Lunchtime News Thursday 26th November 2020

News 

IBM - In its global restructuring IBM is expected to cut 10,000 jobs in Europe. At a meeting on November 20th IBM France announced numbers which remain to be confirmed with between 1,180 to 1,385 positions set to disappear including 100 to 150 in the Alpes Maritimes region. Unions say that they hope the departures will be on a voluntary basis.

It was back in 1962 that IBM established its headquarters in La Gaude in the Alpes Maritimes. The next meeting with unions is planned for December 8th to specify consequences of the restructuration.

Investigation - The public prosecutor’s office has announced that it has ordered inquiries into two specific complaints against officers dispatched to remove a group of mainly Afghan migrants from Place de la République in the centre of Paris on Monday evening.

Two police officers are being investigated for alleged violent behaviour. One investigation concerns an officer reportedly filmed deliberately tripping up a man who was running away from the police, causing him to fall badly. The second concerns a police officer filmed holding a journalist on the ground.

Duo walk from Marseille to Paris - A Franco-British duo has set off on a 750 kilometre walk from Marseille to Paris, removing thousands of masks from roads and fields.

Nicknamed the 'English snail' and the other the 'Marseille boar.' Together, Edmund Platt and Frédéric Munsch the duo are collecting facemasks as well as plastic bottles and fast food waste.

They call their mission 'Déchet par jour' - or one piece of rubbish a day - and the intention is to protect the environment and to encourage others to be less careless.

The duo are expected to arrive in Paris on Saturday..