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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (45553)	11/22/2008 2:17:58 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

All Hail Discordia........... Man tells Japanese police he stabbed bureaucrat By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer TOKYO – A man claiming to have fatally stabbed a former health official and his wife in a high-profile case that police believe is linked to the loss of millions of pension records turned himself in to Japanese police on Saturday. Investigators are questioning the man in connection with the stabbing of the couple and an attack on the wife of another retired bureaucrat earlier this week, a metropolitan police official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. It was not clear if the man had confessed to the second attack or if he had given a motive. Police have suspected the attacks were connected to the ministry's mishandling of millions of pension records — a debacle that has drawn intense ire from the public, many of whom lost their retirement funds as a result. Both of the two targeted officials were retired vice health ministers who were key figures in setting up the pension system 20 years ago. Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, and his wife Michiko, 61, were found dead Tuesday near the doorway of their home just outside Tokyo. Hours later, the 72-year-old wife of another former vice health minister was stabbed at their Tokyo home by a man disguised as a delivery man. Yasuko Yoshihara was hospitalized with serious injuries. Her husband, Kenji, was not home. The man has not been arrested yet, the official said. Public broadcaster NHK said police also found a blood-stained knife in the back of the man's car. Police said they believe the two attacks were linked, given similarities in the crimes and the victims' background. In the wake of the stabbings, police beefed up security at the Health Ministry and pension offices, and current and former top officials in the ministry have received protection. The government is still scrambling to match most of the 64 million missing pension records with citizens, who paid large portions of their income over many years so they could get stable pension checks after retirement. Japan has a history of attacks against politicians and officials by extremists. In 1995, Takaji Kunimatsu, then a police chief, was shot by a gunman suspected of links to a doomsday cult he was investigating. Kunimatsu survived despite serious wounds, but the attacker was never caught. Last year, then-Nagasaki mayor Iccho Ito was fatally shot campaigning for re-election.