Funny old world: The week's offbeat news
From America's new raccoon football star to why the mullet is more than a hairstyle... your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.
- Raquinho makes soccer history -
Forget Lionel Messi. The biggest star in US Major League Soccer this week was a runaway raccoon.
The furry pitch invader provided far more entertainment than the teams when he stopped the match between Philadelphia Union and New York City, nimbly evading the posse of stadium staff sent to capture him.
Despite lacking real pace, the mammal left one lumbering security guard who tried to trap him with a bin breathless, and showed impressive footwork to evade several others.
Delighted fans united to support him, chanting "Raccoon! Raccoon!" until he was finally snagged.
Philadelphia Union said the beast was later "safely released" back into the wild.
Major League Soccer dubbed the raccoon "Raquinho" -- as if it were a Brazilian football star -- and said he had made history.
"Raquinho the Raccoon spent 161 seconds on the field tonight, which was the most by a raccoon in @MLS history," it quipped on X.
- Haircut taste forgot is back -
The mullet may be having a moment, with everyone from Miley Cyrus to football and rugby stars again sporting a haircut that many thought safely confined to the dustbin of history.
While some in the style police see this as a sign of "societal collapse", the true keepers of the flame finally feel vindicated.
Reigning Intercontinental Mullet Champion Nicolas Van Der Kelen -- known as "El Gueu" or "El Hick" in the mullet world -- told AFP that he is not surprised by its renaissance.
"The Spirit of the Mullet is the freedom to think what you want, to be what you want," he said at the European Mullet Championships in Belgium, one of the last redoubts of the hairstyle before it spread out again across the shoulders of the world like dandruff.
With its short front and long back -- or "business in front, party in the back" as the mullet motto goes -- it is hugely practical, its fans argue. For a start, wearers don't get sunburned red necks, something mullet-heads are often unjustly accused of being.
Lolita Demoustiez, a judge at the contest, said the mullet was more than a haircut. "There's the mullet on the outside and then there's the mullet on the inside... it's a philosophy of life," she insisted, you have to live it.
- Honey I shrunk my stamen -
Bee still my beating heart... A miracle honey cure for impotence could be knocking thousands of middle-aged Turkish men flat every year.
"Mad honey", which is harvested high in the stunning Pontian Alps behind Turkey's Black Sea coast from rhododendron flowers, has been prized for its restorative powers since ancient times.
But doctors say the aphrodisiac can also cause hallucinations, dizziness and knock both man and beast flat.
Two years ago a young brown bear was found unconscious near beehives after overindulging on the "mad honey", officials said.
Professor Abdulkadir Gunduz said rather than giving men back their pep, it can sometimes cause rapid and deflating drops in blood pressure.
"More than 80 percent of intoxicated patients (he sees in hospital) are men over 50," the doctor said. "Some believe (the honey) ups their sexual performance."
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