Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that she expects an honest assessment of the financial situation within Eastern Europe at a European Union (EU) summit meeting this weekend.

Merkel said that, as far as the EU member states are concerned, "we should be given an honest status of the situation," adding that this had not necessarily been the case at the EU's December summit.

Berlin/Ruesselsheim - Thousands of workers employed by General Motors in Europe took to the streets Thursday to demonstrate against the giant US carmaker's sweeping restructuring plans and to save their jobs.

The protests came as GM's German offshoot Opel prepared to unveil a rescue plan for the German operations and the government in Berlin stepped up its criticism of the US-based auto group amid a deepening crisis in the global car industry.

Berlin - Economic confidence in Europe has plunged to a 24- year low, a survey released Thursday showed, adding to the pressure on the European Central Bank
(ECB) to cut rates again in the face of the deepening global recession.

The European Commission's closely watched economic sentiment indicator for the 16-member eurozone slumped from a downward revised reading of 67.2 in January to a lower-than-forecast 65.4 in February.

Berlin  - German unemployment rose less than expected in February, data released Thursday showed, as the global recession tightens its grip on Europe's biggest economy.

The Nuremberg-based labour office said in seasonally adjusted terms Germany's dole queues swelled by 40,000 this month to 3.311 million after the numbers out of work rose by 56,000 in January.

In unadjusted terms, unemployment rose by 63,000 to 3.552 million, as a result pushing the jobless rate up to 8.5 per cent, compared with January's rate of 8.3 per cent.

Berlin  - German households have defied the deepening economic gloom with a survey released Thursday showing consumer confidence in Europe's biggest economy rising more than expected.

Buoyed by government measures aimed at spurring economic growth, the Nuremberg-based GfK marketing institute said its forward-looking consumer confidence index came in at 2.6 points in March compared to an upwardly revised 2.3 points in February.

Berlin  - German unemployment rose again in February, data released Thursday is forecast to show, as the global recession tightens its grip on Europe's biggest economy.

Analysts expect the country's labour office to say the dole queues swelled by a seasonally adjusted 60,000 this month after the numbers out of work rose by 56,000 in January.