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SYDNEY — Charities welcomed Australia’s decision to provide an additional $6.6 million to the World Food Program to help people in the Gaza Strip who are facing possible famine. The new aid, announced Wednesday, brings Australia’s total of humanitarian aid for Gaza to $47.9 million since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel ignited the war. Save the Children Australia called the assistance vital. Its chief executive, Mat Tinkler, told local media that the “entire child population in Gaza [is] at risk of famine” and that “there are still more than a million children in desperate need of support.” A coalition of charities, including Oxfam Australia and Caritas Australia, an aid agency of the Australian Catholic Church, said in a statement that “unimpeded humanitarian access was crucial” to the people of Gaza who “were physically and psychologically traumatized, sick and starving.” The additional aid was announced by Australian Minister for Youth Anne Aly at a conference convened by Egypt, Jordan and the United Nations in Jordan. Aly said the “humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic.” Aly represented Australia in place of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, who said in a statement that her government “continues to press for a cease-fire, for humanitarian aid to reach Gazans in desperate need, and for hostages to be released.” Wong said Australia supported the cease-fire endorsed Monday by the U.N. Security Council. Aly told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the conference also looked at how Gaza would be rebuilt after the war, saying that education will be important. “So, really looking at what are the early efforts that can be put into rebuilding of Gaza,” she said, “not so much the infrastructure and rebuilding cities, but really, almost, rebuilding the people.” Israeli authorities have said they have “daily assessments with international aid organizations operating in Gaza to review the situation and respond to the needs on the ground.” Australia, which has said Israel has the right to defend itself, supports a two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist within internationally recognized borders. The Gaza conflict has divided public opinion in Australia, where there have been large pro-Palestinian demonstrations and rallies by supporters of Israel. Community groups have reported an increase in anti-Muslim and antisemitic abuse since the war began eight months ago.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and Sweden agreed Saturday to a prisoner swap, freeing Hamid Nouri, convicted of war crimes by Sweden over mass 1988 executions in the Islamic Republic, in exchange for two men held by Tehran. Iran released Johan Floderus, a Swede who had been working for the European Union’s diplomatic corps, as well as a man identified as Saeed Azizi by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. They "are now on a plane home to Sweden, and will soon be reunited with their families,” Kristersson wrote on the social platform X. Oman mediated the swap, the state-run Oman News Agency reported. Iranian state television reported Nouri was already freed and would be heading back to Tehran. In 2022, the Stockholm District Court sentenced Nouri to life in prison over his role in the executions. It identified Nouri as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison outside the Iranian city of Karaj.

PARIS — France, Germany and Britain on Saturday condemned Iran’s latest steps, as reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency, to further expand its nuclear program. "Iran has taken further steps in hollowing out the JCPoA, by operating dozens of additional advanced centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment site as well as announcing it will install thousands more centrifuges at both its Fordow and Natanz sites," the joint statement said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed with Iran in 2015. "This decision is a further escalation of Iran’s nuclear program, which carries significant proliferation risks," it said. The joint statement stressed that "Iran’s decision to substantially increase its production capacity at the underground Fordow facility is especially concerning." "Iran is legally obliged under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to fully implement its safeguards agreement, which is separate to the JCPoA."

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia — Following the footsteps of prophets beneath a burning sun, Muslims from around the world congregated Saturday at a sacred hill in Saudi Arabia for intense, daylong worship and reflection. The ritual at Mount Arafat, known as the hill of mercy, is considered the peak of the Hajj pilgrimage. It is often the most memorable for pilgrims, who stand shoulder to shoulder, feet to feet, asking God for mercy, blessings, prosperity and good health. The mount is about 20 kilometers southeast of Mecca. Thousands of pilgrims walked to the mount through the predawn darkness. On the slopes of the rocky hill and the surrounding area, many raised their hands in worship with tears streaming down their faces. "For sure it is something great. It is the best day for Muslims during the year, and the best feeling that anyone can experience," Hussein Mohammed, an Egyptian pilgrim, said as he stood on the rocky slopes at dawn. "It is the best place for anyone hoping to be (here) on this day and at this moment." It’s believed that Prophet Muhammad delivered his final speech, known as the Farewell Sermon, at the sacred mount 1,435 years ago. In the sermon, the prophet called for equality and unity among Muslims. Ali Osman, a Spanish pilgrim, was overwhelmed, as he stepped down the hill of mercy. He said he felt that he gained spiritual and physical strength at the sacred site. "The place, thank God, (gives) very good energy," he said. "I came here, thank God. It is my first time. I hope to come again in the future." Hajj is one of the largest religious gatherings on earth. The rituals officially started Friday when pilgrims moved from Mecca’s Grand Mosque to Mina, a desert plain just outside the city. Saudi authorities expect the number of pilgrims this year to exceed 2 million, approaching pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. The pilgrimage is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. All Muslims are required to make the five-day Hajj at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to make the demanding pilgrimage. The rituals largely commemorate the Quran’s accounts of Prophet Ibrahim, his son Prophet Ismail and Ismail’s mother Hajar — or Abraham and Ismael as they are named in the Bible. This year’s Hajj came against the backdrop of the raging war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, which pushed the Middle East to the brink of a regional war between Israel and its allies on one side and Iran-backed militant groups on the other. Palestinians in the coastal enclave of Gaza were not able to travel to Mecca for Hajj this year because of the closure of the Rafah crossing in May, when Israel extended its ground offensive to the strip’s southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt. Staving off potential protests or chants about the war during the Hajj, Saudi authorities said they won’t tolerate politicizing the pilgrimage. Col. Talal Al-Shalhoub, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, told reporters Friday evening that the Saudi government "will not allow any attempt to turn the sacred sites (in Mecca) into an arena for mob chanting." The time of year when the Hajj takes place varies, given that it is set for five days in the second week of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month in the Islamic lunar calendar. Most of the Hajj rituals are held outdoors with little if any shade. When it falls in the summer months, temperatures can soar to over 40 Celsius. The Health Ministry has cautioned that temperatures at the holy sites could reach 48 C and urged pilgrims to use umbrellas and drink more water to stay hydrated. Most of the pilgrims at Mount Arafat carried umbrellas, while others sat in the shadow of a few trees and buildings around the hill of mercy. And, as at Mina and the Grand Mosque, cooling stations on the roads leading to the mount and in its surrounding areas sprayed pilgrims with water to help fight the heat, which had already climbed to 47 C at Mount Arafat, according to Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology. After Saturday’s worship in Mount Arafat, pilgrims will travel a few kilometers to a site known as Muzdalifa to collect pebbles that they will use in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil back in Mina. Many walk, while others use buses. Pilgrims then return to Mina for three days, coinciding with the festive Eid al-Adha holiday, when financially able Muslims around the world slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to poor people. Afterward, they return to Mecca for a final circumambulation, known as Farewell Tawaf. Once the Hajj is over, men are expected to shave their heads, and women to snip a lock of hair in a sign of renewal. Most of the pilgrims then leave Mecca for the city of Medina, some 340 kilometers  away, to pray in Prophet Muhammad’s tomb, the Sacred Chamber. The tomb is part of the prophet's mosque, which is one of the three holiest sites in Islam, along with the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Hajj is a notorious chokepoint for crowds. In 2015, several thousands of pilgrims were crushed to death in a crowd surge. Saudi authorities never offered a final death toll. In recent years, Saudi authorities have made significant efforts to improve access and avoid deadly accidents. Tens of thousands of security personnel were deployed across the city, especially around the holy sites, to control the crowds, and the government built a high-speed rail link to ferry people between holy sites in the city, which has been jammed with traffic during the Hajj season. Pilgrims enter through special electronic gates. Saudi authorities have also expanded and renovated the Grand Mosque where cranes are seen around some of its seven minarets as construction was underway in the holy site.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States military unleashed a wave of attacks targeting radar sites operated by Yemen's Houthi rebels over their assaults on shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor, authorities said Saturday, after one merchant sailor went missing following an earlier Houthi strike on a ship. The attacks come as the U.S. Navy faces the most intense combat its seen since World War II in trying to counter the Houthi campaign — attacks the rebels say are meant to halt the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. However, the Iranian-backed rebel assaults often see the Houthis target ships and sailors who have nothing to do with the war while traffic remains halved through a corridor vital for cargo and energy shipments between Asia, Europe and the Mideast. U.S. strikes destroyed seven radars within Houthi-controlled territory, the military's Central Command said. It did not elaborate on how the sites were destroyed and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press. "These radars allow the Houthis to target maritime vessels and endanger commercial shipping," Central Command said in a statement. The U.S. separately destroyed two bomb-laden drone boats in the Red Sea, as well as a drone launched by the Houthis over the waterway, it said. The Houthis, who have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, did not acknowledge the strikes, nor any military losses. That's been typical since the U.S. began launching airstrikes targeting the rebels. Meanwhile, Central Command said one commercial sailor from the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk cargo carrier Tutor remained missing after an attack Wednesday by the Houthis that used a bomb-carrying drone boat to strike the vessel. "The crew abandoned ship and were rescued by USS Philippine Sea and partner forces," Central Command said. The "Tutor remains in the Red Sea and is slowly taking on water." The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, killed three sailors, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say. The war in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians there, according to Gaza health officials, while hundreds of others have been killed in Israeli operations in the West Bank. It began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. "The Houthis claim to be acting on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza and yet they are targeting and threatening the lives of third-country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza," Central Command said. "The ongoing threat to international commerce caused by the Houthis in fact makes it harder to deliver badly needed assistance to the people of Yemen as well as Gaza."

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PARIS — Antiracism groups will join French unions and a brand-new left-wing coalition in protests in Paris and across France on Saturday against the surging nationalist far right as frenzied campaigning is underway ahead of snap parliamentary elections. In Paris, those who fear that the elections will produce France's first far-right government since World War II, will gather at Place de la Republique before marching through eastern Paris. Crowds have been gathering daily ever since Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration National Rally made historic gains in the European Parliament elections on Sunday, crushing President Emmanuel Macron's pro-business moderates and prompting him to dissolve the National Assembly. New elections for the lower house of parliament were set in two rounds, for June 30 and July 7. Macron remains president until 2027 and in charge of foreign policy and defense, but his presidency would be weakened if the National Rally wins and takes power of the government and domestic policy. "We need a democratic and social upsurge — if not the extreme right will take power,'' French unions said in a statement Friday. "Our Republic and our democracy are in danger.'' They noted that in Europe and across the world, extreme-right leaders have passed laws detrimental to women, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color. To prevent the National Rally party from winning the upcoming elections, left-wing parties finally agreed Friday to set aside differences over the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and form a coalition. They urged French citizens to defeat the far right. French opinion polls suggest the National Rally — whose founder has been repeatedly convicted of racism and antisemitism — is expected to be ahead in the first round of the parliamentary elections. The party came out on top in the European elections, garnering more than 30% of the vote cast in France, almost twice as many votes as Macron's party Renaissance. Macron's term is still on for three more years, and he would retain control over foreign affairs and defense regardless of the result of the French parliamentary elections. But his presidency would be weakened if the National Rally wins, which could put its 28-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella on track to become the next prime minister, with authority over domestic and economic affairs.

NORFOLK, Virginia — Ashley Branton has earned a living as a psychic medium for seven years, helping a growing number of people with heavy choices about toxic relationships, home purchases and cross-country moves. And while the tarot cards are never wrong, she said, they didn't see this one coming. The City Council in Norfolk, Virginia, repealed a 45-year-old ban this week on "the practice of palmistry, palm reading, phrenology or clairvoyance, for monetary or other compensation." Soothsaying, it turned out, had been a first-degree misdemeanor and carried up to a year in jail. "I had no idea that was even a thing," Branton said with a laugh Thursday among the crystals in her Norfolk shop, Velvet Witch, where she also performs tarot readings and psychic healings. "I'm glad it's never come down on me." It's unclear exactly why this city of 230,000 people on the Chesapeake Bay, home to the nation's largest Navy base, nullified the 1979 ordinance. Versions of the ban had existed for decades before. Norfolk spokesperson Kelly Straub said in an email that it was repealed "because it is no longer used." City Council members said little during their vote Tuesday, although one joked that "somebody out there predicted that this was going to pass." Jokes aside, the city's repeal comes as the psychic services industry is growing in the U.S., generating an estimated $2.3 billion in revenue last year and employing 97,000 people, according to a 2023 report from market research firm IBIS World. In late 2017, a Pew Research Center survey found that most American adults identify as Christians. But many also hold New Age beliefs, with 4 in 10 believing in the power of psychics. A 2009 survey for the Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project found about 1 in 7 Americans had consulted a psychic. Branton, 42, who previously worked as a makeup artist, said the market is expanding for psychic mediums because social media has fueled awareness. An aversion to organized religion also plays a role, along with the nation's divisive politics and a growing sense of uncertainty, particularly among millennials and younger generations. "Ever since COVID, people have been carrying this weight. They're just carrying so much," Branton said. "And people are starting to do inner work," she continued. "They're starting to take care of their mental health. And they're starting to take care of the spiritual aspect." Branton said she considers her work a calling. Psychic gifts run in her family, and she's had them her whole life. "I always had interactions with spirits," she said. "I've always been an empath. I can feel people's energies." Branton said she's built up her clientele through word of mouth, without any advertising. "I'm very proud of that," she said. "There's going to be scammers and people out here doing this for just the money. Obviously, this is my way of living now. But it was never about money for me." In 2022, AARP warned of scam psychics who prey on "people who are grieving, lonely or struggling emotionally, physically or financially." And some bans remain in place. In October, the police chief in Hanover, Pennsylvania, told a witchcraft-themed store that any complaints about tarot card readings would prompt an investigation, The New York Times reported. The police chief cited an old state law that makes it illegal to predict the future for money. In 2007, the city of Philadelphia cited the same law when it shut down more than a dozen psychics, astrologers and tarot-card readers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Fortune telling bans stemmed from anti-witchcraft and anti-vagrancy laws in 18th century England, said Charles McCrary, a professor of religious studies at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. The American laws took hold in the mid-19th century, an era of growing concern about fraudulent business practices, McCrary said. But the Spiritualism movement, which often involved channeling the dead, was also growing in popularity, particularly among the middle and upper classes. "There was something about these white, Spiritualist women that I think troubled a lot of people," McCrary said. "Part of what made it threatening was it couldn't be written off as something that poor people do or something for the marginal," he added. "It was very popular. And so more mainstream Christians found it especially threatening. And a lot of people were Christians who also did seances." Such laws faced little scrutiny from the courts at first, said David L. Hudson, a law professor at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a fellow with the Freedom Forum think tank in Washington. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld a state law in 1928 that regulated fortune telling, writing that "liberty of speech is not license to speak anything that one pleases freed from all criminal or civil responsibility." Other courts reasoned that fortune telling was commercial speech, which received no First Amendment protection until the mid-1970s. More recently, courts have increasingly viewed bans on fortune tellers with skepticism on First Amendment grounds. Maryland's Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that fortune telling for a fee is protected free speech. "We've come a long way, both in terms of social norms and social acceptance," Hudson told The Associated Press, likening psychic readings to tattoos. "But also there's been a massive development of First Amendment law ... It's very disfavored to entirely ban a medium of expression." Even though Norfolk's ban was practically forgotten and no longer enforced, Carol Peterson is relieved about the repeal. She owns the Crystal Sunflower, a store in Norfolk that offers tarot card readings and vibrational sound therapy. She is also a civilian geologist for the military. "I was like, 'Oh my God, I could get a class one misdemeanor,'" Peterson said. "People have this misconceived notion that tarot is evil or demonic," Peterson added. "But you're helping people tap into their highest self for their journey. And if people would be more curious instead of judgmental, I think that they would be pleasantly surprised."

Kampala, Uganda — The University of Cambridge has repatriated more than three dozen traditional artifacts to Uganda in a major act of restitution welcomed by the local officials who sought them.  Some of the objects were shown exclusively to AP journalists on Wednesday. The British university returned the 39 items, which range from tribal regalia to delicate pottery, to the East African country on Saturday.  The items remain the property of the collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge, which is loaning them to Uganda for an initial period of three years, said Mark Elliott, the museum's senior curator in anthropology.  Elliott described it as "very much a museum-to-museum collaboration" that stems from years of talks about the possibility of returning objects deemed "exceptionally powerful and exceptionally sensitive to communities whose belongings they were."  The objects, selected by Ugandan curators, represent a small fraction of about 1,500 ethnographic objects from Uganda that Cambridge has owned for a century. Cambridge acquired most as donations from private collections, and many were given by an Anglican missionary active in Uganda in the 1890s and early 20th century.  Uganda was declared a British protectorate in 1894. Independence came in 1962.  "It's about putting these objects back in the hands of the Ugandan people," Elliott said. "These objects have been away from home for so long."  The next step is to "research their contemporary significance and to help make decisions about their future," he said.  The Uganda Museum in the capital, Kampala, is expected to put on a temporary exhibition of the objects next year.  Uganda's agreement with Cambridge is renewable, allowing for the possibility of a permanent loan and perhaps local ownership, said Jackline Nyiracyiza, Ugandan government commissioner in charge of museums and monuments.  "Sixty years that have passed for us now to get 39 objects," she said. "We are working now with the Cambridge team to ... see that we talk to other museums and be able to repatriate others maybe next year or within the near future."  Ugandan officials, seeking such restitution, first traveled to Cambridge in 2022 as more African governments started to demand accountability over items of aesthetic or cultural value that were looted before and during the colonial era.  Elsewhere in Africa, including the West African nation of Nigeria, there have been successful restitution events in recent years.  Nelson Abiti, principal curator of the Uganda Museum, spoke of the Cambridge deal as a breakthrough that could prove exemplary for other museums with ethnographic items from Uganda.  "This is the biggest single movement of objects returned to the African continent" in recent years, Abiti asserted.  Still, restitution remains a struggle for African governments, and the African Union has put the return of looted cultural property on its agenda. The continental body aims to have a common policy on the issue.

ABUJA, Nigeria — Traces of highly potent opioids known as nitazenes have for the first time been found to be consumed by people who use drugs in Africa, according to a report released Wednesday by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a nonprofit organization. Nitazenes, powerful synthetic opioids, have long been in use in Western countries as well as in Asia where they have been associated with overdose deaths. Some of them can be up to 100 times more potent than heroin and up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl, meaning that users can get an effect from a much smaller amount, putting them at increased risk of overdose and death. The report focused on Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau and is based on chemical testing of kush, a derivative of cannabis mixed with synthetic drugs like fentanyl and tramadol and chemicals like formaldehyde. Researchers found that in Sierra Leone, 83% of the samples were found to contain nitazenes, while in Guinea-Bissau it was identified in 55%. "The GI-TOC ( Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime) believes that these results are the first indication that nitazenes have penetrated retail drug markets in Africa," the report said. Many young people in West and Central Africa have become addicted to drugs with between 5.2% and 13.5% using cannabis, the most widely used illicit substance on the continent, according to the World Health Organization. In Sierra Leone where kush is one of the most widely consumed drugs, President Julius Maada Bio this year declared war on the substance, calling it an epidemic and a national threat. Nitazenes have been detected repeatedly in substances sold to young people in the region such that users are most likely ingesting them "without knowing the risks they face," Wednesday's report said. The authors said their findings suggest that nitazenes are being imported into Sierra Leone from elsewhere and that the substance being sold as kush in Guinea-Bissau was of similar chemical composition to that found in Freetown. Officials in the two countries must deploy chemical testing equipment as a first step in tackling drug abuse, the report said. "Without this, it is impossible for the government of Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and the wider subregion to accurately monitor the countries' illicit drug markets and develop evidence-based responses," it said.

BRAMPTON, Ontario — All four ice rinks at Susan Fennell Sportsplex are full of action on this winter Saturday morning, the air filled with the sound of hockey skates grinding through ice and pucks clanging off the glass. The scene is as familiar as the sunrise in countless rinks across Canada. Hockey remains a beloved pastime, a source of pride and joy and something that has knitted the vast nation together for more than 150 years. Behind the scenes of the goals and celebrations is an alarming trend: Youth hockey participation in the cradle of the sport has decreased by nearly a quarter over the past decade and a half, a decline that began well before the pandemic from a peak of over half a million kids taking part as recently as 2010. Because of growing costs for everything from equipment and ice time to specialized coaching and travel programs, families are choosing other sports like soccer and basketball over hockey. There are concerns about the future of grassroots hockey in the country that has nourished it into the popular, vibrant sport that is seeing growth elsewhere, including the United States. "It does sadden me," said Alex Klimsiak, who coaches two teams in Brampton as his way to giving back to the game he still plays recreationally in suburban Toronto at the age of 44. "Enrollment's probably been declining for the last five, six years. Definitely before the pandemic you could see it. A pandemic just put a magnifying glass and escalated it." In 2022, about two months after Canada celebrated what was then its 18th world junior hockey championship, the CEO of hockey equipment giant Bauer, Ed Kinnaly, declared: "The number of kids getting involved in hockey in Canada is spiraling downward ... but nobody's talking about that." At the time, Hockey Canada reported 411,818 youths younger than 18 participating in the sport, a 22% drop from 523,785 just 13 years earlier, not counting an introductory program that is has been separated from registration numbers since 2021. That number slightly rebounded in 2023 to 436,895 but is still below pre-pandemic levels even while soccer and tennis numbers in Canada have already recovered. "I'm concerned but I'm not panicked," Kinnaly told The Associated Press. "I'm concerned obviously at what the numbers say. I'm not panicked because I do believe that the sport is evolving. I do think the right people — the National Hockey League, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, private corporations — are all starting to have the honest dialogue with each other, which is, A, we've got to stop talking about what's wrong and, B, we've got to start investing in change for the sake of the sport." Choices beyond hockeyFew things are more closely associated with Canada than hockey, a place where kids and adults alike look forward to winter and lakes and ponds freezing over so they can lace up their skates, push a net out and play some shinny. When Canada faced the U.S. in the 2010 Olympic final on home ice in Vancouver, half the country's total population watched Sidney Crosby score the "golden goal," etched into national lore. Millions are watching Edmonton this spring as the Oilers try to end the nation's 31-year Stanley Cup championship drought. Yet the sport may no longer be the go-to for kids in Canada. According to the Canadian Youth Sports Report released last summer by Solutions Research Group, soccer is the top choice at 16%, followed by swimming, hockey and basketball. Raw participation numbers for the sports are not comparable given differences in registration requirements across various governing bodies. Parents cited financial issues as their top concern (58%), followed by family care and youth mental health, including bullying. There are some concerns, too, that the time needed for practices and drills even at the lower levels of competitive hockey is part of the problem. "It definitely is a big commitment," said Priyanka Kwatra, whose 10-year-old son Shawn has developed a love for the sport and plays in suburban Toronto. "It's a very time-consuming sort of sport." Time-consuming in large part because of the limited availability of ice that pushes practices and games to very early in the morning or late at night. Many youth programs train nine months or more per year, on the ice three to five times a week along with off-ice workouts. When her husband, Amit, first looked at equipment for Shawn, the $1,000 price tag was a shock. Add to that limits on available ice for practices or for fun and games and basketball or soccer suddenly seem easier. "Getting someone into hockey, it's not as simple as getting someone into soccer where you just need a soccer ball," Amit Kwatra said. "Hockey, the amount of gear that's required in order to kind of get the game started is a lot, and I think that is the biggest barrier for a lot of people that initiate their kids into hockey." Other sports can also feel like a safer choice than hockey with its speed, hits and sharp skates. Gianfranco Talarico is the founder of Daredevil Hockey, which has been making cut-proof gear for more than a decade. He said his company's feedback and surveys have shown safety and cost are the biggest things hindering a more rapid growth of the sport. "It's so intertwined in the fabric of Canadians," he said. "If we don't collectively focus on making hockey a safer sport, the potential brand equity of hockey in general will start to diminish." 'Professionalization of hockey'During All-Star Weekend in Toronto, the NHL put on a youth event in nearby York. With daughter Sharon, Priyanka and Amit watched their son on the ice, he and more than 100 other young players all in their first set of gear provided by Bauer as part of NHL/NHLPA First Shift, one of many learn-to-play efforts intended to keep hockey in Canada's bloodlines. "It's a low-cost entry point, and then it obviously is able to accelerate growth because it provides opportunity," said Matt Herr, a former NHL player who is now the league's senior director of youth hockey and industry growth. "Especially in Canada, we're competing now where it used to be the pastime. ... it was everybody's first choice, and now there's all these different choices and we've got to make sure we're still everybody's first choice." Herr and others know the equipment costs are potentially becoming a barrier. The quality of sticks, helmets and pads has increased sharply thanks to technological advances, but with that comes higher pricing — and with that comes the risk of leaving out lower-income families eager to try hockey, especially with higher levels of the sport running nearly year-round. Rachael Bishop for her 2017 honors thesis at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, found a massive gap between the household incomes of families in hockey compared with other sports, an indication of the means necessary to afford it. "I do think it's more so probably a factor of cost, and we're seeing it become prohibitively expensive now," Bishop told The AP. "You see the professionalization of hockey: It's a full-year sport now: You've got to join summer leagues, you want to get all the best equipment. Then there's always like power-skating lessons, summer camps, so I think a lot of it is cost more so than anything." Klimsiak, the Brampton coach, estimated that the cost of being on a competitive team — the ones that travel to tournaments and have multiple set practice times as opposed to recreational teams — starts at $4,000, with some teams charging $10,000 or more. He said some Toronto hockey organizations are combining resources because there aren't enough players to go around. "The cost of the game has gone up," said Klimsiak, who has three sons playing, one on his team, which he has trouble finding goaltenders for. "Referee costs have gone up. It's tough. It's proportional. It's like cost of living, so everything's gone up and now unfortunately the parents have to pay more." Cost is something University of Toronto professor Simon Darnell is all too aware of. The parent of a 9-year-old playing competitive hockey, the expert in sports culture and sociology calls costs one of the "exclusionary practices in hockey that go back a long time," along with the culture of winning and the obsession over climbing up to the next team. Darnell, acknowledging the willingness to shell out money for ice and other expenses, also understands the early-morning, nearly year-round aspect of hockey is one of factors keeping some out. "It's like if you don't want to participate in hockey on those terms, then there isn't as much space for you I think as there should be," Darnell said. "It's if you don't want to play by those rules, then there isn't space for you and then you go and play a different sport." Stopping the slideA further concern: Are there enough ice rinks to accommodate hockey as a source of fun and character-building for children? Canada's population, now nearly 40 million, has doubled in 50 years, and the International Ice Hockey Federation reports there are still just 2,860 indoor ice rinks across the sprawling country. Renting ice can cost hundreds of dollars just for 1-2 hours. Kinnaly pointed to a 2019 Parks and Recreation Ontario plan to invest $2 billion over the next two decades on 45 new soccer fields, 30 basketball courts, 18 indoor pools and a single hockey rink as further cause for concern "The number of rinks that are in disrepair or have closed further compresses the availability of ice time," Kinnaly said. "If there aren't places for people to play, it's going to continue to be a headwind, a real challenge." Programs like First Shift and Scotiabank's Hockey For All are among the steps being taken to stop the slide. Kinnaly said Bauer's program has been "immensely successful" at not only getting kids into hockey but keeping them, with a retention rate around 60%, and has discussed ways of introducing new Canadians to the game like equipment being part of the welcome package upon signing up for a checking account. But there are still systemic issues, from crumbling infrastructure and a lack of new rinks to inflationary pressure on pricing. The woes are not being seen at the NHL level, where revenue continues to rise and fan interest is growing. In the U.S., youth hockey participation has slowly grown to nearly 400,000 registered players. Instead, the existential crisis for the home of hockey exists at places like the Brampton rink, where the players and fans of tomorrow are developed. There are encouraging signs, such as hockey still being the preferred sports for First Nations youth and nearly 40% of First Shift participants being girls as the women's game gets more attention — but the overall trend has presented a painful question that must be answered. "I don't think hockey can rest on its position in a way that it used to, and there's part of me that's OK with that," said Darnell, the Toronto professor. "I think it makes sense if we're going to invest in hockey in Canada as somehow representative of Canadian culture that we actually need to think about what does Canadian culture look like and is it reflected in hockey? Because right now it's not."

ATHENS, Greece — Desperate hands clutched at Ali Elwan's arms, legs and neck, and screams misted his ears, as he spat out saltwater and fought for three hours to keep afloat in the night, dozens of miles from land.  Although a poor swimmer, he lived — one of just 104 survivors from the wreck of a dilapidated old metal fishing boat smuggling up to 750 migrants from North Africa to Europe.  "I was so, so lucky," the 30-year-old Egyptian told The Associated Press in Athens, Greece, where he works odd jobs while he waits to hear the outcome of his asylum application. "I have two babies. Maybe I stay(ed) in this life for them."  Thousands have died in Mediterranean Sea shipwrecks in recent years as migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa seek a better life in the affluent European Union.  But the sinking of the Adriana a year ago Friday in international waters 75 kilometers (45 miles) off Pylos in southern Greece was one of the worst. Only 82 bodies were recovered, so that hundreds of families still lack even the grim certitude that their relatives are dead.  Travelers seek 'best life' Elwan, a cook whose wife and children are in Cairo, said he still gets phone calls from Egypt from mothers, brothers and wives of the missing.  "We (left) home to get best life for family and until now (their families) know nothing about them," he said.  And after a year there are only hazy answers as to why so many lives were lost, what caused the shipwreck, and who can be held answerable.  Migrant charities and human rights groups have strongly criticized Greece's handling of the sinking and its aftermath.  Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said Thursday "a credible process for accountability" was needed.  "It is unconscionable that one year since this horrific tragedy, the investigation into the potential liability of (Greece's) Coast Guard has barely progressed," HRW official Judith Sunderland said in the groups' joint statement.  The Greek coast guard, migration ministry and other officials did not respond to AP requests for comment ahead of the anniversary.  Authorities had a coast guard boat on the scene and merchant ships in the vicinity during the trawler's last hours. They blame smugglers who crammed hundreds of people into an unseaworthy vessel — most in an airless hold designed to store a catch of fish — for a nightmare voyage from Libya to Italy.  They also say the Adriana capsized when its passengers — some of whom wanted to press on for Italy after five dreadful days at sea, others to seek safety in Greece — suddenly surged to one side, causing it to lurch and turn turtle. And they insist that offers to take the migrants off the ship were rebuffed by people set on reaching Italy.  Elwan — who says he was on deck with a clear view of what happened — and other survivors say the lurching followed a botched coast guard attempt to tow the trawler. He claimed the coast guard hurriedly cut the towline when it became evident the Adriana would sink and drag their boat down with it.  "If you find the ship (at the bottom of the sea), you will find this rope" still attached to it, he said.  But the logistics make such a feat nigh-on impossible, Greek authorities say, as the ship rests some 5 kilometers (more than 3 miles) down, at one of the Mediterranean's deepest points.  The coast guard has denied any towing attempt, and allegations that its vessel tried to shift the trawler into neighboring Italy's area of responsibility.  A naval court began investigating last June, but has released no information on its progress or findings.  Court drops charges Separately, in November Greece's state ombudsman started an independent probe into authorities' handling of the tragedy, bemoaning the coast guard's "express denial" to initiate a disciplinary investigation.  Last month, a Greek court dropped charges against nine Egyptians accused of crewing the Adriana and causing the shipwreck. Without examining evidence for or against them, it determined that Greece lacked jurisdiction as the wreck occurred in international waters.  Effie Doussi, one of the Egyptians' defense lawyers, argued that the ruling was "politically convenient" for Greek authorities.  "It saved the Greek state from being exposed over how the coast guard acted, given their responsibility for rescue," she said.  Doussi said a full hearing would have included testimony from survivors and other witnesses, and let defense lawyers seek additional evidence from the coast guard, such as potential mobile phone data.  Zeeshan Sarwar, a 28-year-old Pakistani survivor, said he's still waiting for justice, "but apparently there is nothing."  "I may be looking fine right now, but I am broken from the inside. We are not getting justice," he told the AP. "We are not receiving any information about the people of coast guard ... that the court has found them guilty or not."  Elwan, the Egyptian, said he can still only sleep for three or four hours a night.  "I remember every second that happened to me," he said. "I can't forget anything because (I) lost friends in this ship."  A journey of life and death The journey that preceded the wreck also was horrendous.  Survivors said Pakistanis were confined in the hold and beaten by the crew if they tried to stir. But Arabic-speaking Egyptians and Syrians enjoyed the relative luxury of the deck. For many, that spelled the difference between life and death when the ship capsized.  "Our condition was very bad on the first day because it was the first time in our life that we were traveling on the sea," Sarwar said.  "If a person ... tried to vomit, then they used to say that you have to do it right here on your lap, you can't get (outside)," he said. "On the fifth day, people were fainting because of hunger and thirst. One man died."  Elwan said he left for Europe secretly, telling his wife he would be away for months, working at an Egyptian Red Sea resort.  He's upset that he's still to be granted asylum, unlike many Syrian survivors who, he said, have moved on to western Europe.  "Only people from Egypt can't get papers," he said. "I've been working for 10 months to send money for my family ... If someone says come and move rubbish, I will go and move this rubbish, no problem for me."  If he gets residence papers, Elwan wants to work in Greece and bring his family over.  Otherwise, "I will go to Italy, maybe Germany. I don't know." 

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