Day: February 5, 2023
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean coast guard vessels and aircraft were searching on Sunday in waters off the country’s southwestern coast for nine fishermen who disappeared after their boat capsized.
The coast guard from the southwestern port city of Mokpo said that three crew members were rescued by a nearby commercial vessel following the accident late Saturday in waters near Daebichi island in the sea county of Sinan.
Survivors said the boat’s engine room had quickly filled with water before the 24-ton vessel tipped over, according to the coast guard.
Officials were planning to salvage the boat, but it wasn’t known whether the nine missing crew members would be inside. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said seven of the missing were South Korean nationals and the two others were foreigners, but it didn’t immediately confirm their nationalities.
More than 30 coast guard vessels and at least eight coast guard and military aircraft were searching the area on Sunday afternoon.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for officials to mobilize “all available resources” to widen the search and also to provide support to the families of the missing fishermen, his office said.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Bruce Cassidy’s Vegas Golden Knights lost eight of 10 games going into the All-Star break after leading the Pacific Division at the midway point of the NHL season.
They’re still safely in a playoff spot in the Western Conference, but they can’t keep it up.
“We’re still in a good position — that’s the way we look at it,” Cassidy said. “There’s not too many teams that can cruise home the last 30 games in this league, and we’re certainly not one of them.”
Cassidy’s old team, the Boston Bruins, probably could. They’re atop the NHL and running away with the Atlantic Division.
With 39 wins and 83 points through 51 games, Boston is on pace to break the record for the best regular season in NHL history. The Carolina Hurricanes, who beat Boston in seven games in the first round last year, are next in the standings at 76 points.
“Top to bottom, there’s no weaknesses,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
The Bruins are in a class of their own, but the playoff races behind them in the East and West should be hot down the stretch with roughly 30 games to go before the chase for the Stanley Cup begins.
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
The Hurricanes rode a seven-game winning streak into the break, putting some fear into the Bruins in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage through the postseason. Winger Max Pacioretty re-tearing his right Achilles tendon five games into his return didn’t slow them down, and if their goaltending holds up, Carolina stands a good chance of reaching the East final.
“This team, it’s a special group of guys,” said Brind’Amour, who captained Carolina to the Cup in 2006 and is in his fifth year as coach. “We kind of show that nightly. It’s just very consistent, and they take their job real serious. They do it right.”
The second-place New Jersey Devils are contending for the first time since 2018. Bottoming out the next season helped them win the lottery for No. 1 pick Jack Hughes, a two-time All-Star who has them winning ahead of schedule.
“Much better than being out of the mix,” Hughes said. “We’re really excited because it’s going to be a lot of important hockey, and it’s going to be really competitive and we’re really pumped to be where we are.”
They’re followed by the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders. All three New York-area teams could make it, which was the expectation for the Rangers after reaching the East final last year.
“I think the run last year really taught us a few things and stuff that we obviously could build on for the rest of this year,” 2021 Norris-Trophy winning defenseman Adam Fox said.
ATLANTIC
The Rangers lost to the Lightning in six games last spring, when two-time champion Tampa Bay reached the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive season before getting beat by the Colorado Avalanche.
The Lightning are almost certain to face the Toronto Maple Leafs — who haven’t won a playoff series since the NHL salary cap era began in 2005 — in the first round and remain a threat to the Bruins.
But Boston has separated itself despite starting the season without top left winger Brad Marchand and No. 1 defenseman Charlie McAvoy. The Bruins have lost only 12 games under new coach Jim Montgomery.
“You just keep winning,” said All-Star right winger David Pastrnak, who’s tied for third in the league in scoring. “Every single line and every single guy is going and it obviously builds our confidence. It’s funny sometimes what confidence can do in hockey.”
The Islanders should have some more confidence after acquiring 30-goal scorer Bo Horvat from Vancouver, but still need to make up ground to get in.
CENTRAL
Defending champion Colorado climbed in the standings — winning seven of eight going into the break despite an injury-riddled first half of the season. Captain Gabriel Landeskog still has not made his season debut since undergoing knee surgery. It would be foolish to bet against the Avs coming out of the West again.
“It’s up to us: We control our own fate,” All-Star center Nathan MacKinnon said. “We need to definitely keep playing the way we were before the break. No matter who’s in the lineup we were playing well, playing hard, so it would definitely help with healthy bodies.”
They still trail the Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild in the Central, and the Nashville Predators are on their heels. Only the Stars and Jets are essentially guaranteed a spot.
“Every point, you grind for it,” Stars leading scorer Jason Robertson said. “Every point’s going to be a dog fight, so it’s going to be a fun 30 games down the stretch.”
PACIFIC
Undisputed MVP favorite Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, who were swept by Colorado in the West final, have a little bit of catching up to do in the Pacific Division.
The top spot is held by the Seattle Kraken, who surprisingly are on pace to make the playoffs in their second season but still need to fend off the Los Angeles Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Edmonton — and the Battle of Alberta rival Calgary Flames — have the talent to not only get in but make a run. McDavid leads the league with 41 goals and 92 points, 16 more than No. 2 scorer and teammate Leon Draisaitl, and is producing unlike anyone since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux in the mid-1990s.
Now he’ll try to carry the Oilers into the playoffs and beyond.
“It hasn’t been easy at all for our group. We’ve kind of had to battle for everything that we’ve got,” McDavid said. “We’ve always been a second-half team for whatever reason. Even since my first year, we’ve always been better in the second half, so we’ll definitely look to continue that. That being said, we’re not going to hang our hat on that and expect that to carry us to the playoffs. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
2023-02-05T16:46:47Z
Republican New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said on Sunday he is considering running for U.S. president in 2024, adding that he believes Donald Trump would lose to Democratic President Joe Biden if the former president secures his party’s nomination.
Sununu, who has served as governor of the small New England state since 2017, underscored the need for new leadership.
Asked during an appearance on the ABC News program “This Week” whether he is considering seeking the presidency, Sununu said, “I’m definitely thinking about it, and having those conversations. But at the end of the day, you’re going to have a lot of Republicans that get in that race. They’re all really good people. They’re really good candidates.”
He cited former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as among those he believes will compete for the 2024 Republican nomination. Trump, the only announced candidate, launched his bid in November. Haley is expected to kick off her campaign this month.
Sununu forecast that Trump would lose again to Biden if they have a rematch of the 2020 election.
“Unfortunately, at the end of the day – November of 2020 showed us that, right? – Trump is going to be seen as a very extreme candidate. The country is going to push back against it,” Sununu said.
Sununu has some familiarity with the White House. His father John Sununu, himself a former New Hampshire governor, served as White House chief of staff under Republican President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1991.
Describing his political philosophy, Chris Sununu told ABC: “I’m kind of that ‘live free or die’ individual liberty. I believe government has to get out of your way. And we’ve done it really, really well here in New Hampshire.”
The Democratic National Committee on Saturday approved Biden’s proposed shakeup of his party’s 2024 primary calendar, ending New Hampshire’s run as the party’s first state-level nominating primary and giving that role to South Carolina.
The move faced opposition from leaders in New Hampshire and Iowa, which traditionally kicked off the state-by-state contest for the party presidential nominations with its caucus.
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New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu speaks at the “Curbing the Opioid Epidemic” session at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S., July 13, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Republican New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu running for re-election as the Governor of New Hampshire in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, appears in an undated handout photo provided October 11, 2022. Chris Sununu/Handout via REUTERS
2023-02-05T16:50:04Z
Former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides edged into the lead in Cyprus’s presidential election on Sunday, exit polls showed, but was unlikely to clinch an outright majority, leading to a runoff on Feb. 12.
Christodoulides, running as an independent, was seen taking between 30.5% and 33.5% of the vote, an exit poll for the state broadcaster showed, based on 76% of respondents counted. Voting ended at 1600 GMT.
Averof Neophytou, leader of the ruling conservative DISY party, and independent leftist-backed candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis were neck-and-neck, with both between 26.5% and 29.5%.
Private broadcasters showed broadly similar results, turning the vote into who will face off Christodoulides next week into a cliffhanger.
The two frontrunners from Sunday’s vote will now have a week to win over the remaining candidates and their voters excluded in Sunday’s voting.
The winner of the poll will have to wrestle with how to break a deadlock in reunification talks on ethnically split Cyprus, as well as irregular migration, labour disputes and repairing the country’s image, tarnished by corruption scandals.
All leading contenders are close associates of incumbent right-wing President Nicos Anastasiades, who is stepping down after this election.
Christodoulides broke ranks with his own party DISY and its leader Neophytou to run for the presidency, splitting the political right. He is also backed by political parties which have traditionally taken a hard line in reunification talks.
“The day after elections should find us united. The elections will end, but the challenges and problems lie ahead of us,” he told reporters earlier after he cast his vote.
Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup. The last round of peace talks collapsed in 2017.
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A person casts a ballot for the presidential election at a polling station in Geroskipou near Paphos, Cyprus, February 5, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
A woman casts her ballot for the presidential election at a polling station in Geroskipou near Paphos, Cyprus, February 5, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
Cyprus independent presidential candidate Nikos Christodoulides gestures outside a polling station on the day of the presidential election, in Geroskipou near Paphos, Cyprus, February 5, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
People wait to vote in the presidential election at a polling station in Geroskipou near Paphos, Cyprus, February 5, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
A woman walks next to a poster of Cypriot presidential candidate Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia, Cyprus February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
Cyprus presidential candidate Averof Neophytou, head of the governing right-wing Democratic Rally party, delivers a speech during a pre-election rally in Nicosia, Cyprus February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
2023-02-05T16:39:39Z
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will pay a two-day visit to Mali this week, the Malian foreign ministry said on Sunday, describing the visit as a reflection of a shared wish to strengthen defence and security ties.
FILE PHOTO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference following talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Moscow, Russia, January 31, 2023. Maxim Shipenkov/Pool via REUTERS
Lavrov will arrive in Bamako on Monday. It is the first time a Russian foreign minister has officially visited the West African nation and reflects Moscow’s focus on extending its reach on the continent while it is at loggerheads with Western powers over its invasion of Ukraine.
Since coming to power in a 2020 coup, Mali’s ruling military junta has turned to Moscow even as it sparred with neighbours and Western nations over election delays and its decision to work with Russian mercenaries to combat an Islamist insurgency.
“This high-level visit is in line with the political choice made by the Transitional Government to expand and diversify strategic partnerships,” the Malian ministry said in a statement.
Lavrov’s visit shows “the firm will of the Malian and Russian heads of state to give new impetus to the relations of friendship and bilateral cooperation … in priority areas, in particular defence and security,” the ministry said.
Mali is engaged in a fight against militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State who have waged a decade-long insurgency that has spread to neighbouring countries.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Mali that Moscow was committed to strengthening cooperation to help root out the militants. It has also promised shipments of fuel, fertiliser and food worth around $100 million.
Mali’s growing friendliness with Russia has coincided with a breakdown in relations with France, the former colonial power. Last year, the rift led Paris to withdraw all its troops that had been battling militants since 2013.
U.N experts last Tuesday called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by Malian government forces and Russian private military contractor Wagner Group.
Mali has previously said Russian forces in the country are not mercenaries but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Russia.
Lavrov is currently in Baghdad for talks on improving bilateral ties and energy cooperation.
(NewsNation) — Victim advocacy groups are shining light on the massive human trafficking operations that are predicted to happen at the Super Bowl.
An estimated 25 million people are trafficked worldwide each year, the majority for forced labor and 20 percent for sex trafficking, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Trafficking often takes places in hotels, leading to efforts to train hospitality workers to recognize signs of human trafficking and how they can intervene.
Large events like the Superbowl often result in a spike in human trafficking, thanks to the large crowds and the possibility for traffickers to find people who are vulnerable, like those who may be drunk and easier to lure away.
Experts advise making sure to always be aware of your surroundings, especially at large events where there are lots of unknown people around.
“No Trafficking Zone” president Jacquelyn Aluotto and former FBI agent Tracy Walder discuss solutions to trafficking happening at large events in the United States.
Watch their full discussion in the video player above.
(NewsNation) — Concerns are mounting over the number of bodies being pulled from the waters in Chicago.
The latest unidentified body was pulled from Lake Michigan last Sunday, and people across social media fear a serial killer could be on the loose.
This case shares similarities with at least nine other disappearances that have happened along the Chicago waterways. The disappearances started over a year ago, and the causes of death for many of the victims remain unknown.
Tracy Walder, formerly of the CIA and FBI, offers insight on “NewsNation Prime.”
It’s easy to get people riled up and panicked about kids, about a changing culture and about lost innocence. That’s exactly what the right is doing
You could be forgiven for losing track of all the lurid and inventive ways that Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor with presidential ambitions, has attacked education in his state. Last year he signed the Don’t Say Gay bill, a nasty little law that bans classroom discussion of sexuality or gender identity issues – effectively forcing children and teachers alike to stay silent about their families and lives, under the threat of lawsuits. The bill caused confusion and controversy, frightening gay students and teachers, leading to preemptive compliance in some sectors and defiant disobedience in others – and, not coincidentally, drawing quite a bit of culture-war attention to DeSantis himself.
Since then, the Florida governor has repeated the playbook in increasingly ambitious fashion. Last April, DeSantis signed the exhaustingly titled “Stop Woke Act,” which restricts lessons on racial inequality in public schools. The bill prohibits the teaching of material that could cause a student to “feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress,” due to US racial history – the implication being that these are not appropriate responses to an encounter with this history, or that protection from such emotions is more important than a confrontation with the facts.
Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist
David Zalubowski/Associated Press
- The donor network created by Charles Koch seeks to boost its role in the GOP presidential primaries.
- A newly-released Americans for Prosperity memo called for members to “turn the page on the past.”
- The message is seen as a veiled swipe at Trump, who is running for the GOP nomination in 2024.
The network of donors created by the conservative billionaire Charles Koch is ramping up efforts to get involved in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, with a mission to “turn the page on the past” in a veiled swipe at former President Donald Trump.
The Koch network, which encompasses a wide swath of wealthy conservatives across the country, has been deeply influential in Republican circles for over a decade, and in 2020 spent roughly $500 million backing GOP candidates and right-leaning policies. However, the network has largely stayed out of presidential primaries after identifying five approved candidates in 2015, all of whom ultimately fell to Trump the next year.
In a memo to Americans for Prosperity staffers and activists, chief executive Emily Seidel doesn’t specifically mention Trump by name, but the tone of the email clearly calls for new blood in the party.
“The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles,” the memo read. “And the American people are rejecting them.”
“The Democratic Party increasingly sees this as a political opportunity,” the memo continued to say, “And they’re responding with more and more extreme policies – policies that also go against our core American principles.”
While the Koch network disagreed with Trump on his implementation of trade tariffs during his White House tenure, it did work with the administration on criminal justice reform efforts.
And although Trump has been the dominant Republican fundraiser in recent years, the message from Seidel could be the signal that some conservative donors have been waiting for as they consider alternatives to the former president in the 2024 race.
Former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina is expected to enter the race on February 15, but at the moment, Trump remains the only major declared candidate seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
Americans for Prosperity in the memo emphasized that it would continue to build on its work from the 2022 midterms.
“If we want to elect better people, we need better candidates. And if we want better candidates, we’ve got to get involved in elections earlier and in more primaries,” the memo read. “Last year, AFP and AFP Action engaged in 22 primaries at the federal level and nearly 200 more in the states. This was more than in any previous year.”
Seidel then argued that the “loudest voice” in the party generally established the tone for the election, stating that “in a presidential year, that’s the presidential candidate.”
“To write a new chapter for our country, we need to turn the page on the past,” the memo read. “So the best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter. The American people have shown that they’re ready to move on, and so AFP will help them do that.”
“AFP Action is prepared to support a candidate in the Republican presidential primary who can lead our country forward, and who can win,” the memo added.
Read the original article on Business Insider
