Les toutes dernières nouvelles / The Latest News Headlines

Greece put a senior judge in charge of an emergency government on Wednesday to lead it to new elections on June 17 and bankers sought to calm public fears after the president said political chaos risked causing panic and a run on deposits.

Surging demand for shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social network, prompted the company to again boost the number of share for sale in its initial public offering.

Housing starts rose more than expected in April, according to a government report on Wednesday that offered signs of a nascent housing recovery, even though permits for future building fell after touching a 3-1/2 year high the prior month.

The fertility level in western Turkey (the most economically advanced part of the country) is now about 1.5 -- roughly the same as in western Europe.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones down around 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.4 percent at 4:10 a.m. EDT.

The Japanese government together with a consortium of Japanese companies are poised to buy a 10 per cent stake in Chevron Corp.'s Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia for $4.35 billion.

The Australian sharemarket lost ground for the second consecutive day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) falling by 2.4 pct or 101.6 pts to 4214.7. Shares have fallen by around 5 pct so far this month and have significantly reduced the gains for the calendar year to just 2.5 pct.

Bank of England economists have cut their growth forecast for the UK economy in 2012 by a third, as the eurozone crisis weighs on the economy.

The UK's biggest department store group shows increased sales but other retailers are not so upbeat.

The BSE Sensex plummeted more than 300 points, falling below the psychological 16,000 edge on Wednesday, for the first time in four months as global markets receded and the rupee breached 54.30 to the dollar to hit new life low.