UNITED STATES
Explosive cameras found
Police have found two improvised explosive devices in the woods of Harlan County, Kentucky, a week after a man accused of placing the explosives was killed during a search for them. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Mark Sawaf was arrested in June, accused of concealing explosives in trail cameras and leaving them in the woods. Sawaf had been ordered to remain in custody until trial, but was brought to the woods just more than a week ago to help law enforcement find other explosives. Kentucky State Police Trooper Shane Jacobs has said a group that included officers from federal, state and local agencies had found several cameras — usually attached to trees — when Sawaf tried to escape. He was shot and killed during an altercation, Jacobs has said. Sawaf had owned and operated Harlan Counseling Inc since 2014 and had a master’s degree in mental health counseling. Authorities believe explosive devices were scattered over an approximately 8km radius in the eastern Kentucky woods.
UNITED STATES
Eatery shifts gun policy
A Utah restaurant known for kilt-clad servers who openly carry firearms will have to keep them under wraps starting this week. The staff at Sea Bears Ogden Fish House can only carry concealed weapons now that the eatery has relocated to the city’s historic Union Station. Officials with the Union Station Foundation are not allowing open carry of firearms, the Standard-Examiner of Ogden reported. Initially, the contract that foundation executive Elizabeth Sutton negotiated with Sea Bears permitted open-carry, but with conditions. They included owners and wait staff with firearms had to have undergone safety classes and background checks. Also, weapons had to be in holsters and guns could not be longer than 30cm. All weapons could not be permitted outside of the restaurant in other parts of Union Station. However, the Union Station Foundation received complaints that Sea Bears would retain its open-carry policy. As a result, Sutton exercised a provision that Union Station could ban open-carry altogether if the subject became an issue. “In this day and age, to see somebody carrying in public, you don’t know right away if it’s friendly or scary,” Sutton said.
UNITED STATES
Language requirement axed
The average New York City taxi driver might still be sassy, but will not be required to speak English any longer. The change is the result of a new law that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio signed in April and went into effect on Friday eliminating the English proficiency exam for taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers. It is the latest big change for cab drivers as policymakers and regulators try to adapt the city’s requirements to demographic and technological changes. The legislation created a single license for all taxicab and for-hire vehicles and eliminated the English-language proficiency test, according to a New York City Council Web site. The council described the requirement as “a significant barrier to entry to driving a taxi” in a statement announcing the bill and other related legislation in January. The commission is working with the mayor’s office on a potential education program that would include English-language vocabulary for drivers, a spokeswoman for commission said. The new law was part of a broader legislative package that also included a bill to require the commission to directly administer a health care services program.
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