BUSINESS

Last-ditch efforts to form a unity government on Tuesday failed, leading Papoulias to call these extraordinary measures.

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.

The companies whose shares are moving in premarket trade Wednesday are: Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc., Citigroup Inc., Fossil Inc., Dendreon Corp., Zynga Inc., Titan Machinery Inc., Staples Inc., Vodafone Group PLC and Corning Inc.

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 consumers in the United States, anticipating the release of the HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE smartphones, will have to spend some more time waiting for the devices as they have reportedly been delayed at the U.S. customs due to an import ban order by the International Trade Commission (ITC) over potentially infringing an Apple patent.

Asian markets fell Wednesday as political parties in Greece failed to form a coalition government increasing concerns of the country exiting the euro zone.

Powerful storms in China leave hundreds of thousands homeless, causes hundreds of millions in damages, and put people's lives in jeopardy, but some appear unfazed by the disaster.

Texas, already facing flack for putting an innocent man to death in 2004, likely executed another innocent man in 1989, according to the university's Human Rights Law Review.

A study released on Tuesday by the University of Buffalo's Shale Resources and Society Institute suggests that Pennsylvania is getting better at regulating natural gas drilling, and that the state has a regulatory model that New York could implement as it considers opening its own doors to high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing.

New York?s suburban and upstate voters Tuesday are determining the future of their property tax rates and could also weigh on the standing of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Kurt Mix, the former BP engineer arrested for deleting messages revealing how much oil was really seeping from the stricken Deepwater Horizon well in 2010, said evidence not yet submitted to federal investigators will absolve him of all criminal charges.

J.C. Penney Company Inc. (NYSE: JCP) reported net losses of $163 million for the three months preceding April 28, 2012, and said that it would discontinue its 20 cent per share quarterly dividend to help fund its ongoing restructuring, the company announced Tuesday.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, sold more than 35 million iPhones in its most recent quarter, through its retail network and mobile carriers.

International opinions about which nations serve as a positive influence on global affairs are changing. Around the world, more people are looking to Asia, with Japan topping the list, while increasing numbers are disappointed with Europe. However, Asians themselves remained wary of their neighbors.

Investors spent most of Tuesday tip-toeing back into risky assets before suddenly losing their nerve about two hours before the closing bell and retreating, for the second day in a row, to German bunds and U.S. Treasurys.

The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation of a huge trading loss incurred by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday.

Facebook, the world's biggest social network with 900 million-plus users, is finally ready to make its Wall Street debut on Friday, May 18, 2012. Facebook is clearly dominant in its industry, but buying stock so quickly might be unwise. Here are five reasons why you shouldn't go buy Facebook stock right away.

Former CEO of Yahoo Scott Thompson will be paid $7 million in bonuses for five months of work. He will not receive a severance package. Thompson is succeeded by Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn.

Google is getting serious about its self-driving car technology campaign. In an effort to make the driverless car legal on U.S. roads, the Mountain View, Calif. based company was spotted showing off the robo-prius on the streets of Washington, D.C. - just one day after Nevada became the first state to legalize autonomous vehicles.

The FBI has opened a probe into trading losses at JPMorgan Chase & Co, stepping up the pressure on the bank after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve said they were also looking into the wrong-way bets that led to the losses.

Samsung has finally released the list of T-Mobile devices that will be receiving the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update.

India imports crude oil from about 30 nations.

In 1999, Andrew Grove, then Chairman of Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), the No. 1 chipmaker, published a bestseller, ?Only the Paranoid Survive.?

An ad touting the benefits of its multiple herbicide-resistant Enlist corn tells viewers it won't exacerbate the growing epidemic of superweeds.

The annual shareholder's meeting Tuesday of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), widely expected to feature fiery denunciations of leaders at the nation's biggest bank, could hardly have been quieter or more management-friendly.

A New York Times/CBS News poll shows Mitt Romney leading President Barack Obama, 46-43 percent.