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The president of Belarus has said that the leader of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group is not in Belarus, but Russia. The AP’s Karen Chammus.
Lukashenko's statement followed Russian media reports saying Prigozhin was spotted In St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.
His presence was seen as part of agreements that allow him to finalize his affairs there.
The abortive rebellion represented the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power. I'm Karen Chammus.
NATO Secretary General Yens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Sweden's membership in the alliance was within reach after a meeting in Brussels to overcome Turkish objections.
But the only way to solve those differences is by doing what we always do in NATO, and that is to sit down, to consult, and to find a way forward.
Stoltenberg said leaders of Sweden and Turkey would meet in Vilnius on Monday, the eve of the defense alliances summit in the city later in the week, with the goal of being ironing out the lingering obstacles toward Sweden becoming a NATO member.
The Hong Kong legislature voted on Thursday to overhaul district level elections by drastically reducing directly elected seats.
Critics say this removes some of the last vestiges of democratic freedoms in the China ruled city.
Under the amendment bill, only 88 seats would be directly elected to by the public, which is down from 452.
Candidates who want to run in the election will need to pass a national security background check and secure at least three nominations from several committees.
Millions of Syrians are coping with stress on multiple fronts as the civil war rages on, a severe economic crisis engulfs the country, they recover from a series of deadly earthquakes and conflicts in other parts of the world, detract from the urgency of their situation.
In June, the World Food Program said it would be forced to end food assistance to two and a half million Syrians inside the country this month if it does not receive at least $180 million in donations to fund programs through the end of the year.
Syrian refugees are not faring any better. The UN humanitarian appeals to assist them in the region are significantly underfunded.
South Korea is suffering from a shortage of pediatricians, partly a result of the world's lowest birth rate, an increasingly factor behind it, leaving hospitals unable to fill posts and raising risks for children's health, according to doctors. Reuters Ryan Chang has more.
South Korea's Health and Welfare minister, Cho Kyo Hong, earlier this year said they'll step up measures to improve care.
Proposals include more state backed centers and facilities for emergency pediatric treatment.
But talent has already left the pool, according to the Korean Pediatric Association. It says 90% of their members have closed their businesses or left the practice.
The group held seminars last month to help members familiarize themselves with better paying fields, and roughly 600 of its 3,000 members flocked to hear talks on skin beauty procedures like Botox and adult chronic diseases. That's Reuters Ryan Chang.
The death toll from a leak of poisonous gas in a South African shanty town rose to 17 Thursday. Its officials suggested the accident was probably linked to an illegal mining operation.
Authorities say preliminary investigations showed that toxic gas was used by illegal miners in the area to extrapolate what was perceived as gold from the soil.
One resident told Reuters News that her cousin said that his children had all died because of gas inhalation.
Illegal mining, mostly for gold or coal, has plagued South Africa's mining industry for decades, robbing the sector and state coffers of billions of dollars through small time pilfering as well as networks run by organized crime.
The US citizenship test is changing, with a rollout expected late next year. Under the proposed changes, the test would have a new English-speaking section and a new written multiple-choice format in the civics section.
Some immigrants and advocates worry that the changes will hurt test takers with low levels of English proficiency.

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