Amsterdam: The Dutch capital has many delights - illicit and otherwise - to attract and amuse visitors and citizens alike, to which now has been added ... the talking jacks.
From this week, it has become possible to take the counsel of talking toilets expounding on the perils of smoking or the futility of war and berate patrons about their hygiene level.
The first such toilets, fitted with sensors to detect exactly what visitors do and to pass comment if appropriate, have just been installed in a central Amsterdam café. Creator Leonard van Munster, who sees the project as an artistic venture, will build more if the demand arises.
"You might consider sitting down next time," the toilet told a male reporter politely in a female robot voice. The next user was told that, "The last visitor did not take heed of basic rules of hygiene".
Depending on circumstances, the toilet might remind you to wash your hands or ask you to lift the seat.
"It could suddenly start coughing and warn you about the dangers of cigarettes, or name all the cool movie stars who smoke. It just depends what mood it's in," said Mr van Munster.
Johannesburg: A South African man who shot his pregnant fiancée dead before killing himself will be posthumously married to her this weekend.
Police Captain Mohale Ramatseba said David Masenta shot 25-year-old Mgwanini Molomo after a quarrel before turning the gun on himself. But Johannesburg's Sowetan newspaper said family and friends wanted to remember them as a happy couple destined for a happy life together.
The groom's corpse would be dressed in a cream suit and his bride's in a gown for the ceremony, at which a priest in the rural village of Ceres in Limpopo will bless the union before the two are buried, the Sowetan said.
"In African culture, there is no death - there is merely the separation of body and soul," said cultural expert Mathole Motshekga.
"It is also important because the families are married together. This does not mean the relationship has irretrievably broken down."
Sarajevo: Six scrap-metal dealers have been arrested for stealing an Austro-Hungarian-era 13-metre-long iron bridge, Bosnian police said yesterday .
"The six dismantled the iron bridge built 150 years ago and sold its parts to a nearby junk yard last week for 280 Bosnian marka (€145)," said a spokesman for the regional interior ministry.
He said the police were alerted by villagers near the southern town of Mostar who saw the gang loading the bridge parts into vans. The six men, identified by the police as Roma, were arrested.