Brexit, Erdogan, Ukraine: Your Tuesday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/briefing/brexit-erdogan-ukraine-security-clearance.html

Version 0 of 1.

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Alternative Brexit strategies fail, Turkey experiences a political shake-up, and Trump administration security clearances are under scrutiny. Here’s the latest:

British lawmakers failed to reach a majority on four new alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan on Monday.

The least unpopular option, which lost by just three votes, was for a customs union that would keep Britain in the same tariff system as the rest of the European Union countries — a missing part of Mrs. May’s thrice-rejected plan.

There are less than two weeks until the deadline to depart, and the vote Monday left the process in more disarray. Nothing has been resolved, and all options remain on the table.

Irish backstop: Perhaps the most contentious part of Mrs. May’s plan is also among the most confusing. Read about the border between North Ireland and Ireland and why it’s holding up the process.

Business flight: For many British companies, Brexit has already happened. Global banks and other financial services companies have been shifting thousands of jobs and more than $1 trillion in assets to European cities from Britain.

The Daily: Hear from our chief international correspondent Ellen Barry on the agony of being Mrs. May.

Municipal voting in Turkey showed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party had lost Ankara, the capital and center of politics, and possibly Istanbul, its largest city and a key support base.

It was a huge surprise for a president who sought to ensure nobody could challenge him — purging the army, the police and the courts; strengthening his powers in the Constitution; and cowing the press. Our writer called it a momentous political earthquake.

Mr. Erdogan did not concede defeat on the results in Istanbul, which were still unofficial. But the tally showed the opposition candidate for mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, ahead with 99 percent of the votes counted.

The results of municipal balloting were a barometer of Mr. Erdogan’s weakened standing among voters, amid a recession and his use of executive powers.

Impact: Turkey is a NATO ally and critical linchpin of stability in the region. Mr. Erdogan’s term as president lasts for four more years, and the results do not mean he will change his behavior. They do show he has weaknesses.

At least 25 people got security clearances from Trump officials after career civil servants denied them for “disqualifying issues,” a White House whistle-blower told Congress.

The whistle-blower, a manager in the White House’s Personnel Security Office, told a House committee that the denials — issued by her and other career officials — were overturned by officials with more seniority who, by her account, did not follow normal procedures.

A memo from the committee’s Democratic staff does not identify any of the 25 people. But one of the senior White House officials appears to be Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

The details: The whistle-blower, Tricia Newbold, said the clearances had been denied for a variety of reasons, including “foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct.”

Why now? Ms. Newbold, who has worked in the White House for 18 years under both Republican and Democratic administrations, said she chose to speak to the committee after attempts to raise concerns with her superiors and the White House counsel went nowhere.

An actor with no political experience easily finished first in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, and will face the incumbent in an April 21 runoff.

Volodymyr Zelensky, 41, is famous for a TV role where he played a schoolteacher who was accidentally vaulted into the presidency. He led with 30 percent, or 5.2 million votes, almost double the number of his nearest competitor, President Petro Poroshenko, who had just under 16 percent.

Because no candidate garnered more than 50 percent of the vote, Mr. Zelensky and the apparent second-place finisher, Mr. Poroshenko, will face each other in a runoff in three weeks.

Growing discontent: Mr. Poroshenko faces an uphill battle, analysts said, not least because he is one of the wealthiest men in Ukraine. His wealth comes from his chocolate empire, which he promised to sell in 2014 but didn’t. Businessmen close to him have been caught up in corruption scandals.

Boeing: A software fix for the 737 Max 8 has been delayed, the aircraft manufacturer said. The Max, Boeing’s newest plane, was grounded by regulators around the world in March after the fatal crashes of two Max aircraft within five months.

Algeria: The country’s ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, agreed to step down by the end of the month, after weeks of protests demanding his ouster. He has not publicly addressed the country since 2013. There is no date set for a new election or signs of the departure of his allies.

Japan: The country is about to begin a new era, officially named Reiwa, a term with multiple meanings, including “order and peace.” It begins May 1, the day after the current emperor, Akihito, becomes the first Japanese monarch to step down in more than 200 years.

2020: A second woman accused Joe Biden of touching her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable, intensifying scrutiny of the former vice president who is preparing for a likely presidential bid. The woman said Mr. Biden “put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me” at a fund-raiser in Connecticut in 2009.

Russia: Natalia Fileva, one of the country’s richest women and an aviation tycoon, died in a plane crash near a German airport on Sunday. She was among three people killed in the crash.

Burger King: The fast food chain is introducing a vegetarian burger at some of its U.S. locations that will include a patty from Impossible Foods. It’s a big step toward the mainstream for start-ups trying to mimic and replace meat.

France: The owner of Paris’s best-known drag cabaret, known as the Blue Prince of Montmartre, is 87 and remains a French institution.

Tips for a more fulfilling life.

Recipe of the day: A dinner of sheet-pan roasted fish with sweet peppers will keep dishwashing to a minimum. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Bored with the same old, same old? Behavioral scientists call the tendency to get used to things hedonic adaptation — and some have found ways to make everyday experiences feel new again.

A healthy diet can do more than dietary supplements to counter cognitive decline, neurologists say.

We often ask readers for Back Story ideas. Zach Lewis of Chicago suggested we look at the naming of black and white rhinos, both of which are in fact gray.

They do have different faces. The black rhino, which tends to eat trees and bushes, has a pointed upper lip, while the grass-grazing white rhino has a broader one.

In 2003, Kees Rookmaaker, a rhino researcher, analyzed 10 known theories for the names.

The most popular idea: The Afrikaans word “wyd,” or Dutch “wijd,” meaning wide, became “white.” “Black” was simply an easy contrast.

Some other theories: The grazing rhino looked white in grasslands; it rolled in lighter mud or was often covered in bird droppings; albinism is more common among white rhinos; and that at some point, the rhinos were noticeably lighter and darker.

The mistranslation theory was the only one he found provably incorrect. “There is no record of ‘wydrhinoceros’ in the literature,” he emailed recently, noting that Dutch speakers would have used “breed,” meaning broad, rather than “wyd.”

Inyoung Kang, a home screen editor based in London who often contributes to the briefings, wrote today’s Back Story.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings.

Check out this page to find a Morning Briefing for your region. (In addition to our European edition, we have Australian, Asian and U.S. editions.)

What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com.