Europe's economy will rebound next year and accelerate in 2011, the  European Commission said, paving the way for major deficit cuts.

The European Union's former communist members spooked the West earlier this year, when some investors and analysts believed their crumbling economies could send shockwaves through the system and even sink the EU. The International Monetary Fund and the EU have pumped billions of euros in Central and Eastern European countries to alleviate the pain of the crisis, but their economies are still suffering. Click ahead to see what they expect for this year.

East Germans are nostalgic for the "good life" they had under communism despite a propaganda campaign to discredit the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the widow of ex-GDR leader Erich Honecker says in a new video.

London celebrated 25 years of British fashion at the British Fashion Council's London Fashion week. Held at the iconic Somerset House in London's West End, the catwalk shows and exhibitions highlighted the UK's place in the global fashion landscape along with featuring new talent.

Erste Bank said the worst of the crisis may now be over for banks in emerging Europe, after it beat third-quarter earnings forecasts and launched a 1.65 billion euro ($2.4 billion) cash call.

Danish toy company Lego expects to post a 50% profit growth in 2009, CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp told CNBC, and he expects the growth momentum to continue in the near term.

Even if governments withdraw the trillions of dollars of stimulus in time to stop prices soaring, people won't want to keep their cash in the safe at the bottom of the wardrobe forever. So whether you've got $100 or $100 million in the bank, you're going to need the expertise.

When Dr Doom says the dollar carry trade is about to come to an end and the greenback will soar as equities crash you have to, at the very least, take his predictions seriously. His view is based on the assumption that there is a so-called ‘Wall of Money’ driving recent equity gains and other assets like gold and oil.

Simply beating the street with profits appears to no longer be enough to boost stocks.  Investors want sales to beat if they are going to buy.

The Dow is up by 52 percent since the March low, the DAX in Germany is up 59 percent. Whilst there may be some different factors driving those gains in America and Germany the trend is that investors are taking on more risk as bond yields continue to offer very little return.

In a hometown pitch for the world's biggest sporting event, President Barack Obama lobbied Olympic leaders to give the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago, saying the U.S. "is ready and eager to assume that sacred trust."

A recent spate of suicides at France Télécom has revealed a paradox at the heart of French society: Even with robust labor protection, workers here see themselves as profoundly insecure, with many complaining about being pushed beyond their limits by the pace of economic change.

The crisis the world went through is just an appetizer for a future one because the weaknesses that created it have not been addressed, Marc Faber, author and publisher of the Gloom, Doom and Boom Report, told CNBC Friday.

London and New York still hold the top spots as the world’s most competitive financial centers, but the economic crisis has seen Asian cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore surge up the rankings, according to the Global Financial Centres Index.

Derivatives caused the market Armageddon of recent years and if left unchecked by global leaders, the same market could cause another catastrophe, Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management, told CNBC.