A JAPANESE beach town is attracting male tourists by offering them a virtual girlfriend.

Visitors to Atami are ignoring the bikini-clad girls frolicking on the sand and instead heading straight for a bronze statue to have a photo with "augmented reality'' (AR) females.

The images are created by visitors pointing their smartphone cameras at a tiny black and white square, a two-dimensional barcode that brings to life the object of their desire.

Senator Steve Fielding could yet be returned to Parliament.

For all the delay and confusion about the make-up of the lower house, the election result for the Senate is mostly straightforward, with results tallied in almost all states.

In Victoria, however, one position remains up for grabs, and it has come down to a three-cornered contest between the Family First senator and candidates for the Liberals and the Democratic Labor Party.

The introduction of legislation in the New South Wales Parliament to allow same-sex adoption, has been brought forward to this afternoon in anticipation of passionate and lengthy debate.

The amended bill allows church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to same-sex couples without falling foul of anti-discrimination laws.

THE owner of an Elsternwick adult bookshop has filed a complaint with police after his controversial shop window was plastered with stickers saying “boycott sexism”.

The stickers were authorised by the National Union of Students women’s department as part of a national campaign to highlight demeaning and sexist images in the media.

A man attacked a shopkeeper in Britain after the condom he had purchased split during sex as it was too small.

Jude Ukachukwu went to the store owner and sought a refund, saying his contraceptive had split during sex, The Sun reported Tuesday.

An altercation took place when shopkeeper Sasisedaran Sellathurai refused to return his money. Ukachukwu punched the shopkeeper in his face during the row in Hatfield, Herts.