■ JAPAN
Missile interceptor deployed
The government deployed its third advanced missile interceptor system yesterday, just south of Tokyo near a major naval base, a defense official said. Air Self-Defense Forces personnel installed the land-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 system at the Takeyama base in Yokosuka, a defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Yokosuka is the site of the country's largest naval base and the homeport of the US Seventh Fleet. The system includes an unspecified number of launchers, a special vehicle equipped with radar and another that serves as a control station. PAC-3 systems were installed at two other bases near Tokyo last year.
■ MALAYSIA
'Anti-Islam' books banned
The government has banned 11 books for allegedly giving a false portrayal of Islam, such as by linking the religion to the mistreatment of women and terrorism, an official said yesterday. It ordered the books -- most of them released by US publishers -- to be blacklisted earlier this month "because they are not in line with what we call the Malaysian version of Islam," said Che Din Yusoh, an official with the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit. The banned books include eight English-language ones, such as The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and its Role in Terrorism, Secrets of the Quran: Revealing Insights Into Islam's Holy Book and Women in Islam.
■ SRI LANKA
Rebels blame army for blast
Tamil Tiger rebels blamed troops for a roadside bomb that killed 17 people, most of them children, on a school bus on Tuesday, but a military spokesman denied the accusation. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the blast occurred in the northwestern district of Mannar. They said in a statement on the group's official Web site that the dead included a school principal and two teachers, one of them a Catholic nun. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara denied the allegation, calling them "fabricated stories."
■ JAPAN
Nuisance caller arrested
A lonely, single and unemployed man has been arrested for allegedly calling directory assistance thousands of times because he liked to be scolded by female operators, police and reports said yesterday. Takahiro Fujinuma, 37, reportedly would whisper "darling" as he tried to start a conversation and then pleaded with operators not to hang up. He was arrested on Tuesday in Tokyo on charges of obstructing the business of service operator NTT Solco. He placed 2,600 calls to directory help between early June and mid-November, a police spokesman said. However, media reports said he was suspected of starting his habit in 2004 and calling the service more than 10,000 times.
■ AUSTRALIA
Retiree wins lotto case
A retiree won a seven-figure lottery prize, lost it and then won it again yesterday via a court ruling. Werner Reinhold bought the lottery ticket at a newsstand in Sydney on Sept. 19, 1995. His original ticket did not print correctly, so he asked for a new one, which turned out to be the winner. But when Reinhold, now 73, went back to claim the jackpot of A$2 million (US$1.8 million), he found that the replacement ticket had been canceled and was unable to claim the prize. He sued NSW Lotteries and the newsstand which sold him the ticket.
■ SYRIA
Political dissident arrested
A prominent political dissident has been rearrested in a new crackdown on opposition figures by President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Riyad Seif was taken away on Monday night by security agents, the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said in a statement. The government had previously banned Seif from travel abroad. Last summer, the US state department urged the authorities to allow him to leave the country to receive treatment for prostate cancer. In the past year, six prominent government critics and human rights campaigners have been convicted and sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. Among them were the lawyer Anwar al-Bunni and one of Syria's most respected writers, Michel Kilo.
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