Human rights and civil liberties

FILE - Adam Rippon of the United States reacts following his performance in the men's free figure skating final in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Rippon, who came out publicly in October 2015, was the first openly gay athlete to represent the United States in Olympic competition. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Adam Rippon looks back at his role in 2018 Olympics

By Barry Wilner 29 minutes ago

A student poses for a photo with the Olympic flame and torch during an event to display the Olympic torch and flame at the Beijing University of Posts and Communications in Beijing, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. China is limiting the torch relay for the Winter Olympic Games to just three days amid coronavirus worries, organizers said Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. The flame will be displayed only in enclosed venues that are deemed "safe and controllable," according to officials speaking at a news conference. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

China mandates 3-day Olympic torch relay amid virus concerns

24 hrs ago

A man gets a throat swab for the COVID-19 test at a mobile coronavirus testing facility a residential area in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. With just over two weeks before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, residents of the Chinese capital say they’re disappointed at not being able to attend events because of coronavirus restrictions that have seen parts of the city placed under lockdown. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Beijing residents disappointed Olympics will be closed event

Jan. 19, 2022 04:12 AM EST

Student activists wear masks with the colors of the pro-independence East Turkistan flag during a rally to protest the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, outside the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. Dozens of students staged the rally demanding the cancellation of the Beijing Olympics over alleged human rights violations against Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in China's region of Xinjiang. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

Olympic athletes urged by activists not to criticize China

By Graham Dunbar Jan. 18, 2022 11:56 AM EST

FILE - Fireworks explode over the National Stadium during the opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Aug. 8, 2008. Ai is one of China's most famous artists, and many regard him as one of the world's greatest living artists. Working with the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, he helped design the Bird's Nest stadium, the centerpiece of Beijing's 2008 Summer Olympics. The stadium will also host the opening ceremony for Beijing's Winter Olympics on Feb. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)

The AP Interview: Exiled artist Ai Weiwei on Beijing Games

By Stephen Wade Jan. 18, 2022 12:01 AM EST

Natalie Geisenberger of Germany speeds down the track during her first run of the Luge World Cup women race in Sigulda, Latvia, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Roman Koksarov)

German luge star Geisenberger says she's going to Olympics

By Tim Reynolds Jan. 17, 2022 01:44 PM EST

FILE - Staff members rehearse a victory ceremony at the Beijing Medals Plaza of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China on Jan. 3, 2022. The Beijing Winter Olympics are fraught with potential hazards for major sponsors, who are trying to remain quiet about China's human rights record while protecting at least $1 billion they've paid to the IOC. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

IOC major sponsors mostly muted in runup to Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Jan. 11, 2022 12:11 AM EST

FILE - Yasuhiro Yamashita, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee, poses for photographers prior to a press conference Monday, June 28, 2021, in Tokyo, ahead of the opening of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 23. Japan announced Friday, Dec. 24, 2021, it won't send a delegation of ministers to represent the government at the Beijing Games but three Olympic officials will attend, a mixed response to a U.S.-led move to boycott the games to protest China's human rights conditions. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee President Seiko Hashimoto, Kazuyuki Mori, the president of the Japan Paralympic Committee, and Yamashita will attend. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Japan won't send government delegation to Beijing Olympics

By Mari Yamaguchi Dec. 23, 2021 11:39 PM EST

FILE - Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, listens to a reporter's question during a press conference as Coe visited an athletics test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games at National Stadium in Tokyo, Sunday, May 9, 2021. With track and field adding another Diamond League event in China, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe addressed the human rights issues in the country during his state-of-the-sport talk Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)

Coe discusses adding meet in China in state-of-track talk

By Pat Graham Dec. 21, 2021 03:40 PM EST

Austrian leader: won't go to Beijing games, but no protest

Dec. 14, 2021 02:53 AM EST
BERLIN (AP) — Austria's leader says no high-ranking politicians from his country will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, but he says that is entirely because of...

FILE - Demonstrators hold placards and flags during a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in London on Dec. 9, 2021. The location of the Winter Olympics in Beijing is certain to draw global attention to acts of genocide against the Uyghur people committed by the Chinese government. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

As Olympics open, Uyghurs set to take rights case to court

By Stephen Wade Dec. 13, 2021 11:38 PM EST

FILE - Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia competes during the women's 10 km free style race at the Davos Nordic FIS Cross Country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, on Dec. 16, 2018. The 2022 Olympics is just weeks away with China a more problematic host than expected for a Winter Games that had once seemed destined for Europe. The past weekend of World Cup ski events in two upscale Swiss towns that wanted to stage these Olympics showed what might have been. Games in snow-covered resorts with decades of winter sports tradition and without diplomatic boycotts or talk of human rights records. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP, File)

Swiss ski resorts show what 2022 Olympics could have been

By Graham Dunbar Dec. 13, 2021 07:10 AM EST

Portugal's Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva, right, greets German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. European Union foreign ministers met Monday to discuss how to thwart the threat of a possible new Russian invasion of Ukraine and what measures to take should Moscow decide to send its troops across the border. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

EU has little appetite to join US diplomatic Games boycott

By Raf Casert Dec. 13, 2021 07:08 AM EST

A visitor to the Shougang Park walks past the a sculpture for the Beijing Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. China on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, threatened to take "firm countermeasures" if the U.S. proceeds with a diplomatic boycott of February's Beijing Winter Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China dismisses UK, Canada Olympic boycott as 'farce'

Dec. 09, 2021 06:05 AM EST

Canada joins US and allies in Beijing Olympics boycott

By Rob Gillies Dec. 08, 2021 12:52 PM EST
TORONTO (AP) — Canada will join the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns...