WORLD

The euro fell to its lowest levels since January following the news Greece would have to hold a new round of elections, making the prospect of the dissolution of the euro zone economic union significantly more compelling.

More than four million people in South Sudan -- about half of the country's population -- face hunger and food shortages as clashes with Sudan along the border continue, according to the United Nations.

Although Greece is considered the ?cradle of Western Civilization,? the nation has had a vastly different history and trajectory from the dominant countries of Western Europe.

Signs that a Greek departure from the euro zone has become inevitable proliferated worldwide Wednesday with Hong Kong's main stock index plunging more than 3 percent, bank runs in Athens and Britain's central bank finalizing contingency plans for a euro zone breakup.

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

The former Bosnian Serb general, on trial for the murder of tens of thousands of Muslim men, women and children during the early 1990s Bosnian war, entered The Hague courtroom clapping his hands and gave the thumbs-up sign.

Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic taunted Srebrenica survivors on Wednesday at the start of his trial for genocide, running his hand across his throat in a gesture of defiance to relatives of the worst massacre in Europe since World War Two.

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 move comes after a final bid to form a government failed on Tuesday, raising the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro.

South Korea's unemployment rate fell in April with the availability of more jobs in the service sector according to figures reported by Statistics Korea Wednesday.

Four South Korean activists have been detained by China in the northeastern city of Dalian. The activists were meeting with refugees from North Korea in China in order to learn about their experiences.

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.

Thousands of Palestinians throughout the Middle East and the Arab world observed Nakba Day -- literally translated as the Day of Catastrophe -- on Tuesday to commemorate their mass displacement 64 years ago from lands that now constitute the State of Israel.

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.

Ukrainian Prime Minster Mykola Azarov announced on Tuesday that Ukraine will ramp up its natural gas production by up to 25 percent over the next three years, a move that could help the country break free of its energy dependence on neighboring Russia.

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.

In a newly released campaign ad, President Barack Obama promises that the economy is back on the mend. The only problem is: the numbers say otherwise.

Authorities believe that the target of the attack was former justice and interior minister Fernando Londono, who was inside his car during the blast. Londono was injured and his driver was one of the victims.

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.

The Obama administration is trying to get Iranian exile group the People's Mujahedin of Iran taken off of the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, according to a Monday report in the Wall Street Journal.

The invitation came a day after Islamabad proposed re-opening supply routes to Afghanistan, shut six months ago after a U.S. drone strike mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border.

Nassau County Republicans are going to have try again: Mark Schimel, estranged husband of Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, a three-term Democrat, has declined the Republican nomination to oppose her.

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.

The U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner will again call for spending cuts to match any increase in the debt limit that will allow the U.S. to pay its bills.

India imports crude oil from about 30 nations.

JPMorgan's massive $2 billion trading loss has spilled over into presidential politics, with presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney calling the disastrous trade as an example of the inherent risks of the free market.

Hollande - the first Socialist French President in nearly 17 years to occupy the Elysee Palace - is at odds with Merkel's German-led package of tax hikes and spending cuts that have characterized the European response to the growing sovereign debt crisis.

Former U.S. president George W. Bush told ABC News Tuesday that he supports White House hopeful Mitt Romney, the Republican party's presumptive nominee for president.

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