Briefly

CROATIA

Ruling party wins parliamentary polls

The ruling center-right Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, led by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, won the most seats in the parliamentary elections on Wednesday, but failed to obtain enough seats to form a government independently. After more than 90 percent of the votes had been counted, the HDZ secured 60 seats, but fell short of the 76 required to form a government, preliminary results published by the State Election Commission on Thursday showed. The Croatian parliament has a unicameral system with 151 seats and a four-year term.

JAPAN

At least 9 injured after 6.6-magnitude quake

At least nine people were injured after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck a wide area of western Japan on Wednesday night, local authorities said on Thursday. The quake struck at around 11:14 pm, registering lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Ehime and Kochi prefectures, both on Shikoku Island. Meanwhile, Japanese researchers warned that earthquakes could continue for another week or so following the powerful temblor, and people in the region should stay alert, the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Xinhua - Agencies