NAHA -- A U.S. soldier in Okinawa is being investigated Thursday over allegations that he raped a Filipina, police said.

U.S. military law enforcers have taken the accused man into custody, but the woman who accuses him of rape has not pressed charges with Okinawa Prefectural Police.

Police are questioning the woman and others associated with the case and will take out a warrant for the soldier's arrest for rape if the alleged victim files a criminal complaint.

Anti-U.S. sentiment is escalating in Okinawa, which hosts a significant proportion of the U.S. military forces stationed in Japan. On Feb. 11, a U.S. Marine was arrested for the rape of a junior high schoolgirl. U.S. military officials in Okinawa were supposed to tighten discipline in wake of the incident, so the current allegations are likely to further inflame the people of Okinawa.

Police said the Filipino woman at the center of the current allegations says she was raped around Feb. 18 and underwent a medical examination immediately after.

Following the 38-year-old Marine's Feb. 11 arrest for rape, other members of the same branch of the military have been arrested in Okinawa for drunken driving and trespassing. U.S. military officials in Okinawa imposed a curfew on SOFA personnel in Okinawa on Wednesday.

NARITA -- A U.S. Army soldier has been arrested for assaulting an airline employee after he was ordered off a plane for being drunk and molesting a female cabin attendant, police said.

David Lee Carlson, 24, was arrested for assault.

Police said Carlson arrived at Narita Airport on an All Nippon Airways flight from Chicago at 1:40 p.m. on Friday and boarded an ANA flight bound for Bangkok that was due to depart at 6:10 p.m.

However, when Carlson hugged a flight attendant, the captain of the plane ordered him to disembark. Carlson grabbed the head of the Narita Airport official who came to escort him from the plane, causing bruises to the official's neck and arms. Another official overpowered the soldier.

Police said Carlson had drunk large quantities of beer and whisky on the trip from Chicago to Narita and was intoxicated. Carlson was carrying identification that showed he is a member of the U.S. Army, police said.

NAHA -- Six citizens groups are set to stage a rally on March 23 to protest the alleged rape of a junior high school girl in Okinawa Prefecture by a U.S. Marine, organizers said.

Representatives from the groups have contacted Toshinobu Nakazato, speaker of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, and asked that the assembly lead the rally.

However, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito that form the ruling bloc in the prefectural assembly are reportedly reluctant to support the rally. It remains to be seen if the rally will be a large-scale multi-partisan gathering.

The six organizations, including a local women's association, formed a protest rally organizing committee with the Okinawa Prefecture Teachers' Union on Feb. 19.

In the rally to be held in Chatan, where the incident occurred, participants will urge both the Japanese and U.S. governments to pay compensation to the victim, revise the Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement and implement specific measures to prevent a recurrence.

URUMA, Okinawa -- Local education officials are complaining after a U.S. military jeep used a parking lot at a school for disabled students to do a U-turn, local officials said.

The Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education plans to file a protest with the U.S. forces over the incident as early as Friday.

According to officials, the medium-sized two-seater jeep drove onto the premises of the Okinawa prefectural high school for the mentally disabled in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, at around 2 p.m. on Thursday.

The jeep made a U-turn in a parking lot about 30 meters away from the main gate and left the premises about 1 1/2 minutes later.

Around 70 teachers were in the school at the time. There were no students due to spring break.

This was not the first case of intrusion by U.S. military vehicles into schools in Okinawa. A U.S. Marines armored vehicle entered the same high school on July 18 last year, while another U.S. military truck entered the Okinawa Prefectural Maehara High School on Aug. 6 last year. Both schools are about 1 kilometer away from each other.

"When we filed a protest against the intrusions last year, the U.S. military said they would take thorough measures to stop it from happening again. Here comes an intrusion again, right after prefectural citizens held a rally protesting the incidents (triggered by U.S. servicemen)," said Morikazu Nakamura, superintendent of the prefectural board of education.

TOKYO (AP) -- A U.S. Marine who was arrested in the alleged rape of a teenage girl in southern Japan has been released, Japan's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa, triggering a nationwide furor over American troop-related crimes in Japan.

Hadnott was released Friday night as the girl dropped her criminal complaint against him, according to Ryo Fukahori, a ministry official in charge of Japan-U.S. security. As a result, the district prosecutor's office in the prefectural capital of Naha decided to drop charges against Hadnott.

Police earlier said Hadnott had admitted to investigators that he forced the girl down and kissed her, but that he denied raping her.

The Marine's Feb. 10 arrest -- as well as a series of other damaging criminal accusations against some of the 50,000 American troops based in Japan -- have inflamed popular anger at the U.S. military presence.

The U.S. military has since imposed tight new restrictions on troops, their families and civilian expatriates in Okinawa and elsewhere, limiting them to bases, workplaces and off-base housing. The military held a "day of reflection" last week to urge troops not to commit crimes.

The steps were part of a broad U.S. campaign since the alleged rape to soothe feelings as rising anger over the alleged crimes threatened to erupt into widespread protests against the American presence.

Japan also has introduced new security steps to curb crime around bases, including expanded information exchanges between the two countries, as well as installation of surveillance cameras and joint patrols of entertainment districts around bases on Okinawa.

The alleged rape case also topped the agenda during this week's Japan visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who expressed a deep regret over the incident and said she hoped the case will not harm the countries' ties.

Rice was in Tokyo on the third and last leg of an Asian tour that has been dominated by the North Korea issue. She came to Japan to quell outrage over the alleged rape, which might complicate U.S.-Japan cooperation.

NAHA -- Two sons of U.S. servicemen stationed in Okinawa have been arrested over the robbery of a taxi, police said.

Arrested were the 15-year-old son of a U.S. Marine, whose address remains unknown, and the 16-year-old son of a U.S. airman living in the city of Okinawa.

Police accuse the teens of stealing a box containing about 5,400 yen in cash near the driver's seat of the taxi when they got out on a road in Okinawa at about 10:15 p.m. on March 16.

NAHA -- United States Consul General in Naha Kevin Maher told the Mainichi Saturday that U.S. military authorities would continue the investigation into claims a U.S. Marine raped a local schoolgirl, even though the suspect has been released by police.

Maher said that Staff Sgt. Tyrone Hadnott is being held on a U.S. military base in Okinawa.

Maher said that if Japanese authorities decided to waive their right to prosecute Hadnott, U.S. military authorities would investigate the allegations against the 38-year-old Marine and punish him if necessary.

Hadnott was arrested Feb. 10 for the rape of a 14-year-old schoolgirl, but released without charges on Friday night after the alleged victim decided not to seek charges.

Hadnott had repeatedly denied ever trying to rape the schoolgirl.

Hadnott's arrest sparked a furor in Okinawa, which has a huge U.S. military presence and sex crimes by U.S. military personnel have periodically occurred in the past.

U.S. military authorities responded to the arrest by imposing a curfew, while Japan set up surveillance cameras around U.S. bases in the southernmost prefecture.

YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa -- Police investigating the brutal slaying of a taxi driver here have found a credit card in the vehicle believed to belong to a seaman stationed at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base, it has been learned.

The seaman, who is reportedly in his 20s, has been missing for several weeks, and Kanagawa Prefectural Police and the U.S. Navy are searching for him, believing he is familiar with the circumstances of the killing.

In a news conference on Friday, Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba commented on the case, saying, "We have been informed by the U.S. side that a U.S. serviceman may have been involved in the murder that took place in Yokosuka."

Police and U.S. military officials said that the serviceman whose name was on the credit card had been stationed on a ship at the Yokosuka base. The ship departed several weeks ago, but the serviceman was not on board.

Officials from the Yokosuka-based U.S. Navy headquarters in Japan have said they will fully cooperate with Japanese investigators if the need arises.

The 61-year-old taxi driver, Masaaki Takahashi, was found dead in his cab at about 9:20 p.m. on Wednesday night after being stabbed in the neck. Only five minutes earlier, a 61-year-old resident reported hearing a man shouting "no" or "Noah." Police are investigating a possible connection between the noise and the killing.

Officials from the Anzen Group taxi firm that Takahashi worked for said Takahashi was thought to have been attacked after taking a passenger he had picked up in Tokyo to Yokosuka. The taxi's meter showed a fare of about 17,000 yen.

Takahashi had been due to work from about 6 a.m. on Wednesday until 2 a.m. the following day.

U.S. forces in Japan imposed a 24-hour curfew on Wednesday on a total of 25,000 servicemen living on bases in Okinawa Prefecture and the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The curfew will be effective for an indefinite period of time.

The move comes on the heels of a recent spate of scandals involving U.S. servicemen, including the alleged rape by a Marine of a teenage girl in Chatan, Okinawa Prefecture, and the trespassing by a drunken Marine into the home of a woman in Nago in the prefecture.

"We are grateful that U.S. forces have decided to take tough measures," said a Japanese government official. Both the Japanese and U.S. governments plan to come up with measures to prevent a recurrence of such incidents as soon as possible.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the curfew went into effect at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, prohibiting U.S. servicemen from entering entertainment districts and limiting their places of activities to bases, workplaces, schools and medical institutions.

U.S. servicemen living off-base are only allowed to commute from their home to U.S. military facilities.

The curfew order was issued late on Tuesday night and will continue for an indefinite period of time as long as it does not interfere with military activities, according to the top U.S. forces official in Okinawa.

U.S. forces have declared Friday, Feb. 22, as "a day of reflection" and instructed all servicemen stationed in Japan to reconsider their attitude and behavior as military personnel.

NAHA -- A U.S. Marine Corps private has been arrested for flashing his private parts at a woman here, police said.

Malik Bashet, 26, a private first class stationed at Kadena Air Base, was arrested for indecent exposure.

The Marine denies the allegations, saying he was only urinating.

Police said that the Marine pulled his trousers down past his thighs and exposed himself to a 28-year-old woman walking through the city of Okinawa on Friday. The woman alerted the police and an officer arrived on the scene and arrested the U.S. military member.

Police said the Marine was drunk at the time of his arrest.

TOKYO (AP) -- A U.S. Marine accused of raping a 14-year-old Japanese girl was convicted of a lesser charge Friday during a court martial and sentenced to four years in prison in a case that inflamed public anger at the American military presence on Okinawa.

Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott, 38, was found guilty of abusive sexual conduct, said Master Sgt. Chuck Albrecht, adding that four other charges -- rape of a child under 16, making false official statements, adultery and "kidnapping through inveigling," or trickery -- were dropped.

Japanese police initially apprehended Hadnott but released him after the girl dropped charges. U.S. authorities then investigated the case under the strict military justice code.

Japan hosts some 50,000 American troops under a security treaty. About half of them are based on the tiny, congested island of Okinawa.

Hadnott's Feb. 11 arrest -- as well as a series of other damaging criminal accusations against American troops -- worsened resentment at the U.S. military presence on the southern island.

The incident prompted the U.S. military to severely restrict troop movements on Okinawa and elsewhere, and conduct an ongoing review of its anti-sexual assault education programs and guidelines.

TOKYO (AP) -- The U.S. military has eased restrictions on daytime travel off bases on the southern island of Okinawa that were imposed after a Marine was arrested for allegedly raping a young girl, officials said Tuesday.

Charges were never pressed.

Tight restrictions on all military personnel, including civilian employees, were put into place after the allegations arose as part of a two-week "period of reflection," an effort by the military to enforce discipline core values.

Restrictions remain on off-base activity at night for military personnel, but not for civilians. New restrictions on off-base drinking have been added for the troops, however, the Marines said in a statement.

"As we begin to venture outside our gates, I remind all of you that we are guests in Japan and must represent our nation with the utmost pride, professionalism and respect for our hosts," Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer said. "Please look out for one another."

Concern over U.S. military-related crime has spiked since the arrest last month of a Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old Okinawan girl. The girl, however, dropped her allegations and Japanese police released him last week, though U.S. military authorities were investigating.

Some 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan under a security treaty, most of them on the southern island of Okinawa.

Okinawan officials, meanwhile, called on the U.S. military Tuesday to seek the introduction of thorough measures to prevent crime by military members.

They called for more education programs for U.S. troops and harsher punishments, according to Munehide Taira of Okinawa prefectural government.

The Okinawan officials were also to visit the U.S. consulate general and Japanese government offices in Okinawa later in the day to make similar requests, he said.