A parole board decided unanimously Wednesday that Susan Smith should remain in prison 30 years after she killed her sons by rolling her car into a South Carolina lake while they were strapped in their car seats.

It was the first parole hearing for Smith, 53, who is serving a life sentence after a jury convicted her of murder but decided not to sentence her to death. Under state law at the time, she is eligible for a parole hearing every two years now that she has spent 30 years behind bars.

Smith made her case for freedom by video link from prison. When she began to speak, she started to say she was very sorry, then broke down in tears and bowed her head.

I know what I did was horrible, Smith said, pausing and then continuing with a wavering voice. And I would give anything so I could change it.

The parole board asked Smith about the law enforcement resources used to try to locate her children. In reply, she told the board she was just scared and didnt know how to tell them.

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Im sorry, I dont know, I know thats not enough; I know its not, Smith said.

In her final statements, Smith appealed to her Christian faith, saying, God is a big part of my life. God has forgiven her, Smith said, and she asked the same of the board.

I ask that you show that kind of mercy, as well, she said.

Prosecutors have long said that Smith killed 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex because a man she was having an affair with suggested the boys were the reason they didnt have a future together.

A large group of about 15 people entered the room to urge against parole. They included her ex-husband and the father of the boys, David Smith; his family members; prosecutors; and law enforcement officials.

As family members and prosecutors delivered tearful remarks, David Smith kept his head bowed with his gaze fixed at the floor. Along with a few others, he had a photo of Michael and Alex pinned to his suit jacket.

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Smith struggled to get out words at first, taking several pauses throughout his statement to compose himself. He said Susan Smith had free choice, and his childrens deaths werent a tragic mistake.

Its just not enough, Smith said through tears. So Im asking that you please, deny her parole today, and hopefully in the future, but specifically today. He told the board that he plans to attend each parole hearing in the future to make sure Michael and Alex arent forgotten.

A decision to grant parole requires a two-thirds vote of board members present at the hearing, according to the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. Parole in South Carolina is granted only about 8% of the time and is less likely with an inmates first appearance before the board, in notorious cases or when prosecutors and the families of victims are opposed.

Before Smith testified, she stoically listened to a statement from her attorney, Tommy Thomas. He called her situation one about the dangers of untreated mental health. She had several mental health issues as a teenager that went unchecked to produce horrendous results, Thomas said. He also referenced that she had no criminal history before her conviction, making her low risk to the public.

Smith has arrangements to work with a licensed mental health professional if released on parole, Thomas said. She also has plans to live with her brother.

Smith made international headlines in October 1994 when she said she was carjacked late at night near the city of Union and that a Black man drove away with her sons inside. The claims by Smith, who is white, played into a centuries-old racist trope of Black men being a danger to white women and stoked concerns about crime that were prevalent in 1990s America and remain so today.

For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas asking that Michael and Alex be returned safely. The whole time, the boys were in Smiths car at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said.

Investigators said Smiths story didnt add up. Carjackers usually just want a vehicle, so investigators asked why would they let Smith out but not her kids. The traffic light where Smith said she had stopped when her car was taken would only be red if another car was waiting to cross, and Smith said no other cars were around. Other bits and pieces of the story did not make sense.

Smith ultimately confessed to letting her car roll down a boat ramp and into the lake. A re-creation by investigators showed it took six minutes for the Mazda to dip below the surface, while cameras inside the vehicle showed water pouring in through the vents and steadily rising. The boys bodies were found dangling upside-down in their car seats, one tiny hand pressed against a window,

Prosecutors said Smith was having an affair with the wealthy son of the owner of the business she worked at. He broke it off because she had the two young sons.

Smiths lawyers said she was remorseful, was suffering a mental breakdown and intended to die alongside her children but left the car at the last moment.

At Wednesday's hearing, prosecutor Tommy Pope characterized Smiths crime as selfish, centering on a horrible, horrible choice to choose a man over her family.

Smiths crime not only traumatized her family, prosecutor Kevin Brackett said, but further affected the state of South Carolina and the country at large who were fixated on this global sensation. Her allegation that a Black man kidnapped her children also led to other Black men in the area being wrongfully pulled over as police searched for a fictitious man, he said.

The 1995 trial of the young mother became a national sensation and a true crime touchstone even though it wasnt televised by a judge who worried about what cameras were doing to the O.J. Simpson murder trial going on at the same time. Her lawyers worked to save her life, noting that Smith's father had killed himself and that her stepfather was having sex with her along with the owner of the business where she worked.

From prison, Smith can make phone calls and answer text messages, many coming from journalists and interested men. Those messages and phone calls were released under South Carolinas open records act, something Smith didnt initially realize could happen. She said the invasion of her privacy upset her along with the public revelation that she was juggling conversations about the future with several men.

Some men know why she is famous. Others are more coy. One told her he was going to use the dates of her birthday and those of her dead sons when he played the Powerball lottery. Others chatted about their lives and sports. Many promised her a home on the outside and a happy life.

Smith also had sex with guards. And she violated prison policies by giving out contact information for friends, family members and her ex-husband to a documentary producer who discussed paying her for her help, according to former prosecutor Tommy Pope.

A company affiliated with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked a federal judge on Monday to disqualify a bid by the satirical news outlet The Onion to buy Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, alleging fraud and collusion.

The company, First United American Companies, which is affiliated with a Jones website that sells dietary supplements, was the only other bidder at the recent auction, offering $3.5 million. In a filing in federal bankruptcy court in Houston, a lawyer for the company asked the judge to declare it the winning bidder instead of The Onion.

The lawyer, Walter Cicack, claimed that the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the auction improperly colluded with The Onion and families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut in naming The Onion the winning bidder. Cicack also alleged the trustee violated rules for the sale set by the judge, and said the company's cash offer was twice the amount of The Onion's.

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The bankruptcy auction was held last week as part of the liquidation of Jones assets, including Infowars. Proceeds from the sale will go to Sandy Hook families and other creditors. Jones filed bankruptcy in 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits filed by the families for calling the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors to increase gun control.

Ben Collins, CEO of The Onions parent company, Chicago-based Global Tetrahedron, issued a statement Monday through a spokesperson.

Were obviously disappointed hes lashing out by creating conspiracies, but were also not surprised, he said, referring to Jones.

The bankruptcy trustee appointed to oversee the sale, Christopher Murray, declined to comment Monday. A lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, Christopher Mattei, also declined to comment.

In a response filed in court later Monday, Murray called the allegations baseless. He said the motion by First United American to disqualify The Onion was a disappointed bidders improper attempt to influence an otherwise fair and open auction process.

Murray also wrote, Having failed in its prior efforts to bully the Trustee and his advisors into accepting its inferior bid, FUAC now alleges, without evidence, collusion and bad faith in an attempt to mislead the Court and disqualify its only competition in the auction.

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Murray filed separate court papers Monday asking the judge to approve the sale of Infowars to The Onion.

Monday's filing by First United American Companies included the formal bid submitted by The Onion, revealing that it offered $1.75 million for Infowars along with certain incentives by Sandy Hook families who won their defamation lawsuit against Jones. The families agreed to forgo up to 100% of their share of the Infowars sale proceeds and give it to other Jones creditors.

With the families' offer, other Jones creditors would get a total of $100,000 more than they would get if First United American Companies bought Infowars, according to The Onion's bidding document.

Murray told the bankruptcy judge during a court hearing Thursday that the families' incentives made it a better offer than the one by the Jones-affiliated company.

The creditors ended up significantly better off, Murray told the judge, adding that one of his responsibilities was to maximize value for creditors.

Judge Christopher Lopez, who said he had questions about the sale process and concerns about transparency, ordered a hearing to see exactly what happened with the auction and how the trustee chose The Onion. The date of the hearing has not been set.

Jones has been criticizing the sale process on his show and social media sites, calling it rigged and a fraud.

Over the weekend, Collins posted a series of comments about the auction on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Long and short of it: We won the bid and youre not going to believe it the previous InfoWars folks arent taking it well, he wrote.

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Collins said last week that The Onion planned to turn the Infowars website into a parody site, taking aim at conspiracy theorists and other social media personalities while promoting gun violence prevention efforts.

Cicack also said in Monday's court filing that the trustee improperly changed the auction process from a live auction to a secret process. Cicack said that after sealed bids were submitted Nov. 8, it was expected that there would be a round of live bidding on Nov. 13.

But instead, he said, Murray decided to ask the two bidders to submit another offer as their final and best proposal, which they did. Murray then chose from those final bids without holding a round of live bidding. He alleged Murray violated the auction rules.

Lopez's 20-page order on the sale procedures, issued in September, made such a live bidding round optional. And it gave broad authority to Murray to conduct the sale, including the power to reject any bid, no matter how high, that was contrary to the best interests of Jones, his company and their creditors.

Cicack called the Sandy Hook families' portion of The Onion's bid Monopoly money with no value.

It is also the product of impermissible collusion with the Onion in an effort to rig the auction with the goal of achieving a specific result desired by the Connecticut Families, he wrote.

Victims and mothers of those killed in the mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs in 2022 have filed lawsuits alleging that the murders could've been prevented if the sheriff's office used the state's red flag law after clear warning signs that the gunman intended to commit violence.

The plaintiffs in the two lawsuits, filed Sunday, include survivor Barrett Hudson, who still has three bullets in his body from that night, and other victims and relatives. They spoke about the legal action at a news conference Tuesday which is the two year anniversary of the shooting at the nightclub, Club Q.

Families and victims also accuse the nightclub's owners in the lawsuit of winnowing Club Q's security detail from five or more people to just one in the years leading up to the shooting, prioritizing profits over safety.

"Club Q advertised itself as a 'safe place' for LGBTQIA+ individuals. But that was a faade," read both the complaints, which allege negligence among other allegations.

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A central focus of both lawsuits was the El Paso County commissioners' and the then sheriff's refusal to enforce Colorado's red flag law passed in 2019, which allows law enforcement to temporarily take someone's firearm if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Natalie Sosa, a spokesperson for El Paso County, said it does not comment on pending litigation.

The county commissioners and sheriff saw the red flag law as an encroachment on gun rights, and passed a resolution to be a "Second Amendment preservation county" and, alongside the then sheriff, vowed to "actively resist" the bill, according to court documents.

The lawsuits argue that authorities should have used the red flag law after the arrest of the gunman, Anderson Aldrich, a year before he would walk into Club Q firing indiscriminately.

Those killed in the shooting were Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh.

In 2021, Aldrich was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and threatening to kill his grandparents, reportedly saying he would become the "next mass killer" and collecting ammunition, bomb-making materials, firearms and body armor, according to court documents.

"You clearly have been planning for something else," a judge told Aldrich in a 2021 hearing, according to documents previously obtained by The Associated Press. "It was saving all these firearms and trying to make this bomb and making statements about other people being involved in some sort of shootout and a huge thing."

The judge later dismissed all charges for "failure to prosecute" during a four-minute hearing, partly because the prosecution hadn't been able to serve subpoenas to key victims, according to documents obtained by the AP.

Authorities did not attempt to remove Aldrich's weapons, the lawsuits allege, and "This deliberate inaction allowed the shooter continued access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q."

The suits separately allege negligence and wrongful death against the El Paso County commissioners and former sheriff.

Aldrich, now 24, pled guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 in state court. A year later, Aldrich pled guilty in a federal court to hate crimes and was sentenced to an additional 55 life terms in prison.

Lawyers for Sean Diddy Combs accused prosecutors on Monday of engaging in outrageous government conduct by using materials seized from his jail cell to try to keep him incarcerated before a May trial.

They said information gathered in a raid on Combs' cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn were cited in papers the government filed in Manhattan federal court on Friday in a bid to keep the music mogul locked up before his May 5 trial.

This is a matter of grave concern that, most respectfully, must be addressed immediately, the lawyers told Judge Arun Subramanian, who already has scheduled a bail hearing for Friday for Combs. They requested an immediate hearing so prosecutors can explained who authorized the search of Combs' cell, where personal effects and paperwork were seized.

Later Monday, prosecutors responded to the claims with a letter to the judge saying that the inspection of Combs cell was part of a jail-wide, safety-related sweep unrelated to Combs or his prosecution.

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They said the search was planned before Combs was arrested and was properly carried out with an investigator who entered Combs' cell and decided to not examine a manila envelope labeled legal that was in the cell.

They added that any potentially privileged materials were viewed first by a filter team of government lawyers not working on the case. The team was tasked with weeding out any confidential communications protected by attorney-client privilege so that trial prosecutors couldnt see them.

Combs, 55, has been held since his September arrest on charges that he coerced and abused women for years with the aid of a network of associates and employees. An indictment accuses him of silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently seeking to be freed to house arrest through a $50 million bail package.

On Friday, prosecutors said Combs has been trying to dodge scrutiny of his jailhouse communications while orchestrating social media campaigns aimed at tainting the jury pool and trying to publicly leak materials he views are helpful to his case. They said he also has contacted witnesses through third parties.

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In their letter Monday, lawyers for Combs noted that prosecutors in their bail arguments last week acknowledged that they possess possibly privileged materials, such as the notes recovered from the defendant's cell.

Combs' lawyers called it outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation.

They accused prosecutors of viewing their client's privileged notes to his lawyers concerning defense witnesses and defense strategies.

Donald Trumps election victory created a conundrum for the judge overseeing his criminal case in New York. Can he go ahead and sentence the president-elect, or would doing so potentially get in the way of Trump's constitutional responsibility to lead the nation?

Court documents made public Tuesday revealed that Judge Juan M. Merchan has effectively put the case on hold until at least Nov. 19 while he and the lawyers on both sides weigh in on what should happen next. Trump's sentencing had been tentatively scheduled for Nov. 26.

Trump's lawyers are urging Merchan to act in the interests of justice" and rip up the verdict, the first criminal conviction of a former and now future U.S. president.

Manhattan prosecutors told Merchan they want to find a way forward that balances the competing interests of the jurys verdict and Trumps responsibilities as president.

Here are some scenarios for what could happen next:

Wait until Trump leaves office

If Merchan wants to preserve the verdict without disrupting Trumps presidency, he could opt to delay sentencing until the president-elect leaves office in 2029.

Trump would be 82 at the end of his second term and more than a decade removed from the events at the heart of the case.

Trumps conviction on 34 felon counts of falsifying business records involves his efforts to hide a $130,000 payment during his 2016 presidential campaign to squelch porn actor Stormy Daniels claims that she had sex with him years earlier, which he denies.

If he opts to wait, Merchan might not be on the bench by then. His current term ends before Trump is slated to leave office.

Grant Trumps immunity claim

Another way Merchan could get rid of the case is by granting Trumps previous request to overturn the verdict because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in July that gave presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

The judge had said he would issue a ruling Tuesday, but that was before Trumps election victory upended the schedule.

The high courts ruling gives former presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts and bars a prosecutor from using evidence of official acts in trying to prove their personal conduct violated the law.

Trumps lawyers argue prosecutors tainted the case with testimony about his first term and other evidence that shouldnt have been allowed. Prosecutors have said the ruling provides no basis for disturbing the jurys verdict.

The judge could order a new trial potentially to take place after Trump leaves office or dismiss the indictment entirely.

Hold off until a federal court rules

Merchan could choose to delay things until the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on Trumps earlier bid to move the case from state court to federal court.

Trumps lawyers have been appealing a Manhattan federal judges decision to deny the transfer. Their argument: Trumps case belongs in federal court because as a former president he has the right to assert immunity and seek dismissal.

Waiting for the appeals court to rule, though, might trigger further delays down the road. The court has given prosecutors until Jan. 13 to respond to Trumps appeal. Thats a week before he is to be sworn in to office. Once Trump is in the White House, his legal team could make fresh arguments around presidential immunity.

Case dismissed

Merchan could end the case immediately by overturning Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He could throw out the indictment.

That would mean no sentencing or punishment, sparing the president-elect from the possibility of prison time or other penalties.

Trump's lawyers insist tossing the case is the only way to avoid unconstitutional impediments to his ability to govern.

Prosecutors acknowledged the unprecedented circumstances of Trump's conviction colliding with his election but also said the jury's verdict should stand.

Proceed to sentencing

Merchan could also opt for none of the above and move to sentencing or at least try, barring an appeal by Trump's lawyers.

George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin said whether the case reaches sentencing could go either way.

In any case, he said, it probably wont be a prison sentence.

Trump's charges carry a range of punishments from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.

Any prison sentence would likely be blocked or suspended in some way," but a lesser sentence probably wouldnt impede Trump to any meaningful degree," Somin said.

Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at Russias Bryansk region, Russias Defense Ministry said Tuesday, days after U.S. President Joe Biden eased restrictions on Ukrainian use of American-made weapons in the war that has reached its 1,000-day milestone.

Ukraine claimed it hit a military weapons depot in Bryansk in the middle of the night, though it didn't specify what weapons it used. The Ukrainian General Staff said that multiple explosions and detonations were heard in the targeted area.

In a statement carried out by Russian news agencies, the Russian Defense Ministry said the military shot down five Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, and damaged one more.

The fragments fell on the territory of an unspecified military facility, the ministry said. The falling debris sparked a fire, but didnt inflict any damage or casualties, it said.

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Neither side's claims could be independently verified.

The announcement came after Biden authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia, easing limitations on the longer-range weapons after Russia deployed thousands of North Korean troops in the conflict.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials reported a third Russian strike in three days on a civilian residential area in Ukraine killed at least 12 people, including a child.

The strike by a Shahed drone in the northern Sumy region late Monday hit a dormitory of an educational facility in the town of Hlukhiv and wounded 11 others, including two children, authorities said, adding that more people could be trapped under the rubble.

Ukrainian civilians have repeatedly been clobbered by Russian drones and missiles during the war, while on the battlefield it is under severe Russian pressure at places on the about 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line where its army is stretched thin against a bigger adversary.

On Sunday, a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people and wounding 84 others. On Monday, a Russian missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and wounding 43.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the series of aerial strikes proved that Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn't interested in ending the war.

Each new attack by Russia only confirms Putins true intentions. He wants the war to continue. Talks about peace are not interesting to him. We must force Russia to a just peace by force, Zelenskyy said.

A state judge on Monday struck down Wyoming's overall ban on abortion and its first-in-the-nation explicit prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy in line with voters in yet more states voicing support for abortion rights.

Since 2022, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens has ruled consistently three times to block the laws while they were disputed in court.

The decision marks another victory for abortion rights advocates after voters in seven states passed measures in support of access.

One Wyoming law that Owens said violated women's rights under the state constitution bans abortion except to protect to a pregnant woman's life or in cases involving rape and incest. The other made Wyoming the only state to explicitly ban abortion pills, though other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion.

The laws were challenged by four women, including two obstetricians, and two nonprofit organizations. One of the groups, Wellspring Health Access, opened as the states first full-service abortion clinic in years in April 2023 following an arson attack in 2022.

This is a wonderful day for the citizens of Wyoming and women everywhere who should have control over their own bodies," Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart said in a statement.

The recent elections saw voters in Missouri clear the way to undo one of the nations most restrictive abortion bans in a series of victories for abortion rights advocates. Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota, meanwhile, defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving bans in place.

Abortion rights amendments also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved an amendment in support of abortion rights, but theyll need to pass it again it 2026 for it to take effect. Another that bans discrimination on the basis of pregnancy outcomes prevailed in New York.

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The abortion landscape underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion and cleared the way for bans to take effect in most Republican-controlled states.

Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy often before women realize theyre pregnant.

Nearly every ban has been challenged with a lawsuit. Courts have blocked enforcement of some restrictions, including bans throughout pregnancy in Utah and Wyoming. Judges struck down bans in Georgia and North Dakota in September 2024. Georgias Supreme Court ruled the next month that the ban there can be enforced while it considers the case.

In the Wyoming case, the women and nonprofits who challenged the laws argued that the bans stood to harm their health, well-being and livelihoods, claims disputed by attorneys for the state. They also argued the bans violated a 2012 state constitutional amendment saying competent Wyoming residents have a right to make their own health care decisions.

As she had done with previous rulings, Owens found merit in both arguments. The abortion bans will undermine the integrity of the medical profession by hamstringing the ability of physicians to provide evidence-based medicine to their patients, Owens ruled.

The abortion laws impede the fundamental right of women to make health care decisions for an entire class of people those who are pregnant in violation of the constitutional amendment, Owens ruled.

Wyoming voters approved the amendment amid fears of government overreach following approval of the federal Affordable Care Act and its initial requirements for people to have health insurance.

Attorneys for the state argued that health care, under the amendment, didnt include abortion. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon, who signed the abortion laws into effect in 2022 and 2023, did not immediately return an email message Monday seeking comment.

Both sides wanted Owens to rule on the lawsuit challenging the abortion bans rather than allow it to go to trial in the spring. A three-day bench trial before Owens was previously set, but wont be necessary with this ruling.

President Joe Biden is requesting nearly $100 billion in emergency disaster aid after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and other natural disasters, telling lawmakers that the money is urgently needed.

The letter Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson comes as lawmakers meet during a lame-duck session to finish key priorities before making way for a new Congress and the incoming Trump administration. Biden said he has met firsthand with those harmed by the storms and he heard what residents and businesses needed from the federal government.

"Additional resources are critical to continue to support these communities, Biden said.

The largest share of the money, about $40 billion, would go to the main disaster relief fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The fund helps with debris removal, repairing public infrastructure and providing financial assistance to survivors.

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Biden said the fund would face a shortfall this budget year without additional money. He said that would not only affect the agency's ability to provide lifesaving assistance to survivors, but also would slow recovery efforts from prior disasters.

An additional $24 billion would help farmers that have experienced crop or livestock losses, and $12 billion would go toward helping communities recover through block grants administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Some $8 billion more would help rebuild and repair highways and bridges in more than 40 states and territories. The administration is also seeking $4 billion for long-term water system upgrades to mitigate future damage from natural disasters. Several other agencies would also receive emergency funds if Congress agrees to the full request.

Lawmakers were expecting a hefty number from the administration. Johnson, R-La., said Congress will evaluate the request and well make sure we deliver for the hurricane victims and the people that have suffered from that.

Johnson had also visited western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene to assess the damage. At the time, he said Congress would act in a bipartisan fashion to help communities recover, but he also said it would be the appropriate amount that the federal government should do.

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With many Republicans campaigning on reducing federal spending, there could be some debate about portions of Biden's request. The federal government doesn't help with every disaster. It generally gets involved only if the needs are above the ability of a community or state to handle.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to hear Wednesday from the heads of several of the government agencies that would receive funding through Biden's request. It's possible that emergency aid could be attached to any spending bill designed to keep federal agencies operating after current funding expires Dec. 20.

Biden noted that Congress had provided more than $90 billion in aid after Hurricane Katrina nearly two decades ago, and more than $50 billion after Hurricane Sandy in 2013. He urged Congress to take immediate action.

Just as the Congress acted then, it is our sworn duty now to deliver the necessary resources to ensure that everyone in communities reeling from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and those still recovering from previous disasters have the Federal resources they need and deserve, Biden wrote.

Brazil pushed for concerted action to alleviate hunger Monday as it hosted a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies amid global uncertainty over two major wars and incoming U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva welcomed foreign leaders to Rio de Janeiros modern art museum Monday morning and delivered an opening address that focused on fighting food insecurity.

It is for those of us here, around this table, to face the undelayable task of ending this stain that shames humanity, Lula told his colleagues. That will be our biggest legacy.

Heightened global tensions and uncertainty about an incoming Trump administration ahead of the summit already had tempered expectations for a strongly worded statement addressing the conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. Further dimming prospects, G20 officials told The Associated Press that Argentinas negotiators have started challenging some of the draft language.

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That has left experts anticipating a final document focused on social issues like the eradication of hunger one of Brazils priorities even if it still aims to include at least a mention of the ongoing wars.

Brazilian diplomacy has been strongly engaged in this task, but to expect a substantively strong and consensual declaration in a year like 2024 with two serious international conflicts is to set the bar very high, said Cristiane Lucena Carneiro, an international relations professor at the University of Sao Paulo.

After Lulathwarted far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro 's reelection bid in 2022, there was some excitement in the international community at the prospect of the leftist leader and savvy diplomat hosting the G20. Bolsonaro had little interest in international summits, let foreign policy be guided by ideology and clashed with several leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron. Lula took office and often quoted a catchphrase: Brazil is back."

Under Lula, Brazil has reverted to its decades-old principle of nonalignment to carve out a policy that best safeguards its interests in an increasingly multipolar world, even as his administration's foreign policy has at times raised eyebrows.

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Trumps win in the U.S. presidential election earlier this month and the imminent return of an America First doctrine may also hamper the diplomatic spirit needed for broad agreement on divisive issues. If we have one certainty, it is regarding Donald Trumps skepticism towards multilateralism, Carneiro said.

Two officials from Brazil and one from another G20 nation say Argentine negotiators are standing in the way of a joint declaration. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Two of them said that Argentinas negotiators have raised several objections to the draft, most vehemently opposing a clause calling for a global tax on the superrich which they had previously accepted, in July and another promoting gender equality.

Last month, Argentina alone opposed a declaration of the G20 working group on female empowerment, preventing consensus. While Lula received heads of state Monday with smiles and warm embraces, he and Argentina's right-wing President Javier Milei stood at arms' length while briefly shaking hands. Milei is an avid Trump supporter.

Ambassador Mauricio Lyrio, Brazils key negotiator at G20, told reporters earlier this month that Lula's launch of a global alliance against hunger and poverty on Monday is just as important as the final statement. As of Monday, 82 nations had signed on to the plan, Brazils government said.

Brazil wanted a global deal to fight poverty, a project to finance green transition and some consensus over a global tax for the superrich. Only the first one has survived, according to Thomas Traumann, a former government minister and a political consultant based in Rio.

U.S. President Joe Biden attended the summit after a stop in Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. He also traveled over the weekend to Manaus, a city in Brazil's Amazon rainforest. It was the first time a sitting American president set foot in the Amazon.

The White House announced Sunday a $50 million contribution to the Amazon Fund, the most significant international cooperation effort to preserve the rainforest, after a prior $50 million. Bidens administration announced plans last year to give $500 million.

White House officials have said Biden also would use the summits to press allies to not lose sight of finding an end to the wars in Lebanon and Gaza and to keep up support for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russias invasion. Looming large on Monday was news of Biden's decision to ease restrictions on Ukraines use of longer-range U.S. missiles to allow that countrys military to strike more deeply inside Russia.

During the summit, Biden pointed to his soon-to-end administrations efforts on global hunger and poverty. He also urged counterparts to increase efforts to ease those ills as well as resolve wars in Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine.

The United States strongly supports Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. Everyone around this table in my view should, as well, Biden said.

Any commitments Biden makes may be overturned by the next White House administration.

Trumps election may cause some countries to look toward China as a more reliable partner. Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with China's Xi Jinping on Monday, the first meeting between British and Chinese leaders since 2018, seeking to repair relations with Beijing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is the summits most notable absentee. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant that obliges member states to arrest him. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended the meeting.

In a plaza a few blocks away, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to denounce the killings in Gaza, some beating drums and chanting Long live the fight of the Palestinian people! Among them were two rabbis who traveled from New York. Israel isnt a G20 member.

We are trying to get the message to the G20, to the leaders of the world, said Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, from the Neturei Karta International movement. It is so critical. We are witnessing the mass murder of people and it is being perpetuated in the name of my religion, of Judaism. We cannot be silent, we dare not be silent.

Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israels attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff's jubilee year.

It's the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been immoral and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.

The book, by Hernn Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world." It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope's 2025 jubilee. Francis yearlong jubilee is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year.

According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide, the pope said in excerpts published Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.

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We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies, he added.

Last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and set off a firestorm by using words that Vatican diplomats usually avoid: terrorism and, according to the Palestinians, genocide.

Francis spoke at the time about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting was announced.

The pontiff, who last week also met with a delegation of Israeli hostages who were released and their families pressing the campaign to bring the remaining captives home had editorial control over the upcoming book.

RELATED STORY | Families of Gaza hostages bring their message to both the current and upcoming White Houses

The war started when the militant Hamas group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 as hostages and taking them back to Gaza, where dozens still remain.

Israels subsequent yearlong military campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesnt distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has triggered several legal cases at international courts in The Hague involving requests for arrest warrants as well as accusations and denials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

In the new book, Francis also speaks about migration and the problem of integrating migrants in their host countries.

Faced with this challenge, no country can be left alone and no one can think of addressing the issue in isolation through more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes approved under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantages, Francis said.

On the contrary, just as we see that there is a globalization of indifference, we must respond with the globalization of charity and cooperation, he added. Francis also mentioned the still open wound of the war in Ukraine has led thousands of people to abandon their homes, especially during the first months of the conflict.

President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.

Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC's general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission.

The FCC is an independent agency that is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he doesnt like.

RELATED STORY | Here's who Trump has asked to join his administration

Carr has of late embraced Trump's ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in Project 2025, a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Trump has claimed he doesnt know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements.

Carr said in a statement congratulating Trump on his win that he believed "the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth.

Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans Freedoms, and held back our Economy, Trump said in a statement on Sunday. He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling Americas Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.

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The five-person commission has a 3-2 Democratic majority until next year, when Trump gets to appoint a new member.

Carr has made appearances on Fox News Channel, including when he slammed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris appearance on Saturday Night Live the weekend before the election -- charging that the network didnt offer equal time to Trump.

Also a prolific writer of op-eds, Carr wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last month decrying an FCC decision to revoke a federal award for Elon Musks satellite service, Starlink. He said the move couldnt be explained "by any objective application of the facts, the law or sound policy.

In my view, it amounted to nothing more than regulatory lawfare against one of the lefts top targets: Mr. Musk, Carr wrote.

President Joe Biden has authorized the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike even deeper inside Russia, the latest easing of limitations meant to prevent the conflict from further spiraling, according to one U.S. official and three people familiar with the matter.

The decision allowing Ukraine to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, for attacks farther into Russia comes as thousands of North Korean troops have been sent into a region along Ukraine's northern border to help Russia retake ground and as President-elect Donald Trump has said he would bring about a swift end to the war, expressing skepticism over continued support by the United States.

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The weapons are likely to be used in response to the decision by North Korea to support Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, according to one of the people. The official and the people familiar with the matter were not authorized to discuss the decision publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many of his Western supporters have been pressing Biden for months to allow Ukraine to strike military targets deeper inside Russia with Western-supplied missiles, saying the U.S. ban had made it impossible for Ukraine to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and electrical grids.

Some supporters have argued that this and other U.S. constraints could cost Ukraine the war. The debate has become a source of disagreement among Ukraines NATO allies.

Biden had remained opposed, determined to hold the line against any escalation that he felt could draw the U.S. and other NATO members into direct conflict with Russia.

But North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow try to claw back land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized this year. The introduction of North Korean troops to the conflict comes as Moscow has seen a favorable shift in momentum. Trump has signaled that he could push Ukraine to agree to give up some land seized by Russia to find an end to the conflict.

As many as 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian assessments. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials say North Korea also has provided Russia with significant amounts of munitions to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

RELATED STORY | Trump says if elected, he would settle the war in Ukraine before his inauguration

Trump, who takes office in January, spoke for months as a candidate about wanting Russias war in Ukraine to be over, but he mostly ducked questions about whether he wanted U.S. ally Ukraine to win.

He also repeatedly slammed the Biden administration for giving Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in aid. His election victory has Ukraines international backers worrying that any rushed settlement would mostly benefit Putin.

America is Ukraines most valuable ally in the war, providing more than $56.2 billion in security assistance since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

Worried about Russias response, however, the Biden administration repeatedly has delayed providing some specific advanced weapons sought by Ukraine, only agreeing under pressure from Ukraine and in consultation with allies, after long denying such a request.

That includes initially refusing Zelenskyys pleas for advanced tanks, Patriot air defense systems, F-16 fighter jets, among other systems.

The White House agreed in May to allow Ukraine to use ATACMS for limited strikes just across the border with Russia.

A rare Israeli strike in central Beirut killed the Hezbollah militant group's chief spokesman on Sunday, while an Israeli strike in northern Gaza s Beit Lahiya killed at least 30 people, the director of a hospital there told The Associated Press.

Mohammed Afif was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath partys office in Beirut, according to a Hezbollah official who was not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity. Afif had been especially visible after all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in September.

It was the latest targeted killing of senior Hezbollah officials. On Sunday night, another strike in central Beirut hit a computer shop, killing two people and wounding 13, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The strikes occurred as Lebanese officials consider a United States-led cease-fire proposal. Israel also bombed several buildings in Beiruts southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered, after warning people to evacuate.

Screams in central Beirut

There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the strike near a busy intersection in central Beirut that killed Afif. An AP photographer there saw four bodies and four wounded people. There was no comment from the Israeli military.

I was asleep and awoke from the sound of the strike, and people screaming, and cars and gunfire," said witness Suheil Halabi. "I was startled, honestly. This is the first time I experience it so close.

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After the second strike in central Beirut on Sunday night, firefighters struggled to control the blaze in the busy residential neighborhood of Mar Elias. Small explosions could be heard in the shop. Bystanders said they heard a second explosion and a car nearby appeared to be hit.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 attack ignited the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict steadily escalated.

Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on Oct. 1. On Sunday, Israels military said mobile artillery batteries had crossed into Lebanon and began attacking Hezbollah targets, the first time artillery was launched within Lebanese territory.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and over 1.2 million driven from their homes. It is not known how many of the dead are Hezbollah fighters.

Hezbollah has fired dozens of projectiles into Israel daily. The attacks have killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused some 60,000 people to flee. Israels Magen David Adom emergency service said a teenager suffered blast injuries Sunday in Upper Galilee.

Lebanon's army, largely on the sidelines, said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit a military center in southeastern Al-Mari, killing two soldiers and wounding two others. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

In Gaza, an escalation

Hosam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, said there were dozens of wounded after the Israeli strike there, and others likely were still under the rubble.

Fleeing residents told the AP that houses were hit.

An Israeli military statement earlier said it conducted several strikes on terrorist targets in Beit Lahiya. It said efforts to evacuate civilians from the active war zone there continued.

RELATED STORY | UN says 70% of those killed in Gaza were children and women

Israeli forces have again been on the offensive in northern Gaza, saying Hamas militants have regrouped there.

Tonight we did not sleep at all, said one fleeing Beit Lahiya resident, Dalal al-Bakri. They destroyed all the houses around us. ... There are many martyrs.

A woman, Umm Hamza, said the bombing had escalated overnight. Its cold and we dont know where to go, she said.

Earlier, officials said Israeli strikes killed six people in Nuseirat and four in Bureij, two built-up refugee camps in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

Two people were killed in a strike on Gazas main north-south highway, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

Israels military said two soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Sunday.

The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7. last year, killing about 1,200 people mostly civilians and abducting around 250 others. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, about a third believed to be dead.

On Sunday, Israels Shin Bet internal security agency said it held a joint meeting with the heads of the army and intelligence to discuss mediation efforts to release the hostages. It was the first public word of any such effort since Qatar announced it was suspending its mediation work earlier this month.

The Health Ministry in Gaza says around 43,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities.

RELATED STORY | Families of Gaza hostages bring their message to both the current and upcoming White Houses

Around 90% of Gazas population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced, and large areas of the territory have been flattened by Israeli bombardment and ground operations.

Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israels attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming book.

3 arrested after flares fired at Netanyahu's home

Israeli police arrested three suspects after two flares were fired overnight at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea.

Netanyahu and his family were not there, authorities said. A drone launched by Hezbollah struck the residence last month, also when they were away.

The police did not provide details about the suspects, but officials pointed to domestic political critics of Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has faced months of mass protests. Critics blame him for the security and intelligence failures that allowed the Oct. 7 attack to happen and for not reaching a deal with Hamas to release hostages.

His government also faces anger from the ultra-Orthodox community over military draft notices. Some protested Sunday in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv after the government said 7,000 new notices would be issued.

President Joe Biden on Sunday became the first sitting American president to set foot in the Amazon rainforest, as the incoming Trump administration seems poised to scale back the U.S. commitment to combating climate change.

The massive Amazon, which is about the size of Australia, stores huge amounts of the world's carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that drives climate change when it's released into the atmosphere. But development is rapidly depleting the world's largest tropical rainforest.

Joined by Carlos Nobre, a Nobel-Prize-winning scientist and expert on how climate change is impacting the Amazon, and President Biden's climate adviser John Podesta, President Biden lifted in his helicopter over a stretch of the rainforest, for a good view of the shallowing of waterways, fire damage and a wildlife refuge. He was also getting a peek at where the Rio Negro and Amazon rivers meet.

President Biden will then meet local and indigenous leaders and visit an Amazonian museum as he looks to highlight his commitment to the preservation of the region.

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His administration announced plans last year for a $500 million contribution to the Amazon Fund, the most significant international cooperation effort to preserve the rainforest, primarily financed by Norway.

So far, the U.S. government said it has provided $50 million, and the White House announced Sunday an additional $50 million contribution to the fund.

"It's significant for a sitting president to visit the Amazon. ... This shows a personal commitment from the president," said Suely Arajo, former head of the Brazilian environmental protection agency and public policy coordinator with the nonprofit Climate Observatory. "That said, we can't expect concrete results from this visit."

She doubts that a "single penny" will go to the Amazon Fund once Donald Trump is back in the White House.

The incoming Trump administration is highly unlikely to prioritize the Amazon or anything related to climate change. The Republican president-elect already said he would again pull out of the Paris Agreement, a global pact forged to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change, after President Biden recommitted to the agreement.

Trump has cast climate change as a "hoax" and said he will eliminate energy efficiency regulations by the Biden administration.

Still, the Biden White House on Sunday announced a series of new efforts aimed at bolstering the Amazon and stemming the impact of climate change.

Among the actions is the launch of a finance coalition that looks to spur at least $10 billion in public and private investment for land restoration and eco-friendly economic projects by 2030, and a $37.5 million loan to the organization Mombak Gestora de Recursos Ltda. to support the large-scale planting of native tree species on degraded grasslands in Brazil.

President Biden is also set to sign a U.S. proclamation designating Nov. 17 as International Conservation Day, and will highlight in remarks during the visit that the U.S. is on track to reach $11 billion in spending on international climate financing in 2024, a six-fold increase from when he started his term.

The Amazon is home to Indigenous communities and 10% of Earth's biodiversity. It also regulates moisture across South America. About two-thirds of the Amazon lies within Brazil, and scientists say its devastation poses a catastrophic threat to the planet.

The forest has been suffering two years of historic drought that have dried up waterways, isolated thousands of riverine communities and hindered riverine dwellers' ability to fish. It's also made way for wildfires that have burned an area larger than Switzerland and choked cities near and far with smoke.

When Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva took office last year, he signaled a shift in environmental policy from his predecessor, far-right Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro prioritized agribusiness expansion over forest protection and weakened environmental agencies, prompting deforestation to surge to a 15-year-high.

Lula has pledged "zero deforestation" by 2030, though his term runs through the end of 2026. Forest loss in Brazil's Amazon dropped by 30.6% in the 12 months through July from a year earlier, bringing deforestation to its lowest level in nine years, according to official data released last week.

In that 12-month span, the Amazon lost 2,428 square miles, roughly the size of the U.S. state of Delaware. But that data fails to capture the surge of destruction this year, which will only be included in next year's reading.

Despite the success in curbing Amazon deforestation, Lula's government has been criticized by environmentalists for backing projects that could harm the region, such as paving a highway that cuts from an old-growth area and could encourage logging, oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River and building a railway to transport soy to Amazonian ports.

President Biden is making the Amazon visit as part of a six-day trip to South America, the first to the continent of his presidency. He traveled from Lima, Peru, where he took part in the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

After his stop in Manaus, he was heading to Rio de Janeiro for this year's Group of 20 leaders summit.

Windy conditions renewed a wildfire that escaped a containtment line and prompted emergency officials to enact a voluntary evacation plan for a small number of houses in a community near the New York-New Jersey border on Saturday.

The voluntary evacuation enacted out of "an abundance of caution" impacted about 165 houses in Warwick, New York, as firefighters continued working to tame the Jennings Creek blaze, New York Parks Department spokesman Jeff Wernick said in an email Saturday night.

On Friday, the wildfire was 90% contained on the Passaic County, New Jersey, side of the border, and about 70% contained in Orange County, New York, officials said.

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The wildfire had burned 7 1/2 square miles across the two states as of Friday, although New York officials said that number was likely to increase as stronger winds were forecast for the weekend.

On Saturday, Wernick said New York Army National Guard helicopters dropped 21,000 gallons (79,493 liters) of water and a New York State Police helicopter dropped nearly 900 gallons.

The fire was burning primarily in Sterling Forest State Park, where the visitor center, the lakefront area at Greenwood Lake and historic furnace area remained open but woodland activities including hunting were halted, Wernick said, noting residences around the lake have not been impacted.

A National Weather Service forecast for Warwick did not call for rain until Wednesday night. Firefighters previously said they will remain on the scene until significant rainfall occurs.

The blaze claimed the life of an 18-year-old New York parks employee who died when a tree fell on him as he helped fight the fire in Sterling Forest on Nov. 9.

The fire's cause remains under investigation.

Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power in the sport, has died. He was 82.

USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.

Karolyi and wife Martha trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.

"A big impact and influence on my life," Comaneci, who was just 14 when Karolyi coached her to gold for Romania at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, posted on Instagram.

Yet Karolyi's strident methods sometimes came under fire, most pointedly during the height of the Larry Nassar scandal.

When the disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor was effectively given a life sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting gymnasts and other athletes with his hands under the guise of medical treatment, over a dozen former gymnasts came forward saying the Karolyis were part of a system that created an oppressive culture that allowed Nassar's behavior to run unchecked for years.

While the Karolyis denied responsibility telling CNN in 2018 they were unaware of Nassar's behavior the revelations led to them receding from the spotlight. USA Gymnastics eventually exited an agreement to continue to train at the Karolyi Ranch north of Houston, though only after American star Simone Biles took the organization to task for having them train at a site where many experienced sexual abuse.

The Karolyis faded from prominence in the aftermath after spending 30-plus years as a guiding force in American gymnastics, often basking in success while brushing with controversy in equal measure.

The Karolyis defected from Romania to the United States in 1981. Three years later Bela helped guide Retton all of 16 to the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. At the 1996 Games in Atlanta, he memorably helped an injured Kerri Strug off the floor after Strug's vault secured the team gold for the Americans.

Karolyi briefly became the national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics women's elite program in 1999 and incorporated a semi-centralized system that eventually turned the Americans into the sport's gold standard. It did not come without a cost. He was removed from the position after the 2000 Olympics when it became apparent his leadership style simply would not work, though he remained around the sport after Martha took over for her husband in 2001.

While the Karolyis approach helped the U.S. become a superpower an American woman has won each of the last six Olympic titles and the U.S. women earned the team gold at the 2012 and 2016 Games under Martha Karolyi's leadership their methods came under fire.

Dominique Moceanu, part of the "Magnificent 7" team that won gold in Atlanta, talked extensively about her corrosive relationship with the Karolyis following her retirement. In her 2012 memoir, Moceanu wrote Bela Karolyi verbally abused her in front of her teammates on multiple occasions.

"His harsh words and critical demeanor often weighed heavily on me," Moceanu posted on X Saturday. "While our relationship was fraught with difficulty, some of these moments of hardship helped me forge and define my own path."

Some of Karolyi's most famous students were always among his staunchest defenders. When Strug got married, she and Karolyi took a photo recreating their famous scene from the 1996 Olympics, when he carried her onto the medals podium after she vaulted on a badly sprained ankle.

Being a gymnastics pied-piper was never Karolyi's intent. Born in Clug, Hungary (now Romania) on Sept. 13, 1942, he wanted to be a teacher, getting into coaching in college simply so he could spend more time with Martha.

After graduating, the couple moved to a small coal-mining town in Transylvania. Looking for a way to keep their students warm and entertained during the long, harsh winters, Karolyi dragged out some old mats and he and his wife taught the children gymnastics.

The students showed off their skills to their parents, and the exhibitions soon caught the eye of the Romanian government, which hired the Karolyis to coach the women's national team at a time when the sport was done almost exclusively by adult women, not young girls.

Karolyi changed all that, though, bringing a team to the Montreal Olympics with only one gymnast older than 14.

It was in Montreal, of course, where the world got its first real glimpse of Karolyi. When a solemn, dark-haired sprite named Nadia Comaneci enchanted the world with the first perfect 10 in Olympic history, a feat she would duplicate six times, Karolyi was there to wrap her in one of his trademark bear hugs.

Romania, which had won only three bronzes in Olympic gymnastics before 1976, left Montreal with seven medals, including Comaneci's golds in the all-around, balance beam and uneven bars, and the team silver. Comaneci became an international sensation, the first person to appear on the covers of Sports Illustrated, Time and Newsweek in the same week.

Four years later, however, Karolyi was in disgrace.

He was incensed by the judging at the Moscow Olympics, which he thought cost Comaneci a second all-around gold, and the Romanian government was horrified that he had embarrassed the Soviet hosts.

"Suddenly, from a position where we've been praised and considered the foremost athletes in the country, I was stigmatized," he once said. "I thought they could put me away for political misconduct."

When he and Martha took the Romanian team to New York for an exhibition in March 1981, they were tipped off that they were going to be punished upon their return. Despite not speaking any English and with their then-6-year-old daughter, Andrea, still in Romania, they decided to defect.

"We knew what kind of risks we were taking, because nobody was guaranteeing us anything," Martha Karolyi once said. "We started out with a suitcase and a little motel room. From there, it's gradually improved."

The couple made their way to California, where they learned English by watching television and Bela did odd jobs. A chance encounter with Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner who would later marry Comaneci at the Los Angeles airport a few months later led to the Karolyis' first coaching job in the United States.

Within a year, their daughter had arrived in the U.S. and the Karolyis had their own gym in Houston. It soon became the center of American gymnastics, turning out eight national champions in 13 years.

Three years after the Karolyis left Romania, Retton became the first American to win the Olympic all-around title, scoring a perfect 10 on vault to claim gold at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Retton also posted the highest score in the team competition as the Americans won the silver, their first team medal since 1948.

Four years later, Phoebe Mills, another Karolyi gymnast, won a bronze on balance beam. It was the first individual medal for an American woman at a non-boycotted Games. And in 1991, Kim Zmeskal "the little Kimbo," as Bela Karolyi called her became the first American to win the world all-around title.

"My biggest contribution was giving the kids the faith that they can be the best among the best," Karolyi once said. "I knew that if the Americans could understand they were not inferior ... then they can be groomed like international, highly visible athletes."

But as Karolyi's resume grew, so did the criticism.

Other coaches were irritated by his brash personality and ability to always find his way into the spotlight. When Retton won gold, Karolyi leaped a barrier he had an equipment manager's credential, not a coach's so he could scoop Retton up in a hug right in front of the TV cameras, of course.

He could be a harsh taskmaster, calling his gymnasts names, taunting them for their weight and pushing them to their limits.

Even those warm embraces weren't always quite what they seemed.

"A lot of those big bear hugs came with the whisper of `Not so good,' in our ears," Retton wrote.

Yet Retton and Comaneci remained close with Karolyi, making appearances with him at gymnastics events or sitting with him at competitions. Zmeskal had her wedding at the Karolyi ranch.

Karolyi briefly retired after the 1992 Games in Barcelona, where he led the Americans to their first team medal, a bronze, at a non-boycotted Olympics in 44 years. But he kept his gym and summer camps, and by 1994 was again coaching elite-level gymnasts after Zmeskal asked him to help in her attempt to make the Atlanta Games.

Zmeskal didn't make the Atlanta squad. But two of Karolyi's other gymnasts, Strug and Moceanu, did, and it was Strug who provided one of the signature moments of the Olympics.

The Americans went into their final event in team finals, vault, trying to hold off Russia for their first-ever title at an Olympics or world championships. Despite injuring her left ankle when she fell on her first vault attempt, Strug went ahead with her second attempt, believing wrongly the Americans needed her score to clinch the gold.

With Karolyi shouting, "You can do it!" Strug sprinted down the runway, soared high above the vault and landed on both feet ensuring it was a clean vault before pulling her left leg up. After saluting the judges, she fell to her knees and had to be carried off the podium. Tests would later show she had two torn ligaments in her ankle.

As the rest of the Americans gathered on the podium to receive their gold medals, Karolyi carried Strug back into the arena, cradling her in his arms.

But even that drew criticism. Many said Karolyi never should have encouraged Strug to vault on her injured ankle in the first place, and then should have stayed out of the spotlight rather than carrying her to the podium.

"Bela is a very tough coach and he gets criticism for that," Strug said at the time. "But that's what it takes to become a champion. I don't think it's really right that everyone tries to find the faults of Bela. Anything in life, to be successful, you've got to work really hard."

The Karolyis retired again after the Atlanta Olympics. But after the U.S. women finished last in the medal round at the 1997 world championships, USA Gymnastics asked Bela Karolyi to come back.

He agreed but only if he could implement a semi-centralized training system. Rather than a patchwork system of individual coaches who had their own philosophies, Karolyi would oversee the entire U.S. program. Gymnasts could still train with their own coaches, but there would be regular national team camps to ensure they were meeting established training and performance standards.

Though the idea was sound, Karolyi was not the right person to be in charge. Coaches who had been his equal chafed at his heavy-handedness, and were annoyed by his grandstanding. Gymnasts resented his bluster and demands.

By the time the Americans left the Sydney Olympics, about the only thing everyone agreed on was that Karolyi needed to step away.

He stepped aside and was replaced by his wife. Martha Karolyi's standards were just as high if not higher than her husband's, but on the surface, she was more willing to listen to other opinions.

"She's more diplomatic. Absolutely," Bela Karolyi said before the 2012 Olympics. "I'm wild. The opposite."

Sean 'Diddy' Combs has tried to reach out to prospective witnesses and influence public opinion from jail in a bid to affect potential jurors for his upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors claimed in a court filing urging a judge to reject his latest bail request.

The government accusations were made in a Manhattan federal court filing late Friday that opposes the music mogul's latest $50 million bail proposal. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.

Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded jail calls made by Combs shows he has asked family members to reach out to potential victims and witnesses and has urged them to create "narratives" to influence the jury pool. They say he also has encouraged marketing strategies to sway public opinion.

"The defendant has shown repeatedly even while in custody that he will flagrantly and repeatedly flout rules in order to improperly impact the outcome of his case. The defendant has shown, in other words, that he cannot be trusted to abide by rules or conditions," prosecutors wrote in a submission that contained redactions.

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Prosecutors wrote that it could be inferred from his behavior that Combs wants to blackmail victims and witnesses into silence or into providing testimony helpful to his defense.

Lawyers for Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Prosecutors said Combs, 55, began breaking rules almost as soon as he was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after his September arrest.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with the aid of a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

Two judges have concluded he is a danger to the community and a risk to flee.

His lawyers recently made a third request for bail after the rejection of two previous attempts, including a $50 million bail proposal.

In the request, they cited changed circumstances, including new evidence, which they said made it sensible to release Combs so he can better prepare for his May 5 trial.

But prosecutors said defense lawyers created their latest bail proposal using some evidence prosecutors turned over to them and the new material was already known to defense lawyers when they made previous bail applications.

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In their submission to a judge, prosecutors said Combs' behavior in jail shows he must remain locked up.

For instance, they said, Combs has enlisted family members to plan and carry out a social media campaign around his birthday "with the intention of influencing the potential jury in this criminal proceeding."

He encouraged his children to post a video to their social media accounts showing them gathered to celebrate his birthday, they said.

Afterward, he monitored the analytics, including audience engagement, from the jail and "explicitly discussed with his family how to ensure that the video had his desired effect on potential jury members in this case," they said.

The government also alleged Combs during other calls made clear his intention to anonymously publish information that he thought would help his defense against the charges.

"The defendant's efforts to obstruct the integrity of this proceeding also includes relentless efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of his abuse who could provide powerful testimony against him," prosecutors wrote.

The boos from a crowd wanting more action were growing again when Jake Paul dropped his gloves before the final bell, and bowed toward 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

Paying homage to one of the biggest names in boxing history didn't do much for the fans that filled the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys on Friday night.

Paul won an eight-round unanimous decision over Tyson as the hits didn't match the hype in a fight between the 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer and the former heavyweight champion in his first sanctioned pro bout in almost 20 years.

All the hate from the pre-fight buildup was gone, replaced by boos from bewildered fans hoping for more from a fight that drew plenty of questions about its legitimacy long beforehand.

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The fight wasn't close on the judge's cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73.

"Let's give it up for Mike," Paul said in the ring, not getting much response from a crowd that started filing out before the decision was announced. "He's the greatest to ever do it. I look up to him. I'm inspired by him."

Tyson came after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a couple of quick punches but didn't try much else the rest of the way.

Even fewer rounds than the normal 10 or 12 and two-minute rounds instead of three, along with heavier gloves designed to lessen the power of punches, couldn't do much to generate action.

Paul was more aggressive after the quick burst from Tyson in the opening seconds, but the punching wasn't very efficient. There were quite a few wild swings and misses.

"I was trying to hurt him a little bit," said Paul, who improved to 11-1. "I was scared he was going to hurt me. I was trying to hurt him. I did my best. I did my best."

Tyson mostly sat back and waited for Paul to come to him, with a few exceptions. It was quite the contrast to the co-main event, another slugfest between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in which Taylor kept her undisputed super lightweight championship with another disputed decision.

Paul said he eased up starting about the third round because he thought Tyson was tired and vulnerable.

"I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn't want to hurt somebody that didn't need to be hurt," Paul said.

It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson, who fought Roy Jones Jr. in a much more entertaining exhibition in 2020. Paul started fighting a little more than four years ago.

"I didn't prove nothing to anybody, only to myself," Tyson said when asked what it meant to complete the fight. "I'm not one of those guys that looks to please the world. I'm just happy with what I can do."

The fight was originally scheduled for July 20 but had to be postponed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight. His record is now 50-7 with 44 knockouts.

Tyson slapped Paul on the face during the weigh-in a night before the fight, and they traded insults in several of the hype events, before and after the postponement.

The hate was long gone by the end of the anticlimactic fight.

"I have so much respect for him," Paul said. "That violence, war thing between us, like after he slapped me, I wanted to be aggressive and take him down and knock him out and all that stuff. That kind of went away as the rounds went on."

The fight set a Texas record for combat sports with a gate of nearly $18 million, according to organizers, and Netflix had problems with the feed in the streaming platform's first live combat sports event. Netflix has more than 280 million subscribers globally.

"This is the biggest event," Paul said. "Over 120 million people on Netflix. We crashed the site."

Among the celebrities were basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal and former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, along with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, two foes with Tyson's heyday, greeted him in his locker room before the fight.

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Tyson infamously bit Holyfield on the ear in a 1997 bout, and appeared to have one of his gloves in his mouth several times during the Paul bout. He was asked if he had problem with his mouthpiece.

"I have a habit of biting my gloves," Tyson said. "I have a biting fixation."

"I've heard about that," the interview responded.

Mario Barrios retained the WBC welterweight title in a draw with Abel Ramos on the undercard. Barrios was in control early before Ramos dominated the middle rounds. Each had a knockdown in the 12-round bout.

It was the first fight for the 29-year-old Barrios since he was appointed the WBC welterweight champ when Terence Crawford started the process of moving up from the 147-pound class.

Barrios, who is 29-2-1, won the interim WBC title with a unanimous decision over Yordenis Ugs last year. The 33-year-old Ramos is 28-6-3.

New Yorkers are carrying on a tradition that has been going on for eight years and two presidential elections.

Inside the Sixth Avenue subway station, a wall is filled with notes from people with a lot of feelings.

"I put that I choose kindness even when it's hard because I've had a hard time wanting to lash out whenever I've been treated not so awesome by some people recently," said Danielle Guy. "And it's easy to want to be mean back, but being kind is the best thing to do."

The interactive art project, which has been dubbed "Subway Therapy," was started by artist Matthew Chavez after the 2016 election. He said the impact it's had has been tremendous.

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"People will walk up and spend one minute and come up to me and say, 'Wow, this is amazing. This made my day. This made my week. I really needed this," Chavez said. "It seems like such a small thing, but it can be really, really important to the people that participate."

On Tuesday, Cavez posted a picture to Instagram that showed more than 4,600 notes. He also called for volunteers to help go through the notes and share them on the Subway Therapy website.

One note said, "I had a good day and I want to get closer to people again."

Another stated, "There is a community that loves you."

Chavez said he tries to keep some of the notes safe because they give deep insight into what some people are going through.

"I find ones that really make me think about what someone's going through, just, they're so arresting," he said.