Philippines nabs Japanese in fake marriage scam
MANILA (AFP) — Philippine authorities said Tuesday they arrested a Japanese man wanted over a fake marriage scam after he walked into the immigration bureau to renew his own visa. Immigration deputy chief Ronaldo Ledesma said Yoshifumi Fujii, 49, was promptly arrested after a surprise appearance at the bureau’s Manila headquarters last week to renew his expired visa. “We were already looking for him after authorities in Tokyo requested assistance, but he basically walked into his own detention”, Ledesma told AFP. “Japanese police and Interpol agents will arrive soon to bring him back to Japan and he will also be blacklisted from returning here.” Fujii operated a crime syndicate preying on Filipino women willing to pay money for fake Japanese marriages, Ledesma said. “He charges them money and arranges the marriages with Japanese men. Once the woman arrives in Japan, she can now work and the man later leaves or divorces her,” he said. “It also works both ways, because the Japanese man can now stay in the Philippines and put up businesses.” Ledesma said investigations by Japanese authorities discovered that Fujii had entered fake documents in the marriage registries at several towns in Japan’s Aichi prefecture.
NYC considers privileges for pregnant women
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Women having difficult pregnancies would get special parking privileges under a proposal to be introduced this week, according to a New York City Councilman sponsoring the bill. The bill suggests that pregnant women be allowed to park in no-parking zones and stand in no-standing zones, said councilman David Greenfield, who plans to introduce the bill at a council meeting on Wednesday.
Russian spy Chapman registers her name as trademark
MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russian spy Anna Chapman has registered her name as a trademark to cash in on her growing popularity since she was deported in a Cold War-style swap last year, Russia›s state patent agency told Reuters on Tuesday. “Maybe she wants to open the ‘Anna Chapman’ dry-cleaner or make cookies,” Nikolai Kravtsov, an official at the agency, told Reuters by telephone, adding that she had registered for the trademark in August. The 28-year-old redhead has posed in lingerie, attended a space launch and even had a sing-along with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin since she returned to Russia following her arrest and expulsion from the United States in July. Chapman, nicknamed Agent “90-60-90” by the Russian press, referring to her alleged measurements, asked to register her name as a trademark for eight lines of merchandise, including vodka, clothing and watches, popular daily Komsomolskaya Pravda reported, saying the trademark would last until 2020.
US town demolished over lead contamination
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) — Most of its residents left, the school closed, the city government was disbanded and starting this week nearly every commercial building in Picher, Oklahoma, will be demolished. But the owner of the last-remaining open business in Picher, which has been vacated over the years because of lead contamination, is not ready to go. “It’s not time for me to leave yet,” said Gary Linderman, owner of Old Miner’s Pharmacy in what is left of central Picher, located in the northeast corner of the state. “I have an obligation to people. We are all creatures of habit and closing might throw them off.” In addition to providing prescriptions, the pharmacy is the only place left in town to buy snack food, beverages, over-the-counter medicine and other necessities.
German wins Empire State Building race for 6th time
NEW YORK (AFP) — Thomas Dold of Germany on Tuesday won the annual race up the Empire State Building, the city’s tallest skyscraper, for the sixth consecutive year. A 26-year-old economics student from Stuttgart, Dold scampered up the 1,576 steps from the lobby to the observation deck on the 86th floor of the building in 10 minutes and 10 seconds, organisers said. The first woman to reach the top of the city’s most famous skyscraper was Alice McNamara, a 24-year-old Australian, who made it in 13 minutes and three seconds. In the windowless stairwells, painted lead gray, the cramped space is itself an obstacle for the runners who must push their way through the throng to win.
