General Motors Co.'s board of directors will get one more chance to alter the auto maker's course in relation to its Opel and Vauxhall operations in Europe when it meets for its fourth formal meeting on the matter Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The auto maker's board, formed in July after GM exited bankruptcy court, will be asked by the company's management team to approve the contents of a letter drafted in mid-October to address the European Union's concerns related to the sale of 55% of Opel to automotive supplier Magna International Inc.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that it could cut financial assistance to Ukraine, one of the world’s most recession hit economies, after the country veered “off track” by adopting populist wage and pension increases, the Financial Times reported. The warning came after Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s president, on Friday signed the increases into law, ignoring warnings from the IMF and Yulia Tymoshenko, his prime minister and bitter rival.

At this time last year Jim Flynn and Nathan Berkley seemed to have it made. Their publishing house, Derwent Howard Media, looked to be thriving, with a string of successful specialist magazines led by flagship titles Official PlayStation Magazine, Ultimate Nintendo and Australian 360, The Australian reported. Just a year later it has all fallen apart. As of last week the company is in administration and faces being wound up. Berkley has moved to Spain and seemingly cut off all contact and a lot of people are concerned for their jobs, potentially out of pocket, and very confused.

Norway on Wednesday became the first European country to raise interest rates after the financial crisis, lifting its key borrowing rate by 0.25 percentage point to 1.5% in response to signs of economic recovery, The Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank also raised its interest-rate path projections in a new monetary policy report published alongside the rate decision, which signaled rates will rise to 2.75% by the end of 2010.

Italy's tax police said Tuesday it raided 76 branches and offices of Swiss banks based in Italy and close to the border of San Marino, Dow Jones reported. In a joint e-mailed statement, the Italian tax police and Italy's tax agency said that the inspections were carried out in order to see if banks and their agents had provided prompt communications on their clients' accounts. The Italian tax police said that hundreds of police and tax officers made inspections Tuesday.

Shares in state-controlled European banks have slumped since Monday's forced restructuring of ING Groep -- particularly the U.K.'s Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, The Wall Street Journal reported. Reading off ING, investors may be right to fear the worst for RBS. Lloyds is likely to be different. The EU is under pressure to be softer to avoid embarrassing the U.K. government, which waived competition rules to engineer Lloyds's acquisition of HBOS. The U.K.

India’s central bank took the first step toward withdrawing its record monetary stimulus as inflation pressures build, ordering lenders to keep more cash in government bonds, Bloomberg reported. Stocks fell the most in two months after the statement spurred speculation the Reserve Bank of India will boost borrowing costs by year-end, eroding corporate profits. Today’s shift also signals intensifying global concern about consumer and asset-price increases, with Norway tomorrow forecast to follow Australia in raising rates this month.

BMW has become the first major company in Germany to change its compensation practices amid growing concern over excessive banker bonuses, Spiegel Online reported. The company cited a fairer work environment as its reason. Other firms are sure to take notice, given BMW's size and weight in the global business market. BMW plans to tie executive bonuses to those of its blue-collar workers, in a bid to create a fairer and sustainable compensation environment within the company.

The Czech government Monday decided to cancel the sale of flag carrier CSA Czech Airlines to a Czech-Icelandic consortium, citing a range of concerns, and will instead continue restructuring the company, Dow Jones reported. The airline's pilots last week agreed to a 30% pay cut in return for the resignation of carrier's management team. The airline's new boss is the head of the Prague airport.

Labor unions at the Adam Opel AG car factory in northeastern Spain said Monday they had accepted a new restructuring agreement reached with Magna International Inc., clearing at least one obstacle to the Canadian company's plans to take over the General Motors Co. subsidiary together with Russia's OAO Sberbank, The Wall Street Journal reported. The European Commission, the European Union's executive branch, meanwhile, said it has set a Nov. 27 deadline for its antitrust review of the planned takeover.