From how Burkina Faso has had it with headcases to France’s most self-service wine cellar… your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

– How laid-back –

Burkina Faso is trying to persuade its most famous amateur stuntman to wear a helmet now he is 72.

But Rasmane Ouedraogo — known as “Rastafou” (or Crazy Rasta) — who speeds around his hometown of Koudougou lying on his moped and steering it with his feet, is not convinced.

National television gifted him with head to toe protection gear but Rastafou has been reluctant to wear it, saying, “I’m continuing with my stunts, trusting in God.”

Motorbike helmets are compulsory in the West African country but few Burkinabe wear them, and many of those that do don’t fasten them.

But with a terrible death toll on the roads, the government wants a “helmet revolution”. And even Rastafou, who has ended up in hospital several times, may have to take notice.

“It is not wise to do as I do but I have a lot of experience,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

– Just like us –

He’s the fourth richest man in the world, but when Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg visited the gourmet paradise that is Japan, where do you think he ate?

McDonald’s of course. Zuckerberg posted pictures of his tray of chicken nuggets, teriyaki burger and fries. “Japanese McDonald’s: 10/10. Give these guys a Michelin star,” he wrote.

He and his wife later flew on to India, where Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, who spent $100 million on his daughter’s marriage, was holding a pre-wedding party for his son. Sadly for Zuckerberg, McDonald’s is not likely to be on the menu.

– Hidden bonuses –

As Zuckerberg would surely agree, nothing is too good for the workers. That was also the view of a French farm labourer who was caught stealing four bottles of wine from the winery he was working in. When police searched his home, they found 7,000 more bottles of fine burgundy worth half a million euros stashed in his and his mother’s cellar.

The 56-year-old admitted that for 15 years he had been helping himself to the odd bottle or two from wineries where he worked around Beaune, home of nine of the 10 most expensive wines in the world.

The man said he just loved good wine, and prosecutors say there is no evidence he sold a single bottle.

– Lucky brake –

A runaway train barrelled 70 kilometres (43 miles) across India without a driver after a crew change went disastrously wrong. The engine and its 50 carriages shot off solo from the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir into neighbouring Punjab, hitting speeds of 100 kilometres an hour before it was stopped. Miraculously no one was hurt.

– No turding back –

Politicians that walk the talk are a rare breed. But French President Emmanuel Macron is prepared to put his body on the line by swimming in the Seine to prove his government has cleaned all sewage from the river for the Paris Olympics this year.

“I’ll do it, but I won’t give you the date,” he told reporters, with the city’s mayor saying she would also take the plunge.

– Swiss rolling in it –

Swiss banks are not renowned for their generosity. But Zurich Cantonal Bank double paid the city’s municipality after a computer glitch. Staff have unfortunately got to pay the money back, though one cheeky chap wrote to his bosses to say, “Thank you. Please repeat.”

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