Al Jazeera to axe 500 employees

DOHA • Qatar's Al Jazeera broadcasting network is laying off about 500 employees, or more than 10 per cent of its staff, reflecting financial pressures on the tiny Gulf state due to low global prices for oil and natural gas.

Most of those affected are based at its Doha headquarters, according to a statement yesterday from Al Jazeera, which is controlled by Qatar's royal family.

Before the layoffs, the network had about 4,000 staff, a spokesman said.

REUTERS

Tabloid under fire over ISIS claim

LONDON • Britain's press regulator censured media mogul Rupert Murdoch's The Sun tabloid for a "significantly misleading" story claiming one in five British Muslims sympathises with fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The mass-selling daily claimed an exclusive poll revealed "1 in 5 Brit Muslims' sympathy for jihadis", and published a picture of Mohammed Emwazi, the British ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John, alongside the shock headline.

The story generated more than 3,000 complaints to the Independent Press Standards Organisation, with some saying that survey question did not specifically mention ISIS, and could include those fighting against ISIS radicals.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE