General Motors announces job cuts

The American car manufacturer, General Motors, is planning to cut its European workforce by up to thirty-per-cent.

The Wall Street Journal has quoted company officials as saying this could mean the loss of some twenty-thousand jobs over the next five years.

Officials said there would be mainly voluntary redundancies, with Germany expected to bear the brunt of the cuts.

They said the action was necessary because of increased competition in Europe and declining profits from its European operations.

However, the company says it's keen to expand into the growing markets of Eastern Europe.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service