International relations
Chinese attendants dressed in winter costumes rehearse the award ceremony of the men's 500-meters race during a test event for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The organizers of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has started 10 days of testing for several sport events in five different indoor venues from April 1-10, becoming the first city to hold both the Winter and Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
China warns Washington not to boycott Winter Olympics

Apr. 07, 2021 06:04 AM EDT

A protester from the Uyghur community living in Turkey holds up an anti-China placard during a protest against the visit of China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Turkey, in Istanbul, Thursday, March 25, 2021. Hundreds protested against the Chinese official visit and what they allege is oppression by the Chinese government to Muslim Uyghurs in the far-western Xinjiang province. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
EXPLAINER: Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and some options

By Stephen Wade Apr. 07, 2021 02:11 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2018, file photo, Kim Yo Jong, right, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, and Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, center, observe with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, second from left, and first lady Kim Jung-sook during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. North Korea has decided not to participate in this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo as it continues a self-imposed lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic. A website run by the North's Sports Ministry said the decision was made during a national Olympic Committee meeting on March 25, 2021 where members prioritized protecting athletes from the “world public health crisis caused by COVID-19.” (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
EXPLAINER: Why is North Korea skipping the Tokyo Olympics?

By Hyung-Jin Kim Apr. 06, 2021 06:36 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2018, file photo, IOC president Thomas Bach, second from left, and Kim Yo Jong, right, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, talks with players after the preliminary round of the women's hockey game between Switzerland and the combined Koreas at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea. North Korea has decided not to participate in this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo as it continues a self-imposed lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic. A website run by the North's Sports Ministry said the decision was made during a national Olympic Committee meeting on March 25, 2021 where members prioritized protecting athletes from the “world public health crisis caused by COVID-19.” (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
North Korea says it won't participate in Tokyo Olympics

By Kim Tong-Hyung Apr. 05, 2021 09:29 PM EDT

Activists gather in front of parliament before they submit a petition in Tokyo Thursday, March 25, 2021. LGBTQ and other human rights activists submitted a petition with over 106,000 signatures to Japan's ruling party Thursday, calling for an LGBT equality law to be enacted before the Tokyo Games, saying Japan as host nation should live up to the Olympic charter banning gender and sexual discrimination. (Kyodo News via AP)
LGBT groups want equality law in Japan before Tokyo Olympics

Mari Yamaguchi Mar. 25, 2021 06:37 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, exile Tibetans use the Olympic Rings as a prop as they hold a street protest against the holding of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in Dharmsala, India. Some kind of boycott is almost sure to affect next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics. It’s driven by the widely reported internment of several million Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China, which has been termed a genocide by numerous governments and human rights groups. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia, File)
EXPLAINER: What drives possible boycott of Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Mar. 15, 2021 02:33 AM EDT

The logos for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics are seen at an exhibit at a visitors center at the Winter Olympic venues in Yanqing on the outskirts of Beijing, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. A small core of international lawyers and activists are prodding leading Olympic sponsors to acknowledge China's widely reported human-rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetans and other minorities. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Rights groups and Olympic leaders in Beijing Games stalemate

By Graham Dunbar Mar. 12, 2021 09:49 PM EST

Workers gesture near the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre under construction for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou in northwestern China's Hebei province on on Dec. 16, 2020. Calls for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on human rights grounds are “doomed to failure,” a Chinese government spokesperson said Wednesday, March 3, 2021, as lawmakers and political advisers began converging on China's capital for the biggest annual gathering of the political calendar. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China: Calls for 2022 Winter Olympics boycott doomed to fail

Mar. 03, 2021 04:43 AM EST

A countdown clock showing one year to go for the 2022 Beijing Olympics stands near the Olympics Tower, far center, and National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, which will again be a venue for the Olympics, in Beijing on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will open a year from now. Most of the venues have been completed as the Chinese capital becomes the first city to hold both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Beijing held the 2008 Summer Olympics. But these Olympics are presenting some major problems. They are already scarred by accusations of rights abuses including "genocide"against more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic groups in western China. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Human rights, COVID at issue 1 year before Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Feb. 04, 2021 01:20 AM EST

CORRECTS TO THE ASPEN TIMES, NOT THE ASPEN DAILY NEWS - Winter X Games rookie Eileen Gu prepares to drop into the superpipe during women's finals at the 2021 Winter X Games Aspen on Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, in Aspen, Colo. Gu took home the gold in her first superpipe final. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP)
A 17-year-old daredevil could be China's next Olympic star

By Eddie Pells Jan. 30, 2021 10:10 AM EST

People with old Belarusian national flags gather during an opposition rally to protest the presidential inauguration in Minsk, Belarus, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has been sworn in to his sixth term in office at an inaugural ceremony that was not announced in advance amid weeks of huge protests saying the authoritarian leader's reelection was rigged. Hundreds took to the streets in several cities in the evening to protest the inauguration. (AP Photo/TUT.by)
IOC investigating athlete claims of reprisals in Belarus

By Graham Dunbar Oct. 07, 2020 02:38 PM EDT

RETRANSMISSION TO CORRECT DATE - In this photo made from UNTV video, Suga Yoshihide, Prime Minister of Japan, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, at UN Headquarters. (UNTV Via AP )
Japan's new prime minister vows to host Olympics next year

Sep. 25, 2020 07:14 PM EDT

The gates of St. Edwards' Lewis-Chen Family Soccer Field are locked and marked closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Austin, Texas. In response to the economic impact of COVID-19, St. Edwards says they are cutting cut six sports programs including men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf and men's soccer. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The Latest: Pan Pacific swimming won't be held until 2026

By The Associated Press May. 29, 2020 04:54 AM EDT

Swiss Federal president Simonetta Sommaruga, left, and Swiss Federal councillor Alain Berset, right, talk after the media briefing about the latest measures to fight the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic in Bern, Switzerland, Monday, March 16, 2020. The vast majority of people recover from the new coronavirus, according to the World  Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness.(Anthony Anex/Keystone via AP)
Switzerland to grant federal loans to sports bodies

By Graham Dunbar May. 13, 2020 04:01 PM EDT

Stranded foreign tourists cut vegetables to make a meal at a hostel in New Delhi, India, Thursday, April 2, 2020. Dozens of tourists from Britain, Canada and Australia are finding themselves stranded in the Indian capital with their vacations abruptly ended by India’s three-week lockdown and stopping of international flights amid new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Shonal Ganguly)
'Desperate' tourists stranded by India lockdown told to wait

By Shonal Ganguly And Rishabh R. Jain Apr. 03, 2020 01:17 AM EDT

In this photo released by Air New Zealand, an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 is loaded with luggage ahead of its departure for Frankfurt via Vancouver at the Auckland International Airport in New Zealand, Friday, April 3, 2020. About 100,000 tourists stuck in New Zealand since it started a coronavirus lockdown last week are starting to fly home Friday and the flight is expected to land at Frankfurt Main Airport early morning on Saturday 4 April. (Air New Zealand via AP)
100,000 tourists stuck in New Zealand to leave as rules ease

By Nick Perry Apr. 02, 2020 11:28 PM EDT

UN adopts resolution urging global cooperation on COVID-19

By Edith M. Lederer Apr. 02, 2020 08:43 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly unanimously approved a resolution Thursday recognizing “the unprecedented effects” of the coronavirus pandemic...

In this Wednesday, April 1, 2020 photo, Ryan Eble, left, and his father, Chris, talk in their milk house while fresh milk gushes down a drain at the Eble family's Golden E Dairy near West Bend, Wis. Many dairy processing plants across Wisconsin have more product than they can handle and that's forced farmers to begin dumping their milk down the drain. The Eble's are forced to dump 25,000 gallons of milk a day from their 2400 milling cows. The coronavirus has dried up the marketplace for dairy products as restaurants, schools and business in food service have been closed. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
The Latest: India's PM looks to boost country's morale

By The Associated Press Apr. 02, 2020 02:18 PM EDT

People walk by a departures monitor at the Rome Leonardo da Vinci international airport, Thursday, March 12, 2020. Italians woke up to yet further virus-containment restrictions after Premier Giuseppe Conte ordered restaurants, cafes and retail shops closed after imposing a nationwide lockdown on personal movement. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The Latest: Japan's Olympics minister reaffirms no delay

By The Associated Press Mar. 13, 2020 03:14 AM EDT