Overview

• Typhoon No. 22 formed before dawn on October 5 and is moving west near the Ogasawara Islands, with advisories for strong winds, high waves and sudden heavy rain.
• Police and event organizers are searching in Nasu-Shiobara for a man in his 80s who went missing during an orienteering competition on October 4.
• Returnee Hitomi Soga collected signatures in Sado on October 5 to press action on North Korea abductions as Megumi Yokota marked her 61st birthday.
• Shiriuchi town in Hokkaido will demote a 47-year-old official to section chief on October 6 after his late-September arrest on suspicion of attempted illicit filming, with disciplinary measures under consideration.
• Syria conducted its first parliamentary vote since last year’s regime collapse, with 70 of 210 seats appointed by the interim president, some voting postponed in minority regions and official results expected from October 6.