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Thaek was likely sacked after the executions last month of two close associates, allegedly over corruption. The National Intelligence Service hasn't explained how it obtained the information, and skepticism followed the claim because of past intelligence failures in Seoul regarding the inner workings of the North's secretive government. But some worry that, if true, the purge of such a powerful figure could lead to dangerous instability.
• On Saturday, North Korea's state TV repeated a documentary on Kim Jong Un's military inspection trips. Although Jang appeared throughout the version that aired on Oct. 28, images of him had vanished from the new version. North Korea has previously deleted the images of purged officials from state videos and publications, according to a South Korean government agency that tracks North Korean propaganda.
• In one scene in the original version, the bespectacled Jang can be seen wearing a winter parka and standing behind Kim Jong Un as the leader shakes hands with a soldier. But Jang cannot be seen in Saturday's version, which has the same title and narration. Elsewhere in the older version, he is seen clapping his hands from a distance as a uniformed officer speaks to Kim. But the new version only shows what appear to be parts of Jang's right arm, chest and abdomen.
• Pyongyang has said nothing about Jang's fate or the new version of the documentary. Jang was last seen in state media about a month ago.
• ___

• CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Nicolas Maduro faces his first electoral test since being elected nearly eight months ago, as Venezuelans go to the polls on Sunday to judge his government's response to their nation's mounting economic troubles.
• The vote for mayors and city councils in this deeply polarized country was bound to be competitive after Maduro defeated opposition leader Henrique Capriles by a razor-thin margin in the election held in April to choose Hugo Chavez's successor following his death from cancer.
• Capriles has refused to recognize the results, alleging fraud
• Since then, Venezuela's economic troubles have deepened, with inflation touching a two-decade high of 54 percent, and shortages of everything from toilet paper to milk spreading while the black market value of the currency plunges.

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