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A New Jersey Catholic diocese outside Philadelphia hasagreed to pay $180 millionin a clergy sexual abuse settlement, the latest in a church scandal set off more than two decades ago.

The settlement, which must still be approved by a bankruptcy court, comes after the diocese had fought a state agrand jury investigationfor years beforerelenting last year.

The Camden diocese, like others nationwide,filed for bankruptcyamid a torrent of lawsuits after the statute of limitations was relaxed.

Here is a list of some of the other large clergy abuse settlements reached by the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Los Angeles

In 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angelesagreed to pay $880 millionto more than 1,000 victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.

The archdiocese, which covers Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, had previously paid more than $740 million to victims, making the total payout more than $1.5 billion.

New Orleans

The New Orleans Archdiocese agreed topay at least $230 millionto hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement approved by a federal judge in December.

The settlement followed years of negotiations and included policies intended to prevent abuse from happening in the future. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2020 to avoid handling each of the more than 500 abuse claims separately.

San Diego, California

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed in 2007 to pay $198 million to settle more than 140 clergy sexual abuse claims.

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The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2024 in response to roughly400 additional lawsuitsalleging priests and others sexually abused children decades earlier. The lawsuits were filed after California lifted a statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse claims in 2019.

Northwestern US

The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, a Jesuit order, agreed in 2011to pay $166 millionto more than 450 Native Americans and Alaska Natives who were abused at the order's schools across the northwestern U.S. The order also agreed to pay $50 million to settle another 110 sex abuse claims in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2007.

Orange, California

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reached a $100 million settlement with about 90 victims of sex abuse in 2004. Three years later, the diocese agreed to pay another $7 million to settle four additional sexual abuse lawsuits.

Portland, Oregon

The archdiocese in Portland was the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy in 2004 over sex abuse allegations after settling more than 100 cases. By the time the bankruptcy was complete three years later, the archdiocese had settled more than 300 claims andpaid out nearly $90 millionin claims and attorney fees. In 2019, the archdiocese agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle eight additional claims of clergy sexual abuse.

Boston

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million to settle more than500 clergy sex abuse lawsuitsin 2003. The scope of the sex abuse crisis in Boston set off reports around the United States and the world of widespread abuse by priests and the church's efforts to hide it.

Covington, Kentucky

In 2006, the Diocese of Covington paid more than $81 million to more than 200 sexual abuse victims in a court settlement.A report from the diocesereleased in 2020 found that 59 Catholic priests and 31 others associated with the church had sexually abused children since the 1950s.

Philadelphia

As of 2022, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has paid more than $78 million to settle 438 claims of clergy sexual abuse, accordingto a report. In 2023, the archdioceseagreed to pay $3.5 millionto settle an additional sex abuse case.

Wilmington, Delaware

TheCatholic Diocese of Wilmington, which serves Catholics in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, agreed in 2011 to pay $77 million to roughly 150 clergy sex abuse victims.

Oakland, California

The Diocese of Oakland reached a $56 million settlement with 56 survivors of sexual abuse in 2005. The diocesefiled for bankruptcyin 2023 after more than 300 child sex abuse lawsuits were filed after a new state law temporarily extended the statute of limitations for child sex abuse litigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of days when theweather gets hot, dry and windy — ideal to sparkextreme wildfires— has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows.

Climate Wildfire Weather

And more than half of that increase is caused byhuman-caused climate change, researchers calculated.

What this means is that as the world warms, more places across the globe are prone to go up in flames at the same time because of increasingly synchronous fire weather, which is when multiple places have the right conditions to go up in smoke. Countries may not have enough resources to put out all the fires popping up and help won't be as likely to come from neighbors busy with their own flames, according to the authors of a study in Wednesday's Science Advances.

In 1979 and for the next 15 years, the world averaged 22 synchronous fire weather days a year for flames that stayed within large global regions, the study found. In 2023 and 2024, it was up to more than 60 days a year.

"These sorts of changes that we have seen increase the likelihood in a lot of areas that there will be fires that are going to be very challenging to suppress," said study co-author John Abatzoglou, a fire scientist at the University of California, Merced.

The researchers didn't look at actual fires, but the weather conditions: warm, with strong winds anddry air and ground.

"It increases the likelihood of widespread fire outbreaks, but the weather is one dimension," said study lead author Cong Yin, a fire researcher at University of California, Merced. The other big ingredients to fires are oxygen, fuel such as trees and brush, and ignition such as lightning or arson or human accidents.

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This study is important because extreme fire weather is the primary — but not only — factor in increasing fire impacts across the globe, said fire scientist Mike Flannigan of Thompson Rivers University in Canada, who wasn't part of the study. And it's also important because regions that used to have fire seasons at different times and could share resources are now overlapping, he said.

Abatzoglou said: "And that's where things begin to break."

More than 60% of the global increase in synchronous fire weather days can be attributed to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, Yin said. He and his colleagues know this because they used computer simulations to compare what's happened in the last 45 years to a fictional world without the increased greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

The continental United States, from 1979 to 1988, averaged 7.7 synchronous fire weather days a year. But in the last 10 years that average was up to 38 days a year, according to Yin.

But that is nothing compared to the southern half of South America. That region averaged 5.5 synchronous fire weather days a year from 1979 to 1988; over the last decade, that's risen to 70.6 days a year, including 118 days in 2023.

Of 14 global regions, only Southeast Asia saw a decrease in synchronous fire weather, probably because it is getting more humid there, Yin said.

The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP'sstandardsfor working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas atAP.org.

HONG KONG (AP) — At Lunar New Year, red holds the promise of luck and reunion — a color meant to call people home and carry wishes for the year ahead.

Lunar New Year Red Photo Gallery

It sits at entrances and lingers along walls. It threads through wishes and wraps around food. In smoke, it lifts and thins into the air.

Across much of Asia — where the festival is known as the Spring Festival, Tet, or Seollal — the new year is marked by rituals long believed to gather people against darkness and draw good fortune near. This year's festival begins the Year of the Horse, one of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac.

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These photographs follow the color red from public celebrations to smaller, everyday spaces.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP'scollaborationwith The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Hello from Milan and Cortina, where we're heading toward the homestretch of these Winter Games. Today in the quarterfinals of the men's hockey tournament, three of the four games went into overtime. In the day's final game,Quinn Hughesripped the game-winning goal that gaveTeam USA a 2-1 win over Sweden.

Our correspondents have it all covered below and atNBC News. Catch it all streaming onPeacock.

Live from Milan Cortina

The quarterfinal round of the Olympic men's hockey tournament today could not have been closer. After Slovakia blasted Germany 6-2, the next three games went to overtime.

First, Team Canada barely survived against Czechia, asJordan Binnington, the often criticized Canadian goalie, made a few key saves down the stretch in a 4-3 win. Then Finland, the reigning Olympic champs, mounted a late comeback to topple Switzerland 3-2 in overtime.

But the nightcap was just as thrilling. The Americans were holding onto a one-goal lead for much of the game, until Sweden'sMika Zibanejadscored with less than two minutes left in regulation. By then, hockey fans were familiar withthe overtime rules: a sudden-death, 10-minute period, played 3-on-3.

A few minutes into overtime,Quinn Hughesfound an opening and unleashed a wicked shot that hit the post and banked into the net. The rest of Team USA mobbed him in celebration.

Now the USA will play Slovakia in the semifinals on Friday, and Canada will play Finland for a trip to the gold medal game.

Earlier in the day,Mikaela Shiffrinhad authored her own triumphant moment. For all of her dominance across Alpine skiing, in recent years Shiffrin had faltered on the sport's biggest stage.

She missed out on medals in her last eight Olympic events: six at the 2022 Beijing Games and two at the Milan Cortina Games. Her last chance to medal in Italy came today in the slalom, her strongest event.

Shiffrin proved to be up for the challenge. She raced to first place and a combined time of 1:39.1 — 1.5 seconds ahead of silver, and 1.71 seconds ahead of bronze.

It was the largest margin of victory in any Olympic Alpine skiing event since 1998.

"The skiing is what I cared about and of course, medal and (win) gold, I mean, that's a dream come true," Shiffrin told NBC. "But at some point this week, I just said, like, 'Stop dreaming, just ski.' … And I'm so happy to be able to do the right thing in the right moment." (For more on Shiffrin, readTim Layden'sdispatch for NBC Olympicsand theseeight stats on how she made history.)

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Medal Count

Norway has taken a commanding lead in themedal race, thanks to athletes likeJohannes Hoesflot Klaebo, the Norwegian cross-country skier who won another gold medal today in the men's team sprint. He has now won five gold medals at these Games and has joined American swimmerMichael Phelpsas the only Olympians ever to have won 10 or more gold medals.

Klaebo could win a sixth gold medal, in the 50-kilometer mass start on Saturday.

Athlete Spotlight

Ahead of tomorrow's U.S.A.-Canada gold medal hockey game,Hilary Knightproposed to her longtime girlfriend,American speedskater and fellow OlympianBrittany Bowe.

Knight and Bowe had gotten to know each other at the 2022 Beijing Games, which still had heavy pandemic restrictions. "To have that human connection, even walking outside at a distance, it was really cool," Knighttold Olympics.com.

On anInstagram postannouncing the engagement, Knight wrote, "Olympics brought us together. This one made us forever."

Tomorrow, Knight and Team USA will face Canada for the fifth consecutive time in the gold medal game. In the previous four Olympic finals, the Americans only won once, in 2018.

What is Skimo?

A new Olympic sport will make its debut tomorrow — a brutal, high-altitude sport that's called ski mountaineering. Or skimo, for short.

In skimo, skiers scamper uphill wearing carpet-like skins on their skis or just their stiff boots, then barrel back down an ungroomed course.

Three skimo events will be held in Bormio, Italy: men's sprint, women's sprint, and a mixed relay with a competitor of each gender.

The United States will compete in the relay, which starts with a section of skinning — essentially racing uphill with a free heel and climbing skins glued to the skis. Then the athletes rip off the skins and ski a short downhill portion before returning to climbing, this time with a combination of skinning and bootpacking (dashing uphill in their ski boots, with skis secured to a backpack). Finally, they descend to the base of the hill.

When to Watch?

If you were planning to call out of work sick to watch the Olympics, Thursday is the day to do so. We have curling semifinal action, finals in both women's and men's skimo, the bronze and gold medal games in women's hockey, andJordan Stolzgoing for another gold in speedskating.

On top of all that? The final figure skating medal of the Olympics will be given in the women's single event, with AmericanAlysaLiuin contention for a medal.

All times are in Eastern, and an asterisk signifies a medal event:

Thursday, Feb. 19

• 3:05 a.m.: Curling, men's round robin (Sweden vs. Czechia, Italy vs. Switzerland, China vs. Germany, Norway vs. Canada)

• 3:10 a.m.: Nordic combined, team sprint trial round

• 3:50 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, women's sprint heats

• 4 a.m.: Nordic combined, team sprint competition round

• 4:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men's freeski halfpipe qualifying run 1

• 4:30 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, men's sprint heats

• 5:27 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men's freeski halfpipe qualifying run 2

• 6:55 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, women's sprint semifinals

• 7:25 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, men's sprint semifinals

• 7:55 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, women's sprint finals*

• 8 a.m.: Nordic combined, team sprint cross-country*

• 8:05 a.m.: Curling, women's round robin (Switzerland vs. USA, Canada vs. Korea, Japan vs. China, Great Britain vs. Italy)

• 8:15 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, men's sprint finals*

• 8:40 a.m.: Women's hockey, bronze medal game, Switzerland vs. Sweden*

• 10:30 a.m.: Speedskating, men's 1,500-meter*

• 1 p.m.: Figure skating, women's singles, free skate*

• 1:05 p.m.: Curling, men's semifinals

• 1:05 p.m.: Curling, men's semifinals

• 1:10 p.m.: Women's hockey, gold medal game, USA vs. Canada*

• 1:30 p.m.: Freestyle skiing, women's freeski halfpipe

That's it for now! We'll be back tomorrow.

Kevin Durant has found himself at the center of more "burner" account accusations, the latest of which swirled on social media while the Houston Rockets standout played in his 16th NBA All-Star Game on Sunday.

The 37-year-old is alleged to be behind direct messages from an anonymous account that criticized players and coaches he's accompanied during a career that's seen him win two titles and one league MVP award.

"I know you gotta ask these questions, but I'm not here to get into Twitter nonsense,"Durant told reporters after Houston's practice on Wednesday. "I'm just here to focus on the season, keep it pushing. But I get you have to ask those questions."

Durant added:

"My teammates know what it is. We've been locked in the whole season. ... We had a great practice today, looking forward to this road trip."

At the moment, there's no evidence actually linking these critical comments to Durant. Still,social media ran rampant with the theory, circulating screenshots of an anonymous user who, among other things, blamed Rockets All-Star center Alperen Şengün for his defense, said that they couldn't trust forward Jabari Smith Jr. to make a shot or get a stop and took a dig at former Phoenix Suns star teammate Devin Booker.

Durant is quick to quip, confront and discuss with everyday social media users from his own verified X account,which has more than 19 million followers. He isn't afraid to stir the pot online or engage with casual fans. Many love him for that kind of engagement, which he willingly offers and most NBA stars avoid.

Durant was asked at this year's All-Star Weekend media availability on Saturday if he'd rather give up video games or Twitter, now known as X, for the rest of his life.

"I'm gonna go Twitter,"Durant said before continuing jokingly, "because they don't deserve to hear this God-level-like talk I'm giving to them. They take it for granted."

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But Durant has used burner accounts before.

In 2017, Durant posted in the third-person from his personal account, throwing shade on the Oklahoma City Thunder and then-head coach Billy Donovan while explaining his decision from the previous year to leave the franchise that drafted him for the Golden State Warriors, a Western Conference foe and the league's crown jewel at the time.

Durant owned his mistake and apologized for itin the aftermath of the social media storm he caused.

In 2019,according to The Athletic, Durant said in an interview on ESPN's "The Boardroom" that he used anonymous accounts as a way to speak out and dodge the notoriety that's often impossible to hide from as an NBA player.

Durant is playing in his 18th NBA season. He's spent 19 total years in the league, representing five franchises.

Now with the Rockets, he's still among the best in the sport. He's shooting above 50% from the field and north of 40% from 3. His 25.8 points per game are tops on the team.

While fourth in the West, the 33-20 Rockets will need a strong push to grab the No. 2 seed like they did ahead of last year's playoffs.

Durant is trying to tune out the noise, even if it's once again loud and scrutinizing his social-media presence.