News In Brief

Putin’s electoral rating drops below 60 pc
AP, Moscow
A leading Russian polling agency says the electoral rating of President Vladimir Putin has dropped below 60 percent for the first time in five years.
The survey by Levada Center published Thursday showed 56 percent of likely voters saying they would cast their ballots for Putin in elections expected in 2024. That is 10 percent lower than a year ago. The last time electoral support for Putin dropped below 60 percent, according to similar Levada surveys, was in 2013.

Drought-fueled dust storm blankets Sydney
AFP, Sydney
A large dust storm swirled over eastern Australia on Thursday, driven over the coast by a weather front barrelling across the drought-stricken interior.
Authorities warned residents of Sydney and other parts of New South Wales state who had respiratory or cardiovascular conditions to limit their time outdoors until the dust settled.

US, South Korea scale back
military exercise
AFP, Washington
The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. “Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy,” Mattis said, adding that it would be “reduced in scope.”
Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion.

12 Islamic militants killed in Sinai raid
AP, Egypt
Egyptian authorities say police killed 12 Islamic militants when security forces stormed three deserted buildings used as militant hideouts in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
An Interior Ministry statement on Thursday says the militants were the first to open fire on the policemen as they surrounded the buildings in the Mediterranean coastal city of el-Arish.
The statement says there were no casualties among the police. Egypt has for years battled Islamic militants in Sinai.