'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.
U.S. President Joe Biden is holding talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday. It remains unclear whether they will do a prisoner exchange deal, though Putin said beforehand he was open to one.
Here are some of the individuals who could be freed if such a swap was agreed.
Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine who was arrested for alleged spying, listens to the verdict in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, Monday, June 15, 2020. (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP)
Washington has demanded the release of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine convicted of espionage last June and sentenced to 16 years in jail. Whelan has denied spying and says he was set up in a sting operation.
Moscow said that Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, had been caught red-handed with classified information in a Moscow hotel room where agents from the Federal Security Service detained him on Dec. 28, 2018.
Whelan said he was in Russia for a wedding and on holiday and set up by a Russian man he thought was a friend.
Whelan, who is being held in a high-security prison eight hours drive from Moscow, denounced the proceedings against him last June as a "sham trial." Russia has sent mixed signals as to whether it would be ready to free him in a deal.
This image shows Trevor Reed in 2015 while fishing in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Paula Reed via AP)
The United States has criticized the trial of Trevor Reed, another former U.S. Marine jailed for nine years last July, as the "theater of the absurd" and lacking serious evidence.
Russia convicted Reed, a student at the University of North Texas, of endangering the lives of two police officers who had detained him in August 2019 when he grabbed an officer who was behind the wheel of a car, causing the vehicle to swerve dangerously.
Reed said he could not remember the events because he was drunk when detained after leaving a party in Moscow, but denied the charge in court after hearing what he said was the flimsy evidence presented during the trial and the investigation's failure to obtain video evidence that could prove his innocence.
In comments which upset his family, Putin, in an NBC interview before the summit, described Reed as "a drunk" and "a troublemaker."
"As they say here, he got himself shitfaced and started a fight. Among other things, he hit a cop," said Putin.
The United States is holding Viktor Bout, a Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year prison sentence for plotting to sell missiles to people he thought were Colombian rebels. (Drug Enforcement Administration/WikiMedia)
The United States is holding Viktor Bout, a Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year prison sentence for plotting to sell missiles to people he thought were Colombian rebels.
Bout, subject of a book called “Merchant of Death” and inspiration for a film “Lord of War” starring Nicolas Cage, was arrested in Thailand in 2008.
U.S. authorities said he had agreed to sell arms to U.S. undercover agents posing as Colombian guerrillas planning to attack American soldiers.
Bout, who protested his innocence, was convicted in 2011 and Russia has long sought his release.
He is now in a prison in Marion, Illinois, and only eligible for release in January 2030.
Russia has long urged Washington to release pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving 20 years in the United States for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the country. He was arrested in Liberia in 2010 in a DEA sting operation and flown to the United States.
Moscow has portrayed Yaroshenko, who says he is innocent, as the victim of an illegal kidnapping by Washington.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in 2019 called for Yaroshenko to be freed in exchange for "an American or Americans who are serving their sentence here."
Putin, in his pre-summit NBC interview, mentioned Yaroshenko.
"Our pilot Yaroshenko has been in prison in the U.S. for ... I don't know how many years, 15, maybe 20 years. And there also the problem seems to be a common crime. If the U.S. side is prepared to discuss it, so are we."
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
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.