A race to save Greece from bankruptcy and keep it in the euro gathered pace on Wednesday when Athens formally applied for a three-year loan and European authorities launched an accelerated review of the request.

• July 8, 2015

The Philippines argued at a closed hearing on Tuesday that an international court should intervene in its dispute with China over the right to exploit natural resources and fish in the South China Sea.

• July 7, 2015

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras launched a desperate bid to win fresh aid from skeptical creditors at an emergency euro zone summit on Tuesday, before his country's banks run out of money.

• July 7, 2015

"Today we need the Iron Chancellor," read the front-page headline in top-selling German newspaper Bild on Tuesday, next to a picture of Angela Merkel in a Prussian helmet.

• July 7, 2015

NATO is preparing for a long standoff with Russia, reluctantly accepting that the Ukraine conflict has fundamentally transformed Europe's security landscape and that it may have to abandon hope of a constructive relationship with Moscow.

• July 6, 2015

Greece's combative finance minister resigned on Monday, removing one major obstacle to any deal to keep Athens in the euro zone after Greeks voted resoundingly to back the government in rejecting the austerity terms of a bailout.

• July 6, 2015

Oil prices tumbled their most in three months on Monday, with U.S. crude falling 6 percent, after Greece's rejection of debt bailout terms and China's rolling out of emergency measures to support its stock markets shook global markets.

• July 6, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin must be finding it hard to contain a wry smile as the European Union struggles with Greece's debt problems.

• July 4, 2015