The paper clip, 27 July

Claims by Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, that the ECB “will do whatever it takes” to protect the euro have boosted the markets, the Liberation and the Wall Street Journal write. The Daily Telegraph describes Draghi's words as a “bond bluff”.

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, has called on Greece's authorities to meet its commitments to foreign creditors, writes Kathimerini. Barroso made his comments during his first visit to the country in years. He also called for “solidarity” from other eurozone members in helping the Greek economy.

Spain's unemployment rate is at its highest level in the second quarter since the mid-1970s, the Irish Times writes. The jobless rate rose to 24.6% in the first quarter.

The Irish government made a “surprise” return to the bond market yesterday, the Irish Times writes. The country borrowed €4.2 billion in new money by going to the bond markets for the first time since September 2010.

A debate in Serbia's parliament about the new coalition government yesterday dragged on until 5am this morning, delaying the swearing in of the ministers, writes Blic.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, has said that Turkey might create buffer zones in northern Syria if outlawed Kurdish groups try to take control there, writes Hürriyet Daily News, published in Istanbul.

Rebels in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo are preparing for a decisive battle over the city expected to start today or tomorrow, L'Orient-Le Jour writes from Beirut.

Three of the four main republican terror groups in Northern Ireland are to join forces and reclaim the banner of the IRA, the Guardian writes. The Real IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs, and a coalition of independent armed republican groups say they will be “subservient to the constitution of the Irish Republican Army”.

Chinese prosecutors have charged the wife of Bo Xilai, until recently a rising star in the Communist Party, with the murder of a British businessman, writes the New York Times.

The British papers focus on the start of the London Olympic Games. The Daily Telegraph says that after seven years and 21 days of expectation, it is now Britain's time to deliver an Olympics that “lifts up our world”.

The Kyiv Post writes that the official biographies of at least 30 Russian athletes competing in the London Olympics list their birthplaces in countries such as Ukraine or Georgia as being in Russia.