Robots dance and cheer in an otherwise empty stadium during a game between Nippon Professional Baseball league teams SoftBank Hawks and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Fukuoka, Japan, July 7, 2020. /Reuters
Between a global pandemic, racial unrest, natural disasters and looming economic crises, there are plenty of bleak stories making headlines every day. So here is a pick of the week's funny, quirky and surprising news from around the world to help alleviate the doom.
Robot dance party
There have been dolls, cardboard cutouts and now: robots. Faced with playing in an empty stadium, like so many other athletes around the world, Japanese baseball team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks brought in about 40 robots to dance and wave in the stands ahead of their game against the Rakuten Eagles on Tuesday.
Clearly, the encouragement worked as the Hawks won their game 4-3.
Eeyore calling…
An animal sanctuary in Uxbridge, Canada has found an original way of raising money since it had to close its doors to visitors amid the pandemic. For a small donation, people can get Buckwheat the Donkey to crash their Zoom calls.
Aside from providing comic relief during professional meetings, the money raised also helps take care of the Farmhouse Garden Animal House's other residents: about 20 cows, chickens, ducks and a horse.
So far, Buckwheat and her animal friends have crashed about 100 meetings, according to the sanctuary.
Meet Buckwheat. /AFP/Farmhouse Garden Animal Home
Old… but valuable
Two volumes of a Chinese Ming-dynasty (1368-1644) encyclopedia sold for a whopping 1,000 times the estimated price at an auction in Paris on Tuesday.
The lot was originally valued at 5,000-8,000 euros (5,600-9,000 U.S. dollars) but ended up fetching 6.4 million euros (7.2 million U.S. dollars), according to the auction house website.
The books are actually 16th-century copies of the 15th-century "Great Encyclopedia in the Reign of Emperor Yongle", described as the largest of its kind in the world, but they remain rare artifacts, given that the original was lost several centuries ago.
Hajj, disinfected
Pilgrims this year will experience Hajj with a difference. The annual pilgrimage to Mecca usually draws millions of people, but amid fears of COVID-19 contagion, Saudi authorities have limited the number of people who can attend.
Not only that, pilgrims will be given plastic bottles of holy water instead of drawing it themselves from the Zamzam well. And bags of sterilized pebbles will be handed out for the ritual stoning of the devil, instead of worshipers collecting the tiny stones on their way to Mecca, as is the custom, according to AP.
No such crowds at the Hajj this year. /AP
It's not easy being green
Traveling to far-away places is on hold for most people at the moment, but not for one tiny frog who hitched a ride clandestinely with a shipment of bananas from Colombia to the UK recently.
The amphibian, barely larger than a thumb, was found by staff at an ASDA supermarket in southern Wales last week, having survived the journey surprisingly well, even without food or drink. The mini frog was named Asda and has now been sent to a specialized center, Sky News reported.
Book your prayer time
Worshipers wishing to visit one mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, for Friday prayers are now required to book a spot online. The Sulaimani Mosque introduced this as part of safety precautions against COVID-19 after it was allowed to reopen, the News24 website reported. Only 50 people are allowed and they must wear a mask and bring their own prayer mat.
The pandemic has forced churches and religious leaders worldwide to find new ways to administer to their flock, with one priest in the U.S. notoriously spraying holy water on his congregation members with a plastic water pistol to maintain a safe distance.