From Japan’s pungent superfood to medieval combat in France, here are this week’s most unusual international stories.
Royal fan duty
Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt, Master of the Household to King Charles III, was spotted following the monarch with a portable fan during Britain’s heatwave at London Climate Week.
The role requires anticipating the king’s every whim as his chief aide.
Despite the unusual task, it’s an improvement over historical royal positions – past courtiers included the “Groom of the Stool,” whose duty was to wipe the royal behind.
Nigerian twins marry twins in rare double wedding
Two sets of twins with identical first names married each other in a lavish ceremony that stunned Nigeria.
Taiwo and Kehinde Oguntoye wed Taiwo and Kehinde Adediran in an unprecedented union.
The Adediran sisters initially resisted, saying “No, we don’t want to date twins!” before the brothers won them over.
All four are from the Ibadan region, famous for its unusually high twin birth rate.
Master of ceremonies Dupe Aduroja Giwa remarked, “I have never seen this in my life.”
Natto: Japan’s stinky superfood goes global
Natto – slimy, sticky, fermented soybeans – is emerging as Asia’s latest divisive superfood.
Exports have tripled in the past eight years as international consumers develop a taste for the traditional Japanese breakfast.
The beans must be sprayed with specific bacteria to achieve the right “bitter stinkiness.”
American Wesley Smith, eating at a Tokyo all-you-can-eat natto restaurant, compared its aroma to cheese that “smells like dirty socks.”
Like Korean kimchi, natto’s pungent smell, viscous texture, and yeasty taste divide even native consumers.
Dream job: $50,000 to watch every World Cup game
Two American men landed paid positions to watch all 104 World Cup matches.
Austin Franklin, 29, and Kevin Akoto, 26, are broadcasting from a fishbowl studio in New York’s Times Square.
Akoto quit his job and ended his relationship to become Fox Television’s “chief World Cup watcher.”
“The employer took it well, the individual not so well, but that’s okay,” Akoto told AFP.
Missing millionaire in France
Someone in northern France is unknowingly a multimillionaire.
A lottery winner who purchased a ticket in rural Normandy won €13 million ($14.7 million) in April but hasn’t claimed it.
The winner had until midnight Monday to claim the prize or lose everything.
Medieval combat lives on in southern France
Fighters gathered in Onet-le-Chateau for “behourd” – traditional medieval combat, the Mayor calls “the mixed martial arts of the Middle Ages.”
Participants battle in full armour using axes, clubs, and swords.
The brutal sport permits headbutting, wrestling, and low blows with fists, feet, elbows, knees, and shields.
The event offers a stark contrast to modern mixed martial arts competitions.
