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Good morning.

We’re covering a dramatic finale to the longest session of the British Parliament in modern history, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson got almost nothing he wanted. We also look at Moscow election results and why Tina Turner is thriving in retirement.

Boris Johnson’s last-ditch election plan fails

Monday was the end of one of the most abysmal starts any British leader has ever endured.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to bolster support in his thinning Conservative Party with a general election was voted down late Monday. Parliament’s push to avert a no-deal Brexit became law. And lawmakers also voted to force the publication of secret emails about Mr. Johnson’s plans.

If Mr. Johnson had thought he could outfox Parliament by suspending it, sidelining lawmakers at a critical moment in the Brexit debate, he ended up being outmaneuvered.

What’s next: There has been talk that Mr. Johnson might defy the law and refuse to ask Brussels for an extension. This could lead to a messy court battle or even jail time.

Parliament is now suspended until mid-October.

Related: The resignation of John Bercow, the colorful House of Commons speaker known for his antiquarian language, should have been a relief — but it was timed such that his replacement would be chosen by the current Parliament, packed with Mr. Johnson’s opponents.

Putin’s party suffers losses in Russian elections

Allies of President Vladimir Putin suffered significant losses in Moscow city council elections, preliminary results showed, highlighting the Kremlin’s troubles in a capital roiled by waves of protests.

But beyond Moscow, the Kremlin still held full control of the political situation, winning all 16 of the governor’s races. The Kremlin declared victory, but opponents dismissed that.

Details: The governing United Russia party will still form the majority in the city legislature, but the results revealed the party’s continuing weakness, as well as the seeming effectiveness of strategic efforts by the opposition to consolidate support behind antigovernment candidates seen as having the best chance of winning.

1,700 British Airways flights are canceled

A pilots’ strike led the British airline to cancel most flights scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, upending the travel plans of about 195,000 passengers.

The pilots were demanding higher pay and had been negotiating with the airline since November. These were the latest of several cancellations the airline has had to handle (many of which have not gone over well).

For travelers: Pilots are planning another strike for Sept. 27. Here’s what you need to know.

If you have 8 minutes, this is worth it

A C.I.A. spy tale in Russia

As American officials realized Russia was trying to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, an informant who worked his way to the top levels of the Kremlin became one of the C.I.A.’s most important — and highly protected — assets.

But when details about the C.I.A.’s Kremlin sources were publicized, officials worried about safety and moved to extract the source from Russia. The end of the informant’s career effectively blinded American intelligence officials as they sought clues about Kremlin interference in the next presidential election.

Here’s what else is happening

North Korea: The country launched two projectiles on Tuesday, hours after proposing to reopen denuclearization talks with the United States this month. It was the eighth time North Korea has tested ballistic missiles or other projectiles since late July.

Italy: Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and his new coalition government will face a Senate vote this morning, after easily winning the confidence of lawmakers in Parliament yesterday.

President Trump in Scotland: The president’s business worked with a Scottish airport to promote tourism. The Pentagon had a separate deal for the airport to find lodging for service members stopping to refuel. Now, those intersecting story lines raise ethics questions around Mr. Trump.

Germany: The appointment of Stefan Jagsch, a neo-Nazi party official, as the district mayor of Waldsiedlung drew widespread condemnation. No one else had wanted the job, and now local representatives are scrambling to reverse the vote.

Iranian oil tanker: Western nations had tried to prevent a tanker, the Adrian Darya 1, from delivering 2.1 million barrels of oil to President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria. It was seen near Syria, and it unloaded its cargo, but it is unclear where the oil went.

Snapshot: Above, Tina Turner, 79. She became a star with Ike Turner in her 20s, escaped his abuse in her 30s, fought her way up the pop charts in her 40s and toured the world through her 60s. Now she is ready to relax in her Swiss chateau.

Cake theft: Lady M, the global bakery that produces the Instagram-friendly, pricey Mille Crêpes cake, sued a former driver, claiming he stole and resold more than $90,000 worth of cakes.

Tennis: Our reporter muses on the lessons from the U.S. Open and, more broadly, the “logic-defying dominance” of the sport’s Big Three — Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

What we’re watching: This video from the Missouri Farm Bureau. Ana Swanson, our trade reporter based in Washington, calls it “a triumph of low-budget production and farmers’ tans” aimed at passing the revised U.S. trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

Now, a break from the news

Cook: Turkey chili is healthy and can be ready in about a half-hour. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Go: Kayaking in the Spreewald — a wooded moorland that Unesco designated a protected biosphere reserve — is an easy train trip away from Berlin.

Watch: It took five years and 28 people to create the track “iMi,” one of Bon Iver’s latest. See the latest episode in our Diary of a Song series.

Listen: “Welcome to the Party” by Pop Smoke became one of hip-hop’s songs of the summer, but the 20-year-old artist with a throwback New York vibe is just getting started.

Smarter Living: Sometimes we all need an honorary auntie. Many children are lucky to have involved extended family, but if they don’t, they still deserve to have special, supportive people in their lives.

And guess what? Skin care masks aren’t just for faces anymore. (They are also for your derrière.)

And now for the Back Story on …

The N.B.A. logo

Jerry West, the former Los Angeles Lakers star, was awarded the Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony last week, the second retired basketball star President Trump has honored.

Mr. Trump simply called him Jerry, but around the N.B.A. he’s universally known as “the Logo.”

In 1969, J. Walter Kennedy, the N.B.A.’s commissioner, asked a brand consultant, Alan Siegal, to come up with a new logo modeled after Major League Baseball’s minimalist red-and-blue one. Mr. Siegel combed through the Sport magazine photo archive and seized on a photo of Mr. West dribbling. He traced it.

Fifty years later, the result endures — though the N.B.A. has never acknowledged it, possibly to avoid having to pay the player royalties.

Mr. West, who boasts one N.B.A. championship as a player and eight as an executive, would really prefer not to have the attention, or the logo.

“It’s flattering,” he said on ESPN a couple of years ago. “But if I were the N.B.A., I would be embarrassed about it. I really would.”

That’s it for this briefing. A correction: Monday’s Morning Briefing misstated the discovery date of the spread made of yeast extract that was later produced as Marmite. It was in the 1800s, not 1902. See you next time.

— Melina

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Kevin Draper, our sports business reporter, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at [email protected].

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about the challenges facing Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: Music genre characterized by guitar on the offbeat (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, both Times reporters, appeared on the CBS show “Sunday Morning” to discuss their new book about Harvey Weinstein, “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.”

Melina Delkic writes the Europe edition of the Morning Briefing. @MelinaDelkic

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