Tower's a Hot Ticket ... for Fraud

If the Eiffel Tower remains the only major central Paris monument to make a profit, it is no thanks to its cashiers, 10 of whom who are to go on trial next month for allegedly embezzling la Vieille Dame de Fer - as she is usually known - out of 1m euros.

The scam was discovered last year when a new plan to cut back the interminable queues at the tower, which is visited by 6.4 million people a year, exposed what its management called a "significant difference" between the number of tickets printed and the cash receipts in the till.

"It seems what was happening was that the tower's computerised ticketing system, which was repeatedly breaking down, was actually being switched off manually by some unscrupulous cashiers," a police spokesman said.

"A number of tickets supposedly destroyed during the breakdowns were in fact sold in clandestine negotiations out of the sight of supervisers."

Erected in 1889 for the Universal Exhibition, Paris's most emblematic landmark is made from 7,300 tonnes of steel but was never intended to be permanent, and still has plenty of detractors.

The author Guy de Maupassant detested it so much that he used to lunch there regularly - to avoid having to see it.

But the 324 metre (1,062ft) monument is now so popular that its managers, SNTE, last year announced plans to dig a new five-storey centre beneath its feet to boost capacity.