Palash Ghosh

Politics make strange bedfellows indeed -- especially in France. Francois Hollande, the newly elected Socialist president of the republic, has formed his cabinet and is planning to scale back the austerity programs imposed by his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, of the center-right UMP party.

rance's newly-elected Socialist President Francois Hollande met with U.S. President Barack Obama at Camp David, prior to the G-8 summit meeting.

While global leaders obsess over the likelihood of debt-stricken Greece departing the euro zone, an emerald isle 1,800 miles away from Athens may be on the brink of needing another financial bailout.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed that Greece hold a referendum on its membership in the euro zone in tandem with the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for June 17.

Facebook has become a showcase for vulgar narcissism and voyeurism.

There are currently about 130,000 foreign troops in the country, with Americans accounting for about 90,000 of them.

The European Union and European Central Bank have a contingency plan in place in the event that Greece is forced to exit the euro zone, according to EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht. However, he did not divulge the details of this contingency plan.

Iran is good at playing this chess game.

U.S. will begin to issue licenses to allow investments in the country, but maintain the arms embargo.

Hollande will now take home about 14,910 euros ($19,100) per month, down from 21,300 euros.

On a percentage basis, the biggest spikes came from Greece and Spain.

Cameron?s statements came on the heels of similar warnings by Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King that the euro zone?s failure to get a grip on the debt crisis poses the biggest threat to Britain?s economic recovery.

Israeli leaders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Ehud Barak have long taken a hawkish stance against Iran.

Fears are escalating across Europe that Greece will have to exit the euro zone.

The financial markets appear to have already priced in Greece?s departure from the euro bloc.

Interestingly, Martine Aubry, the leader of the Socialist party rejected an offer to head a super ministry.

Tsipras has said he wants Greece to remain in the euro zone, but has demanded that bailout agreements be renegotiated by providing more favorable terms.

The surge in people killing themselves can be directly linked to ?increased insecurity and uncertainty for the future.?

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.

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

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.

India imports crude oil from about 30 nations.

Singapore was the fifth-largest arms importer in the world between 2007 and 2011.

Ayrault, 62, has never before held a ministerial office but has served as a politician, including mayor of the city of Nantes, continuously since 1986

Greek leaders threw in the towel Tuesday and called for another poll after their repeated failures to form a coalition government and address the country?s monumental debt crisis.

President Karolos Papoulias suggested he may propose a government led by non-politician technocrats with broad national appeal, somewhat similar to what Italy adopted with Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Obama addressed the graduating class of Barnard College in New York on Monday.

Hollande also wants the euro zone fiscal pact re-written -- something Merkel has adamantly refused to do.

The labor strife has also wreaked havoc with Air India?s discount international fleet, Air India Express, as well as the domestic carrier, Indian Airlines.