Fwd: NYT Now: Your Wednesday Briefing

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From: NYTimes.com <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 12:17 PM
Subject: NYT Now: Your Wednesday Briefing
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View in Browser | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. Wednesday, July 8, 2015 Wednesday, July 8, 2015 nytnow.com » Enjoy this newsletter? The NYT Now app for iPhone is now completely free. It's the fastest way to catch up with the news throughout the day. Download now. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece said today any deal should include debt relief. Vincent Kessler/Reuters Your Wednesday Briefing By ADEEL HASSAN Good morning. Here's what you need to know: • Five days, or else. Saying this is the final deadline for Greece, European leaders gave Athens until Sunday to avoid bankruptcy. Greece today lodged a formal request for a bailout loan, and the eurozone's finance ministers are due to consider it later in the day. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, was defiant in a speech today before the European Parliament, insisting that any deal should include debt relief and that the crisis was essentially a European problem. • The fate of the Confederate flag. The 124-member House of Representatives in South Carolina begins debating a State Senate-approved bill to remove the battle flag, which has flown at the State House for more than 50 years. Representatives are expected to offer amendments to thwart the chances of the bill becoming law in the wake of the church massacre in Charleston in June. • Start to a peace process? Afghan officials and Taliban representatives concluded their first formal peace talks today in Pakistan and agreed to meet again next month. It was a tentative step toward ending more than 13 years of war in Afghanistan. • BRICS unite. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, amid increasing isolation from the West, is hoping to strengthen relations with allies from five emerging nations at a summit meeting that starts today. Leaders of the so-called BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — are gathering in Ufa, Russia, to start a development bank to compete with Western and Asian financial institutions. • Bill Cosby's admission. Many women who accused Bill Cosby of raping or groping them say they feel vindicated by his admission, in an unsealed 2005 court document, that he had given women drugs before having sex with them. MARKETS • China's stock market collapse since June 12 is threatening to affect its move toward a market economy, analysts say. The Shenzhen index plunged again today, and Hong Kong shares slid 6 percent on its coattails. But Chinese stocks are still up sharply for the year. • Microsoft may announce a major round of layoffs in its 118,000-person work force as early as today to cut costs. • Barclays, the British bank, is getting rid of its chief executive in a shake-up of its top leadership. Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered also hired new C.E.O.s this year as they reshaped their businesses. • Wall Street stock futures are down about 1 percent, while European shares are taking the latest in the Greek crisis in stride, rising slightly. NOTEWORTHY • Tennis, anyone? The top four men's seeds are playing in today's quarterfinals at Wimbledon. It's Novak Djokovic versus Marin Cilic; Roger Federer versus Gilles Simon; Andy Murray versus Vasek Pospisil; and Stan Wawrinka versus Richard Gasquet (8 a.m. Eastern, ESPN and ESPN2). The women's semifinals are Thursday. Serena Williams faces Maria Sharapova and Garbiñe Muguruza plays Agnieszka Radwanska. • Troubles for Jared of Subway. Subway has suspended its relationship with its well-known spokesman, Jared Fogle, after investigators in Indiana raided his suburban home. Mr. Fogle was not arrested during the raid. In April, a former executive director of Mr. Fogle's foundation was arrested on charges related to child pornography. • Coming soon-ish. Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court's decision on same-sex marriage, sold the rights to his life story to 21st Century Fox. A finished film is at least two years away. A publishing deal for his book, to be titled "21 Years to Midnight," is expected as soon as this week. And Han Solo, the "Star Wars" space hero, is getting his own film, slated for release in May 2018, Walt Disney Co. said. • In memoriam. Juli Soler, 66, who helped turn El Bulli, in Catalonia, Spain, into the most daring and influential restaurant of its time, has died. • Fallout for Trump. A major golf organization has pulled an event from one of Donald Trump's properties in response to his remarks about Mexican immigrants. But other major championships are still scheduled to be played on his courses. • For laughs. Season 5 of the sketch series "Key & Peele" premieres today, and that means the return of Jordan Peele's President Obama and his famous anger translator, Luther (10 p.m. Eastern, Comedy Central). And Jerry Seinfeld takes Stephen Colbert for a spin in the season finale of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." The episode goes live at 11:30 p.m. Eastern (streaming, Crackle.com) BACK STORY Pope Francis arrives today in La Paz, Bolivia, which is about 12,000 feet above sea level. Will he chew coca leaves, or sip tea made from them, to stave off altitude sickness? The leaves have been used by people in the Andes for thousands of years to relieve the effects of lower oxygen levels at high altitudes and as a mild stimulant. They are also used in folk medicine. Coca consumption is legal in Bolivia, where it's considered comparable to coffee, but it is banned by most countries because it is the base ingredient for cocaine. Millions of people in the region chew coca leaves, which have a tiny amount of cocaine, and even Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, first came to prominence as a leader of coca growers. The best-known use of the coca leaf in the U.S. is in Coca-Cola, the drink introduced in 1886 by an Atlanta pharmacist as a combination of coca-laced syrup and water. Coca was removed from the recipe about 110 years ago. Today's formula is flavored with a nonnarcotic extract from the coca plant. Victoria Shannon contributed reporting. Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes.com. Want to get the briefing by email? Here's the sign-up. 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