General Motors is already feeling the backlash of its decision not to sell European automaker Opel to Magna International, as workers in Germany went on strike.  GM faces not just ire over American-European cultural differences, but worker unease at job security, European-style.

The European Central Bank kept its main refinancing rate unchanged at a record low of 1.0 percent on Thursday, as expected by economists.

The Bank of England said on Thursday it would expand its quantitative easing program by 25 billion pounds to help kick-start Britain's recession-hit economy.

Investors are braced for signs on Thursday that the European Central Bank will soon start weaning banks off cheap and abundant liquidity given that expiry dates are approaching for the central bank's crisis measures.

The Bank of England's injection of 175 billion pounds ($289 billion) into the economy hasn't yet pulled Britain out of recession, and the central bank now faces a difficult decision on whether to raise the stakes.

Joint ventures with a family business and a show-business icon are key in Diageo's vodka plans.

Keeping Opel is the best strategic option for General Motors given the improved economic conditions, but the automaker needs to appease German politicians' and trade unions anger over its about-face and adapt itself to German ways, European analysts said Wednesday.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed the European Union's Lisbon Treaty on Tuesday, bringing into force the EU's plan to overhaul its institutions and win a greater role on the world stage.

Opel's labor force has agreed to contribute 265 million euros ($390 million) in annual savings if General Motors finally sells a majority stake in its European arm to a group led by Canada's Magna.

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.

Do you remember that very strong European Competition czar who battled Microsoft and Intel, accusing them of anti-competitive behavior? The question now is: will she be strong enough to battle Germany’s Angela Merkel?

An enormous precious stone listed on a now bankrupt company's books for the value of 11 million pounds ($17.4 million) is probably not worth more than 100 pounds, British media reported Friday.

Twenty-two large banks in Europe may have accumulated credit losses of close to $580 billion for this year and next, the New York Times reports.

Speculation that the European Commission could order a breakup of Lloyds Banking Group is nonsense, but the possibility that the Commission could order the group to sell some assets should come as no surprise, a senior commission officer told CNBC Thursday.