MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it was shutting down German broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s operations in Moscow and stripping its staff of their accreditation in a retaliatory move after Berlin banned Russian broadcaster RT DE. Moscow said it would stop the German channel being broadcast in Russia and start proceedings that would see it declared a “foreign agent”, a designation that carries a negative Soviet-era connotation. The Russian foreign ministry also said it would bar entry to Russia for German officials involved in the move to ban RT DE.

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LONDON (AL- Jazeera) - Myanmar’s military government has filed an eleventh corruption charge against removed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the latest in a variety of indictments against the Nobel laureate who faces more than 150 years in prison. The new case was announced on Thursday, as the military reportedly launched fresh attacks on the civilian population in the northwestern Sagaing region, with troops allegedly burning up to 400 houses, forcing thousands of residents to flee. Police filed a further corruption charge against Aung San Suu Kyi for allegedly receiving $550,000 as a donation for a charity foundation named after her mother, the military’s information team said in a statement.

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MADRID (Reuters) - At least one migrant drowned and 16 were missing after their dinghy capsized in the Atlantic Ocean some 35 km (22 miles) off the Spanish island of Fuerteventura, a government official told reporters on Thursday. Emergency services rescued and transported about 41 people from the semi-sunken dinghy. The Coast Guard found one dead body at sea. Teresa Mayans, deputy head of the central government’s representation on the Canary Islands, told a news conference that some survivors had reported on arrival that 16 of their fellow travellers were missing at sea.

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KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces were conducting search operations on Friday to flush out militants suspected of hiding near two military bases attacked by insurgents on Wednesday, which killed seven soldiers and 13 of their own, in the latest violence in the southwestern Balochistan province. The attacks, the biggest in recent years by ethnic Baloch insurgents, came hours before Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Beijing for the opening of the Winter Olympics, where he will have meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders.

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OSLO (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will become Norway’s new central bank chief, the government said on Friday, despite opposition worries that the appointment of the former prime minister could weaken Norges Bank’s independence. While the job is open from March 1, Stoltenberg has said he would first serve out his term at NATO, which expires on Oct. 1. Norges Bank separately said it expects the new governor to take over on or around Dec. 1 this year.   Stoltenberg will be in charge of setting interest rates and manage financial stability as well as overseeing Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest with assets of $1.4 trillion.

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RABAT4 (Reuters) - Moroccan rescue workers on Friday came closer to reaching a young child trapped at the bottom of a well in a delicate operation to dig out large parts of a hillside where there is a risk of landslide. The five-year old boy, publicly identified only by his first name, Rayan, fell into the well in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen on Tuesday and his plight has gripped the North African country. “I ask Moroccans to pray for the safe return of my son,” Rayan’s distraught mother said in footage shown on local media. State news outlet SNRT News quoted a rescuer on Friday saying the boy was still alive. The well is 32 metres deep and narrows as it descends from its 45cm (18 inches) diameter at the top, which means the rescuers cannot go down themselves to retrieve the child.