Cold War rivalries split the Olympics in Moscow in 1980

EDITORS — With the Tokyo Olympics postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press is looking back at the history of Summer Games. Here are some of the highlights of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. The Cold War made for decades of tense Olympic battles between the United States...

Afghan council frees Taliban prisoners to set up peace talks

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A traditional Afghan council concluded Sunday with hundreds of delegates agreeing to free 400 Taliban members, paving the way for an early start to negotiations between Afghanistan's warring sides. The declaration calls for an immediate start to negotiations and a cease-fire. The...

North Macedonia police find 94 migrants hidden in truck

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Police in North Macedonia say they have found 94 migrants packed into a truck in a the country’s southeast. A police patrol stopped the truck with Macedonian national license plates late Saturday near the town of Radovish, 110 kilometers (68 miles) southeast of the...

Traditional Afghan council meets on release of 400 Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A traditional council met Friday in Kabul to decide whether to release a final 400 Taliban prisoners, the last hurdle to negotiations between Afghanistan’s political leadership and the Taliban under a peace deal the insurgents signed with the United States earlier this...

Afghan council to decide whether Kabul releases 400 Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan officials say a traditional consultative council will convene Friday to decide whether the last 400 Taliban prisoners will be released as part of a peace agreement, even as its Health Ministry says half of Kabul's residents are infected with the coronavirus. The...

The Latest: Japan governor touts gargling product for virus

TOKYO — A governor in Japan is drawing skeptical criticism after he touted a gargling product as effective against the coronavirus, an assertion that, despite its dubiousness, emptied some store shelves of the medicine. Shares of Shionogi & Co. and Meiji Holdings Co., which make Isojin, soared in Tokyo...

Afghan forces retake prison after deadly attack by IS group

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group stormed a prison in eastern Afghanistan in a daylong siege that left at least 39 people dead, including the assailants, and freed nearly 400 of their fighters before security forces restored order, a government official said...

Afghan official says at least 21 people killed, 43 wounded in ongoing Islamic State attack targeting prison

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan official says at least 21 people killed, 43 wounded in ongoing Islamic State attack targeting prison.

Islamic State gunmen, suicide bomber attack Afghan prison

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a complex attack by a suicide car bomber and multiple gunmen against a prison in eastern Afghanistan, which Afghan officials said killed at least three people and injured 24 others. The hourslong gunbattle between Afghan...

Afghan troops kill senior Islamic State militant

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's intelligence service said the country's special forces killed a high-ranking official with the local Islamic State group affiliate in an operation in eastern Afghanistan. A statement late Saturday by the National Directorate of Security said the slain militant was...