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Most people would find just getting on top of a unicycle challenging, let alone actually maneuvering it. However, some athletes are not only doing that but also playing hockey competitively whilst doing so.

Some of Australia’s best players in this unusual sport compete in one of the rounds of the Australian Unicycle Hockey championship.

Players from teams across Australia, from Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney are battling against each other as the remaining teams get whittled down. “I love how it's so high energy and everybody is so into it. And you've got to be here in one place and focusing on this spot and it's so, chaotic,” says player Hannah Sheperd.

Player Michael Watson says interest in the game is growing following a fall during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Before COVID, we had 6 or 7 of these interstate competitions in a year. It was bigger, we had more teams, but at the moment we're recovering numbers,” says Watson.

Unicycle Hockey shares much of the same rules as traditional hockey. Balance, speed and accuracy are all necessary skills for the sport, which is particularly popular in Europe and the United States.

“Same as standard hockey games, the nets are the same, we use ice hockey sticks and tennis balls and the rules are pretty much the same, but you can't come off,” says player David Buchanan.

Players of all ages can be seen participating─from teenagers to old-timers in their 60s.

“Age doesn't matter. It's just the best because it doesn't matter how old you are. It's just what you can do,” says Watson.

While the rules of the game do not allow for contact between players, contact with the ground is inevitable, even for the most skilled players. However, it doesn’t take long for competitors to get back in the saddle.

“It probably doesn't take much longer to learn to ride than a bike, you really just have to get a unicycle which is very cheap and a wall, and find some YouTube videos and just stick at it,” says player Steven Hughes.

This article was provided by The Associated Press. 

Consumers are increasingly struggling to pay their credit card bills, raising concerns about severe delinquencies spiraling and sapping consumer spending.

The share of credit card debt that’s more than 90 days overdue rose to 10.7% during the first quarter, a 14-year high, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s report on first-quarter household debt.

A year ago severe delinquencies totaled only 8.2% of credit card debt. The first-quarter jump in severe delinquencies was the biggest since 2011. Meanwhile, total credit card debt rose to $1.12 trillion from just under $1 trillion a year ago.

Those in their 20s and 30s are having the most difficulty paying their credit card bills. Those age groups typically have a mix of less earning power and lower savings.

The Federal Reserve hiked its key interest rate to a 23-year high to combat four-decade-high inflation, which peaked in June 2022 at 9.1%. Those rate increases made borrowing more expensive on mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.

Consumer spending fuels economic growth, so trouble paying credit card bills is a worrisome signal. The direction of the labor market could determine whether debt stress becomes a bigger concern. Job and wage growth helped counter the hit to consumers’ wallets from rising inflation, but a continued slowdown or reversal there could tip the scales.

“While these indicators do not necessarily predict a recession, especially with a robust labor market, a weakening in employment conditions could exacerbate household financial instability,” said Gregory Daco, EY chief economist. “The combination of subdued job growth, sluggish income progression, and diminished savings could lead to increased delinquencies and a potential retrenchment in consumer spending.”

Still, retail spending unexpectedly stalled in April is a sign of consumer fatigue and worry. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, has said its customers are spending more on necessities and less on discretionary goods like home furnishings and electronics.

Coffee chain Starbucks lowered its sales expectations for the year as people visit its cafes less often, and McDonald’s is offering more deals as people cut back on fast food and eating out.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Member countries kicked off the World Health Organization's annual assembly with hopes of improving global readiness for deadly outbreaks like COVID-19, after an ambitious "pandemic treaty" ran aground.

Health officials are racing to get the world to agree to new ways to prepare for and fight an inevitable future pandemic. COVID-19 is fading into history as elections and crises like climate change and war compete for the public's attention.

A bold project to adopt a pandemic "treaty" at the World Health Assembly was shelved on May 24 as 2 1/2 years of work ran into disagreements over sharing information about pathogens that cause pandemics and the technology used to fight them.

Experts say the best chance now to address pandemics at the assembly will be the proposed changes to the WHO's International Health Regulations, which were set up in 2004. Amendments would urge countries to boost alert, detection and containment capacities and cooperate internationally.

One proposal would let the WHO director-general declare a "pandemic emergency."

Envoys say a deal is close, but similar disagreements between rich countries and developing ones that set back the pandemic treaty negotiations linger. Issues remain over the proposed "transfer of technology" and the creation of a new fund under WHO in 2030 that would help boost pandemic-fighting capacities "particularly in developing countries."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insists the stalled work on the pandemic treaty was not a failure, and acknowledged an "immense" task on a "very ambitious timeline"—alluding to the many years it usually takes for U.N. member countries to reach global treaties.

"Of course, we all wish that we had been able to reach a consensus on the agreement in time for this health assembly and cross the finish line," Tedros said in opening remarks. "But I remain confident that you still will—because where there is a will, there is a way."

"It's now for this World Health Assembly to decide what that way is—meaning the solution is in your hands," he added.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Ask Google if cats have been on the moon and it used to spit out a ranked list of websites so you could discover the answer for yourself. Now it comes up with an instant answer generated by artificial intelligence—which may or may not be correct.

“Yes, astronauts have met cats on the moon, played with them, and provided care,” said Google's newly retooled search engine in response to a query by an Associated Press reporter. It added, “For example, Neil Armstrong said, ‘One small step for man’ because it was a cat’s step. Buzz Aldrin also deployed cats on the Apollo 11 mission.” 

None of this is true. Similar errors—some funny, others harmful falsehoods—have been shared on social media since Google last month unleashed AI Overviews, a makeover of its search page that frequently puts the summaries on top of search results.

The new feature has alarmed experts who warn it could perpetuate bias and misinformation and endanger people looking for help in an emergency.

“Given how untrustworthy it is, I think this AI Overviews feature is very irresponsible and should be taken offline,” Melanie Mitchell, an AI researcher at the Santa Fe Institute said in an email to the AP.

Google said in a statement that it's taking “swift action” to fix errors that violate its content policies; and using that to "develop broader improvements" that are already rolling out. But in most cases, Google claims the system is working the way it should thanks to extensive testing before its public release.

"The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high-quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web," Google said in a written statement. "Many of the examples we've seen have been uncommon queries, and we've also seen examples that were doctored or that we couldn't reproduce."

This article was provided by The Associated Press. 

White Rose Books & More is part of the ever-expanding and diversifying world of independent bookstores. Even as industry sales were slow in 2023, membership in the American Booksellers Association (ABA) continued its years-long revival. It now stands at 2,433, more than 200 over the previous year, and has doubled since 2016. Around 190 more stores are in the process of opening over the next two years, according to the ABA.

“Our numbers are really strong, and we have a solid, diverse pipeline of new stores to come,” says the book association’s CEO, Allison Hill. She cites a range of reasons for people opening stores, from opposing bans to championing diversity to pursuing new careers after the pandemic.

“Some are opening to give back to their community. And some still just love books,” she said during a phone interview.

Leah Johnson, author of the prize-winning young adult novel “You Should See Me in a Crown” was troubled by the surge in book bans and by what she saw as a shortage of outlets for diverse voices. Last year, she founded Loudmouth Books, one of several independent sellers to open in Indianapolis.

“I’m not a person who dreamed of opening a bookstore. I didn’t want to be anybody’s boss,” Johnson says. “But I saw a need and I had to fill it.”

Independent bookselling has never been dependably profitable, and Hill notes various concerns—rising costs, dwindling aid from the pandemic, and the ongoing force of Amazon.com, which remains the industry’s dominant retailer even after the e-book market stalled a decade ago.

Nikki High, owner of Octavia’s Bookshelf, cites a variety of challenges and adjustments—convincing customers they don’t have to order items from Amazon.com, supplementing sales by offering tote bags, journals, and other non-book items.

“And when we started, [...] we had a ton of different categories. But I found out that short stories and poetry almost never sell for us. People want general fiction, bestsellers, children’s books. Classics sell very well, books by James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and Bell Hooks and June Jordan.”

“It’s incredibly important to listen to your customers.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Will the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation give concertgoers, sports fans, and theater patrons some relief from surging ticket prices?

The lawsuit could potentially lead to a breakup of Live Nation Entertainment, a company that resulted from Ticketmaster’s 2010 merger with concert promoter Live Nation. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the aim is to allow more competition and to let smaller players gain more of the U.S. ticket-selling market—of which Ticketmaster controls a whopping 70%.

More competition could lead to cheaper tickets. But experts say live event lovers shouldn’t expect changes any time soon.

The Justice Department on May 23 accused Live Nation of engaging in a slew of practices that have allowed it to maintain a stronghold over the live music scene. They accused it of using long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing rival ticketers, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, and threatening venues that they could lose money and fans if they don’t choose Ticketmaster.

The uproar that resulted from a myriad of problems Swifties encountered while trying to buy tickets through Ticketmaster for the pop star’s Eras Tour in 2022 shined a light on cracks in the U.S. ticketing system.

State attorneys general—30 of whom have joined the Justice Department’s lawsuit—started probing Ticketmaster. The widespread social media outcry even led to a Senate hearing.

Ticket prices have gone up for multiple reasons, including a huge surge in demand after the COVID-19 pandemic. And as anyone who has tried to score tickets to a popular event knows, service fees and ticket resales can push prices up much higher, in some cases into the thousands of dollars.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit alleges that having a giant company like Live Nation Entertainment exacerbates markups since it controls so much of the market.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which have long clashed with artists and fans, have always denied they act in a monopolistic manner. They say service fees go to concert venues and that outside competition has “steadily eroded” Ticketmaster’s market share.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.