The British resort of Blackpool has produced an eye-popping video seeking to add some Gallic chic to its traditional English seaside image.

To a mournful piano soundtrack and amid artfully-shot Parisian-style cafe decor, a young woman speaking strangely-accented French is seen writing home, lamenting that her boyfriend Frank has got a job in London. A slow-moving camera shows a roofscape with what looks like the Eiffel Tower (in fact Blackpool's own seafront tower) in the background but then the boyfriend arrives, with a thick Lancashire accent.

The camera pans out to reveal the Parisian cityscape which is in fact Blackpool, the pride of Lancashire on the northwest English coast, more well known in Britain for wet weekends and and its pleasure beach.

Tourism chiefs defended the 90-second video, called J'aime la Tour (I love the Tower), saying it was commissioned "to show the charming continental side to Blackpool.

"We've harnessed the power of YouTube and a sexy French accent to attract visitors who may have traditionally felt that Blackpool was not for them," said a statement on the website of VisitBlackpool.com. (AFP)

Theme park causes controversy

A sex theme park in China that exhibits naked human sculptures and boasts a sex technique workshop is stirring up howls of protest.

Love Land, billed as China's first-ever sex theme park, is slated to open in Chongqing in October, but detractors hope the project will never see the light of day.

"We are building the park for the good of the public... to help adults enjoy a harmonious sex life. Sex is a taboo subject in China but people really need to have more access to information about it,"was quoted park manager Lu Xiaoqing as saying.

Besides displays on sex history and techniques, the park boasts a giant rotating statue of the lower portion of a nearly naked woman bent over at the waist. The announcement of the opening of the park elicited numerous comments from internet users, with the majority of postings voicing opposition to the park. Officials also registered their disquiet with the explicit images on offer. (AFP)

Cupid flight for US singles

Air New Zealand has decided to offer a lonely hearts trip for US singles to New Zealand in what it is billing as the world's matchmaking flight.

American singles are being offered the chance to fly from Los Angeles to "get amongst it" with New Zealanders at the "Great Matchmaking Ball" in Auckland.

Before take-off passengers will attend a pre-flight gate party at Los Angeles Airport, and themed food, drink, entertainment and games will be offered during the long flight. Earlier this week the airline launched a domestic TV ad showing staff including baggage handlers, pilots and cabin crew at work wearing very little but body paint. (AFP)

Eurovision eyes Africa, MidEast

Critics may mock the Eurovision Song Contest for being kitsch, but at its core it is a growing business which is now going global.

The Switzerland-based European Broadcast Union (EBU), an association of broadcasters from 56 countries, wants to expand the format for one of the most-watched annual TV events in Europe to countries across the world.

Bjoern Erichsen, director of the EBU's TV unit, said investors have signed a deal to make a version of the contest for the Middle East and North Africa. He said they were also close to finalising a deal for a contest called Song of Africa in sub-Saharan Africa.

Song of Africa said it was negotiating with African broadcasters and planned to start the competition after the soccer World Cup in South Africa next year. (Reuters)

Tries to hire prostitute for son, 14

A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court yesterday.

The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.

But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer. The man was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child.

The judge said he would spare the father jail because of his excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son. (Reuters)