'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Latvia has threatened to boycott next year's Paris Olympics if Russian athletes are allowed to take part during the war in Ukraine and is calling on other countries to form a coalition to pressure international sports bodies.
The Latvian Olympic Committee is the first national Olympic body other than Ukraine which has threatened to boycott rather than compete against Russia.
It marks a rare challenge from within the sports world to the International Olympic Committee, which wants to let competitors from Russia and its ally Belarus take part as "neutral athletes". The national Olympic committees who send the teams have mostly stayed quiet or backed the IOC, even as politicians in many European countries have said Russia shouldn't return to competition.
"For as long as there is an ongoing war in Ukraine, participation of the Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic Games under any flag is unacceptable," Latvian National Olympic Committee president Zorzs Tikmers said in a statement Wednesday.
A boycott could start soon. Tikmers said Monday that Latvia would send not a team to the Paris Olympics if they were to take place right now with Russian or Belarusian involvement. He broadened that position Wednesday by saying Latvia should boycott Olympic qualifying competitions, which are already under way in some sports, if Russians or Belarusians are allowed in.
"NOC Latvia deems unacceptable for Latvian teams and individual athletes to participate in such international sports competitions that have not expelled Russian and Belarusian athletes from the participation, including the Olympic qualifications competitions," he said.
Latvia called on international sports bodies and countries including Britain, France and Canada to speak out against Russia's involvement and stop Russia and Belarus from gaining "soft power" through sports.
There was no immediate response from the IOC.
Tikmers was himself a silver medallist in rowing for the Soviet Union at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which numerous countries including the United States boycotted in protest after Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan.
Latvia, which borders Russia and regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has been a strong supporter of Ukraine. Latvia is the defending Olympic champion in men's 3-on-3 basketball after beating the Russian team in the gold-medal game in Tokyo in 2021.
Ukraine is steadfastly opposed to letting Russians compete. Any neutral flag for Russia would be "stained with blood," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week. The Ukrainian National Olympic Committee has threatened to boycott and is due to hold talks Friday on the issue. Ukraine boycotted some sports competitions, including Olympic judo qualifiers, last year when Russians competed.
Other national Olympic sports bodies, including the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, back the IOC efforts to find a path for Russians to compete. The IOC is pushing sports federations to allow any Russians or Belarusians who have not been "actively supporting the war in Ukraine" and argues it would be discriminatory to ban athletes based on their citizenship alone.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.