Abductee's sister to file complaint against hijackers' wives
February 23, 2006Fumiyo Saito, 60, the elder sister of a Japanese man who was abducted to North Korea, on Friday will file a criminal complaint with the Tokyo police against the wives of two Japanese citizens who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane to North Korea in 1970 for their suspected involvement in the abduction. Saito's brother, Kaoru Matsuki from Kumamoto Prefecture, disappeared in 1980 at age 26 when he was studying in Europe. North Korea says Matsuki later died in the country.
Moscow market roof collapses, killing 56
February 23, 2006A covered market collapsed in Moscow on Thursday, killing 56 people and injuring around 30 others, the Russian government said. Many others could still be under the wreckage after the roof of the Basmanny market in eastern Moscow caved in around 5 a.m. after heavy snowfall overnight, according to Itar-Tass and other news reports.
Cabinet OKs bills to tighten juvenile laws
February 23, 2006The Cabinet approved Friday bills to revise juvenile and related laws including elimination of a stipulation that juvenile offenders must be at least 14 years old to be detained at juvenile reformatories. A family court will be able to send juvenile offenders under the age of 14 to reformatory institutions if necessary after the Juvenile Law is revised. Under the current system it has only limited options for dealing with them, such as placing them under observation or sending them to juvenile self-support facilities.
Police say crimes using information technology surged in 2005
February 23, 2006Alleged cases of crime using computers, Internet and other forms of information technology grew 51.9 percent from the previous year to 3,161 in 2005, the National Police Agency said Thursday. The sum represented the highest total since 2000 when the agency started collecting such statistics, it said.