CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — The Calgary Flames signed defenseman Simon Nemec to a five-year contract worth $36.25 million on Monday.
Nemec will count $7.25 million against the salary cap through the 2030-31 NHL season. Calgary acquired his rights and winger Maxim Tsyplakov from New Jersey last month for a second-round pick this year, two conditional first-rounders and prospect Etienne Morin.
“I just felt like the return that we got from Calgary was just kind of too good to pass up," Devils general manager Sunny Mehta said on a video call with reporters last week. "They kind of stepped up with their offer to get him, and I just thought it was ultimately the right thing for the organization to move on.”
Nemec skated in 159 combined games in the league since the Devils took him with the second pick in the 2022 draft, averaging roughly 19 minutes of ice time. Mehta denied that Nemec asked for a trade and said after a candid conversation that he felt it best for the 22-year-old Slovak to get a fresh start elsewhere.
“He just wants a path," Mehta said. “He wants a path to develop and a path to grow into the role that he foresees for himself.”
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FILE - New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec (17) controls the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, March 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
CAIRO (AP) — The war in Sudan has killed or wounded more than 300 children in the last six months, mostly from drone strikes, the U.N. children's agency said Monday.
The Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been fighting since April 2023. The war is now concentrated in the Kordofan, Darfur and Blue Nile states, with drone warfare causing 60% of casualties, according to UNICEF.
The U.N., U.S, U.K. and others have expressed alarm about potential atrocities as the RSF and the military fight for control of the strategic city of el-Obeid in North Kordofan.
In Geneva on Monday, the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council approved a measure, brought by five European countries, condemning the escalating violence by the RSF and its allies in and around el-Obeid.
The measure, approved without a vote, also encourages greater support for countries hosting refugees from Sudan and condemns “all forms of external interference” in the war.
The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million and pushed many parts of Sudan into famine. More than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Drone strikes and shelling have targeted civilian infrastructure including schools, markets, fuel and water stations, putting over 500,000 people at risk. Civilians in some areas have faced almost siegelike conditions for over a year.
“Children are being caught in a relentless cycle of violence, displacement and deprivation,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative for Sudan.
The U.N. called on parties “to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, allow and facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access, and take all possible measures to protect children from harm.”
Separately, at least 15 informal miners were killed when a defunct gold mine partly collapsed Monday in the district of Wadi Halfa, close to Sudan's border with Egypt, authorities said.
Another miner was injured in the collapse of the Mohamed Taqfiq mine, the state-run Sudanese Mineral Resources Co. The company said the miners resumed excavations at the site, although authorities had previously closed it over safety concerns.
Sudan is one of Africa’s top gold producers. It produced 70 tons of gold last year, up from 64 tons in 2024, according to official figures.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for the majority of gold extracted in the sprawling country, where safety standards are largely ignored.
Collapses are not uncommon in the country. In May, at least seven miners were killed in a mine collapse in the Red Sea province. Thirteen others were killed in another collapse in South Kordofan province in January.
This version corrects the name of the state to Blue Nile.
FILE - A woman and a child, displaced from North Darfur's capital, el-Fasher or other conflict-affected areas walk in the newly established El-Afadh camp in Al Dabbah, in Sudan's Northern State, Sudan, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)
