EUROPEAN UNION

Asian shares retreated Friday, spooked by JPMorgan's $2 billion loss from a failed hedging strategy, with investors warily watching political turmoil in the euro zone as they await new Chinese data for clues on its growth outlook.

?The moment of truth is approaching for everyone,? said Kouvelis.

The government is also permitting about 500 foreign observers, including 120 from the European Union, to monitor the elections.

Officials of India's drug regulator have been colluding with pharmaceutical firms to speed up approval procedures, allowing some drugs that are not permitted in other countries to go on sale, according to an 18-month investigation by lawmakers.

The price of U.S. imports fell 0.5 percent in April, a decrease driven by lower declining natural gas prices, while the price of U.S. exports rose 0.4 percent, according to a Department of Labor report Thursday.

Venizelos, the former finance minister, said he will ?explore all possibilities? in his quest to create an alliance with rival parties, including ND, Syriza and the Democratic Left.

Asian markets fell Thursday as weak exports data from China and concerns surrounding Greece and Spain dampened sentiments.

The entity set up by eurozone countries to provide emergency funds for member nations in crisis has agreed on Wednesday to issue a payment of 5.2 billion euros ($6.7 billion) to Greece -- but not before bickering about it.

Spain stepped up efforts to save its troubled banks on Thursday with a plan to make them recognize huge losses from a property crash, but uncertainty over the final cost of a rescue hit the euro, Spanish debt and global stock markets.

German exports unexpectedly rose for the third straight month in March as demand from outside the euro zone offset weaker sales within the currency bloc, prompting economists to predict that Europe?s biggest economy will escape recession.

A Greek sovereign default has always been a talismanic scare for the euro stakeholders. It would put the common currency under the greatest pressure since its creation, and shake the foundations of the currency bloc.

If in any case MySpace lasts for the next 20 years, you can count on one group watching them do it -- The federal government. The social networking site will be kept a close eye on by the third-party observer for the duration of 20 years.

Tsipras has only three days to form a new unity government.

Samaras? party ?won? Sunday?s election, but with only about 18.9 percent of the total electorate, meaning he had to form an alliance with one or two other parties to create a viable new government.

Socialist Francois Hollande will lead France after Nicolas Sarkozy got ousted by voters fed up with austerity. In Greece, the far-left and far-right have made big gains. But it may not be time just yet to start worrying about the fate of the euro zone.

About 150 people were injured when gas-filled balloons exploded during a rally for the Republican Party in the capital city of Yerevan

About one-fourth of the 3,400 French troops stationed in Afghanistan are scheduled to depart the country by year-end.

Seven political parties gained at least 6 percent of the vote in Sunday?s election in Greece, with the top vote-getter, the conservative New Democracy, winning about 18.9 percent.

During his victory speech, the new French president explicitly disavowed austerity.

Le Monde, the French newspaper, has declared Socialist candidate Francois Hollande the winner of the second and decisive round of the country's presidential election with 51.9 percent of the vote, while saying the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy gained 48.1 percent.

Since the 1990s, Turkey?s fertility rate has steadily declined, due to, among other factors, rising household incomes, expanded access to higher education for women and increased birth control practices.