Greece’s European creditors admitted the “stark reality” of the economic crisis in that country, setting out what they say is a “final” timetable for Athens to offer reforms “in return for loans that will keep the country from crashing out of Europe’s currency bloc and into economic ruin,” Reuters reports.

Athens was told it has to present concrete reform proposals on Wednesday as part of a formal loan request, with further details to be provided and finalized on Thursday and Friday. If these proposals are approved – or indeed if they aren’t – a meeting of EU leaders this Sunday will determine Greece’s fate.

The Guardian writes:

The Greek leadership exasperated EU leaders by failing to present new bailout proposals on Tuesday. It is to present a formal application on Wednesday for a new rescue package from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund. If Berlin, Paris, Brussels and other key creditor capitals can agree the terms and timings with Athens, Greece would be offered a stay of execution in the euro. Sunday’s summit would then be of the 19 eurozone leaders.

If not, the summit of all 28 leaders, including David Cameron and heads of government of other non-euro countries, would instead convene to deal with the consequences of a Greece cut loose from the eurozone financial system.

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* WORLD * In other global deadline news, the decisive date for an Iran nuclear agreement has apparently shifted to Friday.

Ishaan Tharoor writes at the Washington Post on ‘how to cover a story that keeps not happening’ while Xinhua quotes EU negotiator Federica Mogherini as saying:

“The time is now, it’s a window that we are using at the maximum, but we are not closing the window and then opening another window at another time we are using the time now.”

The Independent’s Kim Sengupta has an exclusive on Syria, saying a new coalition of tribal chiefs has held “secret talks” with the UN, as well as Saudi and other Gulf state ministers, in efforts to end the debilitating civil war.

“More generally, the sheikhs complain that the Americans are asking the tribes to fight Isis while only paying lip service to taking on the Assad regime. They maintain this is because Barack Obama needs the Iranians, President Assad’s main backers, to help fight Isis in Iraq, and is also seeking to make nuclear agreement with Tehran.”

Meanwhile, a Washington Post editorial following Tuesday’s hearings by the Senate Armed Service Committee, talks of America’s ‘latest failure in Syria.’

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter reported the pitiful result of the training program: After a year, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee, just 60 Syrians were enlisted. Meanwhile, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified that Israel and Jordan “very much believe [in] the possibility” that the Assad regime could soon collapse, touching off “a foot race” of al-Qaeda and Islamic State forces “converging on Damascus.”

USA Today reports that the US Army is planning to cut 40,000 troops over the next two years.

An additional 17,000 Army civilian employees would be laid off under the plan officials intend to announce this week. Under the plan, the Army would have 450,000 soldiers by Sept. 30, 2017, the end of the 2017 budget year. The reduction in troops and civilians is due to budget constraints, the document says.

At The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald has some strong words for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his comments on the tenth anniversary of the London transport bombings.

Blair thus expressly denies that the July 7 bombing in London was largely motivated by his war in Iraq even though his own government’s secret report reached exactly that conclusion; a Pentagon-commissioned report years ago acknowledged the same causal motive for “terrorism” generally. They’re desperate to deny this causation because to recognize it is necessarily to acknowledge that their professed moral superiority is the ultimate delusion, that they in fact are the embodiment of what they love to hear themselves condemning.

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* BUSINESS * British Chancellor George Osborne delivers the first Conservative Budget for almost twenty years, with an expected focus on changes to welfare spending.

* Follow live Budget day updates via the BBC here.

China’s stock markets are in turmoil as state regulators have warned of panic and “irrational” selling. The Guardian reports that “About 1,400 companies, or more than half of those listed – filed for a trading halt in an attempt to prevent further losses.”

China’s stock markets had previously been among the top-performing in the world, and had hit a seven-year peak in the middle of June. The Shanghai stock market had surged more than 150% in 12 months, but it has fallen 30% over the past three weeks – including a plunge of 12% last week.

Banking giant Barclays’ Chief Executive Anthony Jenkins is to stand down with immediate effect after disagreements with his board.

JP Morgan agreed to pay more than $125million to settle investigations by US authorities into the improper collection and sale of consumer credit card debt, Reuters reports.

The nation’s largest bank has been accused of relying on robo-signing and other discredited methods of going after consumers for debts they may not have owed and for providing inaccurate information to debt buyers. Robo-signing refers to signing documents in mass quantities without reviewing records.

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday releases minutes from its June meeting. Here are five things to watch for, via the Wall Street Journal.

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* POLITICS *  The South Carolina House could begin debating a measure to remove the Confederate battle flag from in front of the state house in Columbia. But the legislation, passed rapidly by the state senate on Tuesday, has already become potentially mired in a process-driven bid by opponents to derail it. The New York Times reports:

Opposition to the measure is likely in the House, and representatives are expected to offer at least two dozen amendments to the bill in an effort to thwart its chances of becoming law.

Some of the amendments are likely to be similar to those that were offered — and rejected — in the Senate, including one that would have allowed the battle flag to fly outside the State House each year, for Confederate Memorial Day. A long list of amendments would slow the process: One being circulated, for example, calls for the American flag atop the State House to be flown upside down.

A new report by the Center for American Progress ranks the voting systems in all fifty states and shows a discouraging picture in terms of voting access across the south.

But in case you thought “the south” stopped at the Mason-Dixon line, Pennsylvania was among states to also get an ‘F’. Here’s a reminder of what PA House speaker Mike Turzai said in June 2012.

 

The GOP Presidential field gained another hopeful when former Virginia Gov Jim Gilmore announced he will run, and would launch his campaign next month, which would make him the 17th Republican to contest the nomination.

He will join a group desperate to establish name recognition ahead of the controversially-structured first televised debate on August 6th.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton’s stage-managed “first interview” on CNN was pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be.

http://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/618584773393559553

http://twitter.com/NoahWehrman/status/618533677870350336

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* CULTURE *  Interesting piece by Eugene Volokh at the Washington Post on the legal implications of the latest Bill Cosby developments, and how the comedian had “thrown himself into the vortex” by expounding on public issues.

Judge Robreno is thus borrowing some (but not all) aspects of libel law here: If you are a public official or a limited purpose public figure, you have less protection for your reputation under libel law. Likewise, you have less protection for your privacy when it comes to keeping depositions sealed. The way you can become a limited purpose public figure is by speaking out on controversial topics. And “the stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct, is a matter as to which the AP — and by extension the public — has a significant interest.”

 

So it turns out that Harry Shearer isn’t leaving The Simpsons after all.

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* MEDIA * ESPN’s investigative news show Outside The Lines celebrated 25 years on the air on Tuesday. Ed Sherman at Poynter looks at the shows’s successes and the role of anchor Bob Ley.

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* SPORTS * The first Ashes test between England and Australia gets under way in Cardiff.

(Daily Mirror)

The CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament is under way, with hosts the US beating Honduras 2-1 in the opening game in Texas. Clint Dempsey scored both US goals.

Meanwhile, the US Womens’ national team, still coming down from the euphoria of their World Cup Final victory on Sunday, will be honored with a ticker tape parade in downtown New York City on Friday morning. It will be the first-ever such parade to honor a women’s team and the first to celebrate a female athlete since 1960 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Carol Heiss Jenkins.