UK publisher to shed 550 jobs, citing Covid-19

LONDON • Reach, the publisher of UK newspapers The Daily Mirror and The Daily Express, plans to axe about 550 jobs as the coronavirus forces readers online and slashes advertising revenues, it said yesterday.

"Structural change in the media sector has accelerated during the pandemic and this has resulted in increased adoption of our digital products," Reach COE Jim Mullen said. But due to reduced advertising demand, "we have not seen commensurate increases in digital revenue".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

US drone strike violated international law: UN

GENEVA • The January US drone strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and nine other people represented a violation of international law, a UN human rights investigator has said.

The United States has failed to provide sufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack against its interests to justify the strike on Major-General Soleimani's convoy as it left Baghdad airport, said Dr Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, on Monday.

The attack violated the UN Charter, Dr Callamard wrote in a report calling for accountability for targeted killings by armed drones and for more regulation of the weapon.

REUTERS

WHO monitoring case of bubonic plague in China

GENEVA • The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday said it was monitoring a case of bubonic plague in China after being notified by Beijing.

A herdsman in China's northern Inner Mongolia region was confirmed at the weekend to have the bubonic plague.

Two cases were confirmed in neighbouring Mongolia last week involving brothers who had eaten marmot meat, China's state news agency Xinhua said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE