Life term upheld for ringleader in stalking murder of student
December 19, 2005The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court sentence of life in prison for a man who ordered the 1999 stalking and murder of a 21-year-old female college student who had broken up with his brother. The court rejected the appeal filed by Takeshi Komatsu, a 39-year-old former Tokyo Fire Department employee, against the sentence imposed on him by the Saitama District Court for the murder of Shiori Ino, who was stabbed to death on a street near the Japan Railways Okegawa Station in Saitama Prefecture on Oct. 26, 1999.
Police raid 117 places over building scandal
December 19, 2005Police on Tuesday raided 117 locations in Tokyo and five prefectures, including the offices of property developers and former architect Hidetsugu Aneha, to gather criminal evidence on earthquake resistance data fabricated by Aneha. A joint task force set up by prefectural police of Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa has deployed about 520 officers for the operation that will cover suspected violations of the Building Standard Law, sources close to the investigation said.
Man served warrant over killings of 2 sisters in Osaka
December 19, 2005Police served a new arrest warrant Monday on a 22-year-old man, who had been arrested in early December on suspicion of breaking into a building of a food company, now on suspicion of killing two sisters in their apartment in Osaka's Naniwa Ward in November. Yukio Yamaji has confessed to fatally stabbing Asuka Uehara, 27, and Chihiro Uehara, 19, investigation sources said.
Insurgents claim to have killed American hostage: report
December 19, 2005An extremist group, the Islamic Army of Iraq, claimed Monday to have killed an American adviser taken hostage in Iraq, posting a video on a website that shows a blindfolded man being shot in head, the Associated Press reported. The group did not identify which American hostage it was referring to, but the group claimed last week that the abductors of American Ronald Allen Schulz had killed him.
30-month term sought for ex-railway worker over fatal train accident
December 19, 2005Prosecutors sought a 30-month prison term on Monday for a former employee of Tobu Railway Co. over a March 15 fatal train accident at a manually operated railway crossing in Tokyo's Adachi Ward. ''A remote cause of the accident was the defendant's discount of safety measures and frivolous work attitude. His way of operating (the gate) was against (his company's) rules and that's very corrupt,'' one of the prosecutors said in a trial at the Tokyo District Court.
Man confesses to killing 2 sisters in Osaka
December 19, 2005A 22-year-old man who was arrested Dec. 5 on suspicion of breaking into a building of a food company has confessed to killing two sisters in an apartment in Osaka's Naniwa Ward in November, investigation sources said Monday. The police found a knife used in the murders of Asuka Uehara, 27, and Chihiro Uehara, 19, at a shrine several hundred meters away from the apartment as described by the man, the sources said.