Funny old world: The week's offbeat news

A man wearing a mask plays saxophone on a bridge in the Zaryadye park over the Moskva river in central Moscow on November14, 2021, in front of  the Kremlin on a rainy day. PHOTO / AFP

What you need to know:

  • Elsewhere people dress up to scare the living daylights out of each other at Halloween, but in Scotland they take their clothes off.
  • Six of the seven candidates for its presidential election later this month are now in quarantine after the favourite leftwinger Gabriel Boric tested positive for Covid-19 following TV debates with his rivals.

From a tongue-twisting race horse to a man who wanted to go to prison to escape his wife... Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

 Horse nonsense 
Japanese horse racing commentators cursed their luck after a filly named Sumomomomomomomomo claimed her maiden win.
The three-year-old made a dramatic late surge to claim her first victory at Tokyo's Oi racecourse.
While the horse's unusual name caused some stammering, Japanese television showed a commentator coping admirably with the eight "mo" in Sumomomomomomomomo as she sped down the final straight.
Maybe her first male offspring will be called Sonofsumomomomomomomomo?

 Great Scot! 
Elsewhere people dress up to scare the living daylights out of each other at Halloween, but in Scotland they take their clothes off.
Reporters travelling with US President Joe Biden to the climate change summit in Glasgow were confronted with a chilling sight.

"At one point when we were still on smaller country roads, a large, naked Scottish man stood in his front window taking a picture of the motorcade with his phone," they said.
It was not clear if Biden witnessed the sight from "The Beast", his bullet-proof limousine, or if counselling was offered to those who did. 
However, it clearly made an impression.
The president's motorcade later missed a motorway exit and had to perform an embarrassing U-turn. Flashbacks obviously.

 Lock me up, please 
A man under house arrest in Italy on drug offences pleaded with police to lock him up because he couldn't bear being stuck at home with his wife.
The 30-year-old Albanian living in Guidonia Montecelio, outside Rome, "was no longer able to cope with the forced cohabitation with his wife," the police said. 
"Exasperated, he preferred to escape, presenting himself to the Carabinieri to ask to serve his sentence behind bars," they told AFP.
The story has a happy ending. He is now in jail for leaving his house.

 Politicians grounded 
Some relief this week for Chileans tired of the country's political crisis. 
Six of the seven candidates for its presidential election later this month are now in quarantine after the favourite leftwinger Gabriel Boric tested positive for Covid-19 following TV debates with his rivals.

 Slice of life 
The organisers of a pay-to-view post mortem in the United States defended the event after the family of the dead man said he didn't know he would be dissected in front of a live audience.
Around 70 people forked out up to $500 each to watch a retired anatomist cut up the body of 98-year-old David Saunders in a hotel ballroom in Oregon.
Flyers for the autopsy promised it would be up close and personal, with "cadaver access before, after and during breaks".
But one attendee called Monica insisted it was "very respectful" and in the best possible taste.