Nation, world briefs 7/11/16

Japan's ruling coalition wins

TOKYO -- Japan's ruling coalition was a clear winner in Sunday's parliamentary elections, preliminary results and Japanese media exit polls indicated, paving the way for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to push ahead with his economic revival policies, but also possibly changing the nation's postwar pacifist constitution. Half of the seats of the less powerful upper house were up for grabs. There had been no possibility for a change of power because the ruling coalition, led by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, already controls the more powerful lower house, but the balloting was a key gauge of how much support Abe's coalition has among the public. Combined with other conservative politicians, the coalition may win a two-thirds majority in the upper house -- critical to propose a referendum to change the constitution.

Australian leader claims victory

SYDNEY -- Eight days after Australia's general election ended in uncertainty, the prime minister claimed victory Sunday for his conservative coalition, bringing an end to the country's political paralysis -- at least for the moment. Though the question of who won the July 2 election was answered, the question of how the conservatives will rule the fractured Parliament was not. With official results days or even weeks away, it was unclear whether Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal Party-led coalition had won enough votes to govern in its own right, or whether it would need the support of independent and minor-party lawmakers to form a minority government.

Israel boosts West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday a $12.9 million plan to strengthen two Israeli settlements in the southern West Bank. The plan came days after Netanyahu approved the construction of hundreds of new homes in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, drawing a rebuke from the U.S. State Department. In late June, a Palestinian teen fatally stabbed Israeli Hallel Yaffa Ariel, 13, in her bed in the Kiryat Arba settlement before security guards killed him. Netanyahu said Sunday the funding will go to Kiryat Arba, a settlement of 7,000 Israelis, and to the Jewish residents of the adjacent Palestinian city of Hebron. He said the government will "assist the residents who stand heroically in the face of vicious terrorism."

Police: Teens used Pokemon to rob

O'FALLON, Mo. -- Police said four teens are accused of robbing victims after luring them to a location using a new smartphone game. Police said four teens used the Pokemon Go game to draw victims to a location and robbed them. Pokemon Go is a smartphone game that sends players to locations to collect various creatures. Police said the robbers used the game to lure victims by putting a "beacon" at a location to draw people playing the game. Police arrested the four teens after going to a call for a robbery near a gas station Sunday. The suspects are between 16 and 18. Police said the suspects may have been involved in other robberies around St. Louis.

-- From wire reports