Nation & World Glance
Patriotism, unease mix as Russia marks Victory Day
Red Soviet flags and orange-and-black striped military ribbons are on display in Russian cities and towns. Neighborhoods are staging holiday concerts. Flowers are being laid by veterans’ groups at monuments to the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is known in the country.
At first glance, preparations for Monday’s celebration of Victory Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, seem to be the same as ever.
But the mood this year is very different, because Russian troops are fighting and dying again.
And this battle, now in its 11th week, is going on in neighboring Ukraine, against what the government has falsely called a campaign against “Nazis.”
The pride and patriotism usually associated with Russia’s most important holiday, marked by a huge parade of soldiers and military hardware through Red Square, is mixing with apprehension and unease over what this year’s Victory Day may bring.
Havana hotel death toll at 31 as dogs search for survivors
HAVANA – The death toll of a powerful explosion at a luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital increased to 31 Sunday evening as search crews with dogs hunted through the rubble of the iconic, 19th century building looking for people still missing.
The Hotel Saratoga, a five-star 96-room hotel in Old Havana, was preparing to reopen after being closed for two years when an apparent gas leak ignited, blowing the outer walls into the busy, midmorning streets just a block from the country’s Capitol building on Friday.
Several nearby structures also were damaged, including the historic Marti Theater and the Calvary Baptist Church, headquarters for the denomination in western Cuba. The church said on its Facebook page that the building suffered “significant structural
damage, with several collapsed or cracked walls and columns (and) the ceiling partially collapsed,” though no church workers were hurt.
In releasing the names of those who were killed, the Health Ministry said the dead included four minors, a pregnant woman and a Spanish tourist, whose companion was seriously injured.
The ministry also said 54 people were injured, with 24 hospitalized. It previously reported 85 injured, but that tally turned out to include those killed by the explosion.
Dictator’s son a front-runner as Filipinos elect next leader
MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos were voting for a new president Monday, with the son of an ousted dictator and a champion of reforms and human rights as top contenders in a tenuous moment in a deeply divided Asian democracy.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the strongman ousted in a 1986 army-backed “People Power” uprising, has led pre-election surveys with a seemingly insurmountable lead. But his closest challenger, Vice President Leni Robredo, has tapped into shock and outrage over the prospect of another Marcos
recapturing the seat of power and harnessed an army of campaign volunteers to underpin her candidacy.
Eight other candidates, including former boxing star Manny Pacquiao, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and former national police chief Sen. Panfilo Lacson have lagged far behind in voter-preference surveys.
Long lines of voters turned up early across most of the country without any major incident. But in southern Maguindanao province, a security hotspot, unidentified men fired at least three grenades Sunday night in the vicinity of the Datu Unsay town hall compound, wounding nine villagers who traveled there in advance from far-flung villages to be able to vote Monday. Two other grenades exploded shortly after in nearby Shariff Aguak town but caused no injuries, police said.
The winner will take office on June 30 for a single, six-year term as leader of a Southeast Asian nation hit hard by two years of COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns.
Swiss find cocaine stash amid coffee bean bags
GENEVA — Swiss police say an investigation is underway after workers at a Nespresso warehouse in
western Switzerland found 500 kilograms (over 1,100 pounds) of cocaine, with a street value of $50 million, as they unloaded coffee beans that had arrived by train.
Regional police in Fribourg said late Thursday they were alerted Monday by the company to the discovery at the facility in the town of Romont and immediately set up a “broad security perimeter” around it with a large deployment of officers. Customs and border control agents were called in.
Early indications were that the shipment turned up in five containers that had arrived by sea from Brazil before being transferred onto a train, authorities said.
“The cocaine seized has an 80% degree of purity and its market value is estimated at more than 50 million francs,” the police said, adding that the stash appeared “destined for the European market.”
On Friday, the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction reported that cocaine availability in Europe “is probably at an all-time high.”
Switzerland is not an EU member but is part of the Schengen zone that allows for visa-free travel among many European countries.
The monitoring center said it estimates the EU cocaine retail market was worth at least 10.5 billion euros ($11.1 billion) in 2020, while cautioning that the figure was likely to underestimate the true size of the market.
It said the largest quantities of cocaine are seized in Belgian, Dutch and Spanish ports, but increasing amounts are turning up at ports elsewhere “suggesting that trafficking groups are extending their activities to ports where cocaine interdiction measures may be perceived as less intensive.”
Swiss food and drinks giant Nestle, which owns Nespresso, sought to reassure customers that “all our products are safe to consume.”
“We have strict quality controls in place for green coffee arriving at our warehouses right up to the finished product,” the Vevey, Switzerland-based company said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “The substance in question did not come into contact with any of our products or production equipment used to make our products.”