SWEDEN
Bearded villains do good
Alerted by a passerby that bearded men with a black flag were acting suspiciously at Brahehus Castle in Jonkoping County, police found to their relief that it was not a group of Islamic State sympathizers, but a meeting of hirsute do-gooders. John Ekeblad, cofounder of the Swedish chapter of the Bearded Villains, on Monday said the incident on Saturday ended with police acknowledging their mistake and even ignoring the brotherhood’s illegal parking on the roadside. Ekeblad said the incident was “hilarious,” and that police drove off laughing. He said the group promotes equality and does charity work. Founded last year in Los Angeles, Bearded Villains calls itself “a brotherhood of elite bearded men from all over the world” on its Web site.
UNITED STATES
Running couple says ‘I do’
One couple ran away to get married — at the Chicago Marathon. Stephanie Reinhart wanted a “short and sweet ceremony,” while Mark Jockel wanted a big wedding surrounded by friends and family. The 35-year-old Reinhart and 46-year-old Jockel compromised, marrying at the 8-mile (12.9km) mark of Sunday’s marathon in the city’s Boystown neighborhood. Reinhart wore a white running outfit and held flowers. Jockel wore a tuxedo T-shirt. They exchanged vows under a garden arch decorated with race medals. The ceremony took less than four minutes. Reinhart said she got her simple wedding and Jockel got “several thousand guests.” Marathon organizers gave the couple customized bride and groom bibs. They toasted with Gatorade. The couple met two years ago through the Chicago Area Runners Association.
UNITED STATES
Clarke: sexiest woman alive
It is most definitely Emilia Clarke’s year. The 28-year-old Londoner, who plays menacing, white-haired Daenerys Targaryen, aka Khaleesi, aka Mother of Dragons on Game of Thrones, is Esquire’s “Sexiest Woman Alive.” The magazine made the announcement early yesterday, but GQ got there first, anointing Clarke “Woman of the Year” last month. In addition to her high-profile role on the massively popular HBO series, Clarke was Sarah Connor in the summer movie hit Terminator: Genisys.
UNITED STATES
Sex toy rally against guns
From Aug. 1 next year, licensed Texans will be allowed to carry concealed weapons on the campuses of public universities. As a protest against the law, a group of students have decided to enter classrooms carrying different accessories: dildos. Organized by Jessica Jin, a 24-year-old alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin, under the banner of Campus (Dildo) Carry, on Aug. 24 next year, students and others who want to participate will enter the university campus with sex aids strapped to their backpacks. The movement began as a joke, Jin told the Houston Chronicle, because dildos are “just plain funny.” However, she added that dildos point to deeper issues regarding the carrying of guns and the way society talks about obscenity. Carrying dildos around campus will “spotlight the masturbatory nature of the power which people derive from gun ownership,” Jin said. “Additionally, the dildo has proven itself to be interesting fodder for commentary on what our society does and does not consider ‘obscene.’” Since Jin formed the idea for the protest on Friday, the day of a campus shooting at Texas Southern University, the movement has grown. More than 4,600 people have pledged to participate.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia