Economy
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
In opening of Winter Olympics, chances at politicking abound

By Adam Schreck Feb. 04, 2022 07:08 AM EST

FILE - A 1988 photo provided by China's Xinhua News Agency shows Communist Party Leader Xi Jinping, right, then secretary of the Ningde Prefecture Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), participates in farm work during his investigation in the countryside. Born in Beijing in 1953, Xi enjoyed a privileged youth as the second son of Xi Zhongxun, a former vice premier and guerrilla commander in the civil war that brought Mao Zedong's communist rebels to power in 1949. At 15, Xi Jinping was sent to rural Shaanxi province in 1969 as part of Mao's campaign to have educated urban young people learn from peasants. (AP Photo/Xinhua, File)
President Xi Jinping, China's 'chairman of everything'

By Joe Mcdonald Feb. 02, 2022 08:22 PM EST

FILE - A woman holds up a ligt candle and a phone showing the image of the 1989 tank man protester during a candle vigil to mark the anniversary of the military crackdown on a pro-democracy student movement in Beijing, outside Victoria Park in Hong Kong, Friday, June 4, 2021. As Beijing prepares to hold the Winter Olympics opening in February 2022, China's president and party leader Xi Jinping appears firmly in control. The party has made political stability paramount and says that has been the foundation for the economic growth that has bettered lives and put the nation on a path to becoming a regional if not global power. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
From Tiananmen to Hong Kong, China's crackdowns defy critics

By Ken Moritsugu Jan. 27, 2022 12:20 AM EST

FILE - Chinese authorities test fireworks ahead of the Aug 8 start of the Olympic Games on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Saturday, Aug 2, 2008. Richer, more heavily armed and openly confrontational, China has undergone history-making change since the last time it was an Olympic host in 2008. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
China 2008 vs 2022: Richer, stronger, more confrontational

By Joe Mcdonald Jan. 25, 2022 11:08 PM EST

French Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian attends a press conference after a meeting with his New elected German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, at the Quai d'Orsay, in Paris, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Gonzalo Fuentes, Pool Photo via AP)
Germany warns Russia will pay a price if it enters Ukraine

By Frank Jordans And Thomas Adamson Dec. 09, 2021 06:14 AM EST

FILE - Protesters raise a Tibetan flag and a banner in protest at the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics at the Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. A global trade union body has joined a long list human-rights advocates in challenging the propriety of China holding the 2022 Winter Olympics, and has singled out the International Olympic Committee for acquiescing in the face of alleged genocide and crimes against humanity reportedly taking place China. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis, File)
Beijing Olympics get 'gold for repression' in labor report

By Stephen Wade Nov. 09, 2021 12:16 AM EST

Residents wearing masks wait at a bus stop in Beijing Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. China's "zero tolerance" strategy of trying to isolate every case and stop transmission of the coronavirus has kept kept the country where the virus first was detected in late 2019 largely free of the disease. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China keeps virus at bay at high cost ahead of Olympics

By Joe Mcdonald And Huizhong Wu Sep. 21, 2021 08:32 PM EDT

FILE - In this July 23, 2021, file photo, fireworks illuminate over the National Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The price tag for the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion. Tokyo built eight new venues. The two most expensive were the National Stadium, which cost $1.43 billion, and the new aquatic center, priced a $520 million. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
Tokyo Olympics cost $15.4 billion. What else could that buy?

By Stephen Wade Aug. 06, 2021 10:11 PM EDT

Hidilyn Diaz of Philippines competes in the women's 55kg weightlifting event, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Euphoric Philippines, rewards greet Olympic gold winner home

Jul. 28, 2021 09:41 AM EDT

A protester stands to oppose South Korean President Moon Jae-in's possible visit to Japan in front of a building which houses Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 19, 2021. Moon has decided not to visit Japan for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, citing a failure to set up a summit with Japan's prime minister that would produce meaningful results in improving relations. The signs on a banner at left read "Expel Hirohisa Soma, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, from South Korea." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
With no summit, South Korean president to skip Olympics

By Kim Tong-Hyung Jul. 19, 2021 05:41 AM EDT

Members of Uganda’s Olympic team arrive at Narita Airport in Narita, near Tokyo Saturday, June 19, 2021. A member of the team has tested positive for the coronavirus and was barred entry into Japan, in the first detected infection among arriving athletes for the Tokyo Games opening in five weeks. (Sadayuki Goto/Kyodo News via AP)
Uganda Olympic team member tests positive for coronavirus

By Yuri Kageyama Jun. 19, 2021 09:07 PM EDT

IOC urges US government to help curb Saudi broadcast piracy

Feb. 04, 2021 01:22 PM EST
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Aiming to curb Saudi Arabia's piracy of Qatar-owned sports broadcasts, the International Olympic Committee has urged the U.S....

A closed chairlift in Cortina D'Ampezzo , Italy, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. The granite peaks that majestically encircle the northern Italian winter resort of Cortina glimmer with one of the most prolific snowfalls in years, a cruel joke of nature as Italy’s ski areas have been laid silent by the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Mountain heartbreak: Italy has deep snow, closed ski resorts

By Colleen Barry Feb. 03, 2021 03:47 AM EST

FILE - In this Aug. 7, 1932, file photo, American athlete Jean Shiley, from Philadelphia and captain of the U.S. Women's track and field team, clears the bar at 5 feet, 5 ¼ inches to break the Olympic and world record during at Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles, during the Summer Olympic Games. (AP Photo/File)
Los Angeles' first Olympics set template for future Games

By Joe Reedy Jul. 30, 2020 02:28 PM 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

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2020, file photo, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Los Angeles 2028 organizers in Beverly Hills, Calif. At least 70% of U.S. Olympic sports organizations have applied for government loans in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a chilling figure that underscores the frailties embedded within the world’s most dominant Olympic sports system. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
AP Exclusive: 70% of US Olympic sports applied for PPP funds

By Eddie Pells May. 08, 2020 12:09 PM EDT

FILE - In this March 26, 2020, file photo, Jason Hackedorn looks into Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians baseball team, in Cleveland. With the distinct possibility of pro sports resuming in empty venues, a recent poll suggests a majority of U.S. fans wouldn't feel safe attending games anyway without a coronavirus vaccine.(AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)
The Latest: Churchill Downs to open stables, race minus fans

Apr. 29, 2020 08:51 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 30, 2020, file photo, a man jogs past the Olympic rings in Tokyo. The chief executive of the Tokyo Olympics has promised “transparency” on Thursday, April 23, 2020, with the Japanese public over the cost of postponing the games until next year. Neither the Japanese Olympic organizers nor the International Olympic Committee has said what it will cost. Early estimates in Japan range between $2 billion and $6 billion. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Tokyo Olympic CEO promises 'transparency' over cost of delay

By Stephen Wade Apr. 23, 2020 08:01 AM EDT

Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori, left, and CEO Toshiro Muto, right, attend teleconference with International Olympic Committee member John Coates, who heads the inspection team for Tokyo Olympics, in Tokyo Thursday, April 16, 2020. Tokyo Olympic organizers and the IOC said Thursday they will cut some of the extras out of next year’s postponed games, an attempt to limit what is expected to be billions of dollars in added expenses.(Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)
Tokyo Games won't provide much economic stimulus for Japan

By Stephen Wade Apr. 17, 2020 01:12 AM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2019, file photo, fans hold up a sign for equal pay during the second half of an international friendly soccer match between the United States and Portugal in Philadelphia. The United States won 4-0. Last summer's Women's World Cup in France, as well as this summer's Olympics in Tokyo, and the rising emphasis on gender equity has put the spotlight on women's sports. But the coronavirus pandemic threatens to derail those gains globally. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
Women's sports likely to bear brunt of coronavirus fallout

By Anne M. Peterson Apr. 16, 2020 02:06 AM EDT