scans the screen, takes an action, scans the screen again, takes another action, and so on. That lets the model carry out tasks on most websites that a person can use. Traditionally the way models have used software is through specialized APIs, says Reiichiro Nakano, a scientist at OpenAI. (An API, or application programming interface, is a piece of code that acts as a kind of connector, allowing different bits of software to be hooked up to one another.) That puts a lot of apps and most websites off limits, he says: But if you create a model that can use the same interface that humans use on a daily basis, it opens up a whole new range of software that was previously inaccessible. CUA also breaks tasks down into smaller steps and tries to work through them one by one, backtracking when it gets stuck. OpenAI says CUA was trained with techniques similar to those used for its so-called reasoning models, o1 and o3. Operator can be instructed to search for campsites in Yosemite with good picnic tables.OPENAI OpenAI has tested CUA against a number of industry benchmarks designed to assess the ability of an agent to carry out tasks on a computer. The company claims that its model beats Computer Use and Mariner in all of them. For example, on OSWorld, which tests how well an agent performs tasks such as merging PDF files or manipulating an image, CUA scores 38.1% to Computer Uses 22.0% In comparison, humans score 72.4%. On a benchmark called WebVoyager, which tests how well an agent performs tasks in a browser, CUA scores 87%, Mariner 83.5%, and Computer Use 56%. (Mariner can only carry out tasks in a browser and therefore does not score on OSWorld.) For now, Operator can also only carry out tasks in a browser. OpenAI plans to make CUAs wider abilities available in the future via an API that other developers can use to build their own apps. This is how Anthropic released Computer Use in December. OpenAI says it has tested CUAs safety, using red teams to explore what happens when users ask it to do unacceptable tasks (such as research how to make a bioweapon), when websites contain hidden instructions designed to derail it, and when the model itself breaks down. Weve trained the model to stop and ask the user for information before doing anything with external side effects, says Casey Chu, another researcher on the team. Look! No hands To use Operator, you simply type instructions into a text box. But instead of calling up the browser on your computer, Operator sends your instructions to a remote browser running on an OpenAI server. OpenAI claims that this makes the system more efficient. Its another key difference between Operator, Computer Use and Mariner (which runs inside Googles Chrome browser on your own computer). Because its running in the cloud, Operator can carry out multiple tasks at once, says Kumar. In the live demo, he asked Operator to use OpenTable to book him a table for two at 6.30 p.m. at a restaurant called Octavia in San Francisco. Straight away, Operator opened up OpenTable and started clicking through options. As you can see, my hands are off the keyboard, he said. OpenAI is collaborating with a number of businesses, including OpenTable, StubHub, Instacart, DoorDash, and Uber. The nature of those collaborations is not exactly clear, but Operator appears to suggest preset websites to use for certain tasks. While the tool navigated dropdowns on OpenTable, Kumar sent Operator off to find four tickets for a Kendrick Lamar show on StubHub. While it did that, he pasted a photo of a handwritten shopping list and asked Operator to add the items to his Instacart. He waited, flicking between Operators tabs. If it needs help or if it needs confirmations, it'll come back to you with questions and you can answer it, he said. Kumar says he has been using Operator at home. It helps him stay on top of grocery shopping: I can just quickly click a photo of a list and send it to work, he says. Its also become a sidekick in his personal life. I have a date night every Thursday, says Kumar. So every Thursday morning, he instructs Operator to send him a list of five restaurants that have a table for two that evening. Of course, I could do that, but it takes me 10 minutes, he says. And I often forget to do it. With Operator, I can run the task with one click. Theres no burden of booking.

Omaha isn't exactly bursting with options, but there are ISPs for those who know where to look.

If the old-school PlayStation and its iconic gray color are dear to your heart, you probably already know that Sony has been releasing a series of products for the PlayStation's 30th anniversary, including a limited-edition PlayStation 5 Pro bundle and a PS5 Slim bundle. The products, which include consoles, controllers, a disc-drive cover and accessories, are color-themed to the original PlayStation game console, which was released in Japan in 1994 and in the US in 1995.Gamers could jump on the products back in October, but a limited restock of the 30th anniversary products is out on Thursday, Jan. 23. According to a post on X from wario64, a respected account that has broken news in the past, this restock doesn't include PS5 Pros, but does include the PS5 digital bundle for $500, the PS Portal Remote Player for $220, the DualSense Edge wireless controller for $220, and the standard DualSense wireless controller for $80.Quantities are very limited, and the October items sold quickly, so jump on it if this deal speaks to your totally sweet '90s memories. Wario64 tweeted a followup noting that it "sounds like there were not many units judging from the replies. Official word I got was 'small quantities of selected 30th anniversary SKUs.'"CNET's Scott Stein got an exclusive early hands-on with the PS5 Pro, which he says "is all about making big-TV gaming a happier experience." The new console, he says, is "a big, graphically boosted piece of hardware that can keep up with ever-changing PCs and, in some ways, maybe exceed them." Watch this: My Exclusive PlayStation 5 Pro Demo: What $700 Gets You, and Why It Matters 06:16 The company showed off the products in a YouTube video and blog post last month. Preorders first went live on Sept. 26. The new bundle will officially go on sale on Nov. 21, and the PS5 Pro becomes available Nov. 7. Here's what you need to know about how to preorder them.Where to order the PS5 Slim anniversary bundle Sony/Screenshot by CNET PlayStation 5 (Slim) Digital Edition 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle The bundle comes with the disc-less PS5 Slim console anniversary version with "throwback design elements" in the old gray color scheme of the first ever PlayStation console. It comes with a limited-edition DualSense wireless controller, a console cover for the disc drive (sold separately), a vertical stand, 1TB SSD, two horizontal stand feet, an HDMI cable, a USB cable, an AC power cord, an original PlayStation controller-style cable connector housing, four PlayStation cable ties, a PlayStation sticker, a poster with one of 30 designs and a PlayStation paperclip.It is listed at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Walmart (requires Walmart Plus subscription). $499 at Walmart Where to order the PS5 Pro anniversary bundle Sony/Screenshot by CNET PlayStation 5 Pro Console 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle The bundle comes with the disc-less PS5 Pro console anniversary version with "throwback design elements" in the old gray color scheme of the first ever PlayStation console. It comes with a limited-edition DualSense Edge wireless controller, DualSense wireless controller, DualSense Charging Station, a console cover for the disc drive, a vertical stand, 2TB SSD, two horizontal stand feet, an HDMI cable, a USB cable, an AC power cord, an original PlayStation controller-style cable connector housing, four PlayStation cable ties, a PlayStation sticker and poster, a PlayStation paperclip and Astro's Playroom preinstalled game.It's currently unavailable so check back. $1,000 at PlayStation Direct Where to order the PS5 Pro console Sony/Screenshot by CNET PS5 Pro console If you want less bundled in, you can buy just the PS5 Pro console by itself. It comes in white with 2TB of storage, and also includes a DualSense wireless controller, two horizontal stand feet, and HDMI cable, an AC power cord and the Astro's Playroom game preinstalled.It's listed at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, Walmart (requires Walmart Plus subscription) and PlayStation Direct. $699 at Walmart Where to order the PlayStation Portal Remote Player 30th Anniversary edition Sony/Screenshot by CNET PlayStation Portal Remote Player - 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Another product that's part of the 30th Anniversary Collection is a stand-alone PlayStation Portal Remote Player.It's currently unavailable so check back. $299 at Walmart Where to order the DualSense Edge Wireless Controller 30th Anniversary edition Sony/Screenshot by CNET DualSense Edge Wireless Controller - 30th Anniversary Limited Edition This bundle includes the limited edition 30th anniversary DualSense Edge wireless controller, a USB braided cable, two standard caps, two high dome caps, two low dome caps, two half dome back buttons, two lever back buttons, a connector housing and a limited edition carrying case.It's currently unavailable on PlayStation Direct, so check back. $199 at Walmart Where to order the DualSense Wireless Controller 30th anniversary edition Walmart/Screenshot by CNET PlayStation 5 DualSense Wireless Controller 30th Anniversary Limited Edition The PS5 limited edition 30th anniversary DualSense wireless controller comes in legacy PlayStation gray. $79 at Walmart

January 23, 20253 min readThe Latest on Bird Flu in Humans, Cats and ChickensH5N1 avian influenza continues to spread amid commercial and backyard poultry, and additional cases have been reported in domestic catsBy Meghan Bartels edited by Tanya Lewis wikoski/Getty ImagesAs the bird flu outbreak affecting poultry, dairy cows and humans in the U.S. continues to make headlines, heres what to know about the situation as of January 23.Human CasesThe U.S. reported its first human case of H5N1 avian influenza in two years in April 2024. Since then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a total of 67 confirmed human cases. The first U.S. death from bird flu was announced earlier this month in Louisiana, but most human cases in the country have remained quite mild.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The CDC maintains that there is no evidence of spread between humans. Most people with avian influenza have been infected through exposure to sick dairy cows or poultry. Cows with bird flu shed large amounts of the H5N1 virus in their milk, although pasteurization has been confirmed to kill the virus, leaving the commercial milk supply safe to drink. (Raw milk is not safe.) Poultry workers have been infected mainly through culling operations. The source of a few human infections remains difficult to pin down.Poultry CasesBird flu continues to spread among commercial and backyard poultry. As of January 23, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that there were 98 infected flocks within the past 30 days, with more than 15 million birds affected. Avian influenza is so contagious and deadly in poultry that the entire flock is culled as soon as the presence of the virus is confirmed. Since the bird flu outbreak began in February 2022, more than 140 million birds have been infected or proactively culled.Recent infections among poultry include two large commercial chicken farms in Georgia, which is a key source of so-called broilers raised for meat. Maryland and Virginia have also reported recent cases at broiler facilities, while Missouri has confirmed bird flu infections at an egg farm. And health officials in New York State announced a massive outbreak at a duck farm on Long Island. With bird flu cases increasing, egg prices are rising fast. Fortunately, although eggs can carry a host of infections and should never be eaten raw, people are unlikely to catch bird flu from commercial chicken eggs.Cat CasesThere has also been a spate of recent bird flu detections in domestic cats. Positive samples were gathered in January in California, Kansas, Louisiana and Iowa, and several more cases from last December were also confirmed this month. Less information is typically available in these cases, and there are several ways cats can catch bird flu: Those on dairy farms have been particularly vulnerable; such cats likely become infected by drinking milk from sick cows. But outdoor cats can also catch avian influenza from wild birds. And indoor cats can be exposed to the virus through raw milk and raw food. Recognizing this last threat, on January 17 the Food and Drug Administration ordered manufacturers of raw pet food to update their food safety plans to include H5N1.Federal CommunicationsMonitoring bird flu has been a challenge since it first arrived in North America, likely through wild birds that arent in the purview of any particular health agency. And while poultry farmers have extensive experience with avian influenza and strict biosecurity protocols, experts didnt expect the virus to jump into dairy cows, which, like poultry, fall under the jurisdiction of the USDA and its state equivalents. Human cases, meanwhile, are the responsibility of local and state public health departments, with federal coordination from the CDC.The inauguration of President Donald Trump has further clouded the picture: the administration ordered the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the CDC, to cease all public communications through at least the end of the month.

January 23, 20255 min readTrump Environment Order Will Leave Vulnerable Communities in the ShadowsPresident Trump has revoked a 1994 directive that required agencies to protect minority or low-income areas from pollution and health hazardsA man walks along an overpass above the Cross Bronx Expressway, a notorious stretch of highway in New York City that is often choked with traffic and contributes to pollution and poor air quality on November 16, 2021 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | President Donald Trumps cancellation of a 31-year-old environmental justice directive threatens the health of tens of millions of people in minority or low-income communities, which have often been dumping grounds for pollution, waste sites and heavy industry, said civil rights advocates and experts.Revoking a 1994 executive order by President Bill Clinton removes a mandate that survived four subsequent presidencies, including Trump's first term, and required federal agencies to address the high and adverse environmental and health effects of their decisions on areas with high rates of poverty or large minority populations.It's turning the clock back on decades of work, said Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, based in New York. They're working to eliminate policies and programs that support equity, support environmental and climate justice, and that's just going to have a harmful effect on the health and well-being of so many people in these disadvantaged communities.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Clintons Executive Order 12898, signed in February 1994, required federal agencies to analyze environmental and public health hazards in minority or low-income communities and to avoid adding to them.Trump, in his own executive order that repealed the Clinton-era mandate, said the policies violate federal civil rights laws, sow racial division and deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.Following Trump's revocation, agencies will review each program for areas where race and other marginalization identities are considered by the agency and how they are considered, George Washington University law professor Emily Hammond said. Political appointees will lead the reviews and give reports to the White House Office of Management and Budget.It will be OMB thats actually giving the final say to policies that are eliminated, said Hammond, who was Energy Department deputy counsel in the Biden administration. "This process takes a while."Trump framed his revocation and several others Tuesday as an effort to end illegal preferences and discrimination in government.Trumps directive also will bar most federal grant programs from prioritizing projects that help minority or low-income communities. It also axes a 60-year-old equal employment executive order and several diversity and inclusion policies. Critics said the president's moves ignore research about the health and financial effects of pollution on poor people.The fact of the matter is that low-income communities, communities of color, and indigenous communities are disproportionately harmed by pollution and climate change, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a co-chair of the Senate Environmental Justice caucus, told POLITICO's E&E News in a statement. "Ignoring this reality will perpetuate that harm."Robert Bullard, a professor at Texas Southern University who's often described as the father of the environmental justice movement, said Clintons 1994 order promised equal justice to all citizens, not special treatment.We were not talking about giving us something that other Americans didn't have, or was not guaranteed to them. There was no preferential treatment, said Bullard, who helped lay the groundwork for the Clinton directive with years of outreach to George H.W. Bushs administration and members of Congress, including then-Sen. Al Gore (D-Tenn.).Every American has a basic right to enjoy the fruits of their labor and to enjoy living in the community that was not bombarded with all kinds of environmental threats, whether it's chemical or whether it's highways built through or whether it's tax dollars spent in other communities to provide flood protection, etc, he said. We were saying we pay taxes, and we're entitled to that. So it was not something that was somehow given to us.The loss of Clintons directive could ultimately hurt working-class white communities that overwhelmingly favored Trump in the last election, Bullard said.The White House did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.A big gain for environmental justiceClintons executive order was a landmark in the environmental justice movement, which sprang out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and highlighted the dangerous levels of pollution and health problems in Black communities.An influential 1987 study by the United Church of Christs Commission for Racial Justice showed that toxic waste facilities were largely located in areas with large minority populations.In January 1990, University of Michigan professors Paul Mohai and Bunyan Bryant convened academics, including Bullard, who were studying pollution in Black and brown neighborhoods. The group wrote a letter to President George H.W. Bush's EPA administrator, Bill Reilly, and later met with him and other administration officials.In 1992, with Bush still in office, the EPA found that minority and low-income populations faced higher than average exposure to toxic waste facilities, air pollutants, contaminated fish and agricultural pesticides.Building on the growing research and concern, Clinton signed his executive order directing federal agencies to address disproportionately high health and environmental effects of their decisions on minority populations and low-income populations.It was the first presidential declaration of policy about environmental justice that recognized the disproportionate harms that had been caused to communities of color as well as poor communities, said Hammond, the law professor.The policy never became law and it cant be used as a basis for legal challenges, unlike federal laws such as the Civil Rights Act.But departments and agencies established their own environmental justice policies to comply with Clintons order and incorporated them into National Environmental Policy Act reviews.For example, the Department of Interior's policy calls for helping underserved communities by reducing disparate environmental burdens and increasing access to environmental benefits.EPA in 2012 created a landmark database that shows environmental and health conditions along with demographics in each of the nations 240,000 census "block groups." Agencies across the federal government and in states and localities use EPAs EJScreen to identify neighborhoods that need environmental protection and assistance.Former President Joe Biden expanded Clinton's executive order, requiring agencies to write environmental justice plans and establishing the Justice40 initiative to ensure that disadvantaged communities got at least 40 percent of federal benefits relating to the environment, housing, economic development and other areas.The Federal Emergency Management Agency prioritizes disadvantaged communities in awarding some grants, which helps them compete with the communities that have money to hire a grant-writer.What my concern would be is that under-resourced communities, regardless of whether you are in areas that are primarily rural often these types of communities dont have the resources to be competitive, said Deanne Criswell, who ran FEMA in the Biden administration.It will leave some of our most vulnerable communities in the shadows because they cant be competitive with communities that have the resources, Criswell said of Trumps revocation.Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

Everything announced during the Xbox Developer Direct 2025Ninja Gaiden 4! Release dates! More!Image credit: Xbox/Eurogamer News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Jan. 23, 2025 It's already shaping up to be a massive year in gaming, and Microsoft has now offered a closer look at its 2025 line-up in the latest edition of its Xbox Developer Direct. Over the course of its hour-long run-time, the publisher shared deeper dives, release date news, and even a couple of notable surprises for some of the titles coming this year - including the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4 (alongside a Ninja Gaiden 2 spruce-up), a release date for Doom: The Dark Ages, and more. For the full run-down of everything feature in today's showcase, read on below.Ninja Gaiden 4 announcedNinja Gaiden 4 annoucement trailer.Watch on YouTubeIf you've been wondering what Bayonetta studio Platinum Games has been up to recently, here's your answer. It's partnered with developer Team Ninja to create Ninja Gaiden 4, a new mainline entry in the classic action series. Ninja Gaiden 4 features a new Master Ninja protagonist, Yakumo, in a futuristic Tokyo that's been devastated by the Dark Dragon's Rain of Darkrot. Original series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa is also said to play a "pivotal role", and the two characters' paths will eventually cross as the story unfolds. And it's not too far away either, releasing for Xbox Series X/S, PC, PS5, and Game Pass in "fall 2025".Ninja Gaiden 2 Black surprise releasesNinja Gaiden 2 Black release trailer.Watch on YouTubeAnd that's not all the Ninja Gaiden news. Team Ninja has also announced it's bringing a familiar favourite back with a new lick of paint. Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, which first released on Xbox 360 in the halcyon days of 2008, is getting a 'significant revamp' courtesy of Unreal Engine 5. The studio is calling Ninja Gaiden 2 Black the "definitive edition" of the classic hack-and-slasher, and it's out today on console, PC, and Game Pass.South of Midnight release dateSouth of Midnight story trailer.Watch on YouTubeCompulsion Games' third-person action game South of Midnight, which unfolds in a "folklorish" version of the Deep South, returned in Microsoft's latest Developer Direct for a fresh showing - this time packing in giant alligators, chattering catfish, and a peek at some of the action players will experience in its "darkly magical world". And if all that takes your fancy, you don't have long to wait; South of Midnight now has a release date and is arriving on Xbox Series X/S and PC on 8th April.Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 release dateClair Obscur: Expedition 33 release date trailer.Watch on YouTubeThis turn-based RPG set in a fantasy version of late 19th century Belle poque France is certainly striking. It promises what developer Sandfall Interactive is calling a "reactive turn-based" battle system - combining real-time offence and defense elements, alongside a cinematic battle camera - as players explore its "beautiful, immersive world" as the titular expedition unfolds. It's a quest that sees players embarking on a journey to stop the Paintress, who once a year paints a number on her monolith, causing everyone that age to fade away. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 unquestionably has a lot of character, and it'll be releasing on 24th April for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Game Pass.Doom: The Dark Ages release dateDoom: The Dark Ages gameplay.Watch on YouTubeIt feels like it's been a while since we last heard from id Software and Doom: The Dark Ages, but it's back with plenty more to show. id is calling this newest entry in the legendary FPS series its "most ambitious game yet", and it all unfolds in a "cinematic sci-fi fantasy world" embroiled in a medieval war against Hell. It's a prequel to Doom 2016, if you weren't already aware, and id says this means it's had the opportunity to "reimagine every aspect" of the experience. Doom: The Dark Ages' Developer Direct showing featured an extended look at its overhauled combat - which promises "some of the most ridiculously powerful weapons [id] has ever created - plus a 30-storey mech, fire-breathing dragon, and more. Better yet, Doom: The Dark Ages finally has a release date, and is launching for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Game Pass on 15th May.

Doom: The Dark Ages won't have multiplayer, but will have the "most expansive, most epic campaign ever"Just another manic demon-day.Image credit: id Software News by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter Published on Jan. 23, 2025 If you were hoping to jump into Doom: The Dark Ages with your pals for a spot of multiplayer, I am sorry to say you won't be able to.During a Q&A tied in with this evening's Xbox Direct which ws atteneded by Eurogamer, Doom: The Dark Ages' executive producer Marty Stratton said the upcoming release will be a "strictly campaign" affair.Doom: The Dark Ages. Watch on YouTube"We made that decision early so we could really just go all in on the campaign. It's our largest, most expansive, most epic campaign ever, and we're just really happy with the decision," Stratton said."It's been awesome to have the team focused just on polishing and finishing the campaign."Doom: The Dark Ages' game director Hugo Martin added: "That's why we were able to put the dragon and the Atlan [mech] in. I mean, these are things we wanted to do in the game for, like, multiple games now, but couldn't, because we had a multiplayer component - which we loved - but really, it was meant to just focus on the single player campaign and just level up that experience for players."We don't have too much longer to wait until we can get our hands on Doom: The Dark Ages. Tonight, the developer confirmed a 15th May release date. Image credit: id SoftwareDoom: The Dark Ages will serve as a prequel to 2016's Doom and Doom Eternal, and tells the "epic cinematic origin story of the Doom Slayer's rage".For more on this evening's show, be sure to check out our in depth Doom: The Dark Ages coverage here.