HOKKAIDO Rescue workers found four veteran climbers Saturday on a Hokkaido mountain hit by an avalanche the previous day, but all of them were confirmed dead, police said. [KYODO]

HOKKAIDO A team of about 100 police officers and other rescuers is set to resume operations Saturday morning to search a man who went missing Friday after an avalanche on Mt. Kamihorokamettoku in Hokkaido and rescue three other climbers who were unconscious out of the mountain. [KYODO]

HOKKAIDO Hokkaido’s best-known cookies “Shiroi Koibito” returned to shop shelves Thursday to mixed reviews, three months after sales of the products were suspended because of a scandal over falsified eat-by dates. [ASAHI]

HOKKAIDO A green sea turtle that was found on the shore of a village in Hokkaido is being treated for injuries at an aquarium here and is making a recovery, local officials said. [MAINICHI]

HOKKAIDO Confectioner Ishiya Co. resumed its production of its popular Hokkaido souvenir sweet Shiroi Koibito, after production was suspended in mid-August when it was revealed the company had mis-labeled the expiry dates on the sweets. (4)

TOHOKU The Aomori Prefectural Government is considering filing a criminal complaint against the unidentified vandals who chopped off hundreds of vines at the World Heritage site in the Shirakami mountain range. [MAINICHI]

HOKKAIDO Former executives of bankrupt meatpacking company Meat Hope Co. mixed rabbit meat into ground meat mislabeled as 100 percent beef, according to DNA analysis by Hokkaido police. [YOMIURI]

HOKKAIDO A former yakuza who stabbed a man in the eye on the way to fatally knifing him was Thursday sentenced by the Sapporo District Court to 22 years imprisonment. [MAINICHI]

HOKKAIDO The arrest of Minoru Tanaka, former president of meat-processing company Meat Hope Co., on Wednesday over mislabeling minced meat products containing pork and chicken as 100 percent beef, shows that investigative authorities are taking a hard line in the unprecedented case, which is considered representative of a string of food-mislabeling cases nationwide that shattered consumer confidence in the food service industry. [YOMIURI]

HOKKAIDO Police plan to arrest Minoru Tanaka, former president of scandal-tainted Meat Hope Co., and three other former executives Wednesday on suspicion of falsely labeling beef products, investigative sources said Tuesday. [KYODO]

TOHOKU The false-labeling practices of a poultry processor in Odate, Akita Prefecture did not stop with smoked meat and eggs. The company also used ordinary chicken meat in four other products carrying the famed “Hinai-jidori” poultry label, and reused unsold meat after rewriting expiration dates, sources said. [ASAHI]

TOHOKU Due to the scarcity of public theaters in Sendai, three actors plan to revive a small theater that has not been used for 20 years. [YOMIURI]

HOKKAIDO A 1-year-old Russian boy who suffered serious burns on Kunashiri Island, one of the islands in the Northern Territories claimed by Japan, was taken to the Hokkaido city of Nemuro for emergency treatment, government officials said. [MAINICHI]

COLUMNS An elementary school vice principal under arrest over child prostitution has been dismissed, local education authorities said. [MAINICHI]

TOHOKU The debt-ridden municipal government in Kuroishi, Aomori Prefecture is set to sell off pure gold and silver kokeshi dolls it purchased in the 1980s and use the proceeds to help repay its debts, city officials said. (1) [MAINICHI]

TOHOKU A 28-year-old deckhand who fell off a tanker into the sea off the coast of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, on Tuesday night, managed to survive his ordeal by using an empty PET bottle as a float, before being rescued the following morning. (1) [YOMIURI]

HOKKAIDO A bag containing about 10 million yen in cash was found in a bathroom at the municipal government building in Ashibetsu, Hokkaido Prefecture on Friday, along with a note saying that the money was a donation to the city, officials said. [MSN MAINICHI]

HOKKAIDO A 52-year-old man who had stolen a car was shot dead by a police officer in an exchange of fire in Hakodate, Hokkaido, early Tuesday morning, police said. [YOMIURI]

TOHOKU The Sendai District Court found the government not liable Friday for the infection of six people with hepatitis C through tainted blood products — the first such decision out of five similar lawsuits nationwide — ruling that the risk of infection had not been fully clarified at the time the plaintiffs contracted the disease. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

HOKKAIDO A 46-year-old man, released from prison in May, was found unconscious in his Sapporo apartment after apparently attempting suicide last Monday shortly after abducting a woman he met at a department store, police said. [YOMIURI]