Tuesday: Surprises all over

Academy Awards, North Korea, millennial socialism View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, February 26, 2019 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By MELINA DELKIC AND ALISHA HARIDASANI GUPTA Good morning. Surprises from Jeremy Corbyn in Britain, the foreign minister in Iran and astrophysicists all over. Here’s the latest: [The leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said he would support a second referendum on Brexit.]The leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said he would support a second referendum on Brexit. Francois Lenoir/Reuters Labour Party shifts on a second Brexit referendum Facing a rash of resignations from Labour and the prospect of more, the party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, [dropped his resistance]( to a second referendum on whether the country should withdraw from the E.U. The amendment is unlikely to be approved in Parliament anytime soon, but it will cheer those in the country who have been fighting to reverse the outcome of the 2016 referendum. What’s next: On Wednesday, Parliament is expected to vote to eliminate the chaotic option of leaving the E.U. without a transition plan in place. That would leave Prime Minister Theresa May, who met with European leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday, with few options to complete Brexit by the March 29 deadline. ______ [President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, center, at the E.U.-Arab League summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday.]President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, center, at the E.U.-Arab League summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday. Francisco Seco/Associated Press Egyptian leader rebuffs lectures on human rights A summit meeting between European and Arab leaders was never going to be easy. [And indeed, it wasn’t.]( “You are not going to teach us about humanity,” the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, told Europeans who questioned his human rights record in talks at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, even as they sought closer ties on issues like migration and terrorism. Europeans and Arabs have a different “sense of humanity, values and ethics,” Mr. Sisi said. “Respect our values and ethics, as we do yours.” ______ [Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, announced his resignation on Instagram.]Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, announced his resignation on Instagram. Vahid Salemi/Associated Press Iran’s foreign minister resigns Mohammad Javad Zarif, an American-educated diplomat who was an architect of the Iranian nuclear deal, [announced his resignation]( on Instagram. He is one of the Islamic Republic’s best-known figures abroad. In his post, he said he apologized “for my inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service.” What we don’t know: It was not immediately clear why he was quitting or whether his resignation would be accepted. Analysis: Mr. Zarif was the only top Iranian official with a deep understanding of Western diplomacy and the ability to interact directly with the West. His public resignation, in a country where governance is usually conducted behind closed doors, seemed to indicate escalating tensions between the country’s hard-liners and President Hassan Rouhani. Context: Iran is in the midst of a dire economic crisis, worsened by American sanctions, which has increased pressure on Mr. Rouhani. The U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal made Mr. Zarif vulnerable to attacks from hard-liners who never supported it. ______ [There's a mystery afoot in astrophysics. ]There's a mystery afoot in astrophysics. Illustration by Brian Stauffer Have dark forces been messing with the universe? The universe seems to be expanding far more rapidly than it should be. Astrophysicists have struggled to account for the discrepancy. They’ve been coming up with new ideas, which, if borne out, could mean rewriting the story of the origin of the cosmos, and its ultimate fate. The problem: New precision in measuring the Hubble constant — the acceleration of galaxies away from one another in the expanding universe — suggests that the expansion is about 9 percent faster than expected. Possible explanations: Theories involve dark energy, new particles and a mysterious force that appeared near the Big Bang and then disappeared. We’d really like to just direct you to [the explanation by our science reporter Dennis Overbye]( who has a degree in physics from M.I.T. and a way with words. ______ Here’s what else is happening Australia: The lifting of a gag order allowed news organizations to finally report that in December, [Cardinal George Pell]( became the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader to be convicted of sexual abuse. [This is the story]( The Times was able to print at the time, but not distribute online. Vietnam: North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has arrived in Hanoi for a summit meeting with President Trump, who is en route. For Mr. Kim, the visit has many [layers of symbolism that go beyond the American president](. Venezuela: Adding pressure on President Nicolás Maduro to step down, the U.S. vice president, Mike Pence, announced [new sanctions]( while meeting with the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, in neighboring Colombia. Kashmir: The Pakistani military said India had [conducted airstrikes in territory controlled by Pakistan]( which the Indian government blames for a recent suicide attack in the disputed Kashmir region that killed at least 40 Indian soldiers. Germany: A government manifesto effectively endorsed the [merger of two troubled banks]( Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, aiming to create an institution able to stand up to global competitors. Neither the banks nor officials have commented. Belgium: An exaggerated story about “Nazi pensions” — paid by Germany to Belgians for Nazi collaboration — caused a stir, but many of its claims were false or misleading. [The truth of the matter is complicated.]( [Scientists are investigating why a humpback whale ended up near the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil.]Scientists are investigating why a humpback whale ended up near the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil. ICMBio, Ministry of Environment Brazil: [A young humpback whale]( washed ashore on a remote, forested island in the Amazon River, at a time of year when it should have already migrated thousands of miles to Antarctica. The border wall: The U.S. House of Representatives will vote today on a resolution against President Trump’s national emergency declaration, which allows him to divert funds to build the wall. Republican leaders are [scrambling to keep lawmakers in their party from voting for it](. Ireland: Ireland had a [record-high number of new H.I.V. infections]( in 2018, a trend that some activists attribute to poor sex health education and insufficient access to preventive drugs. Mauritius: In a nonbinding judgment, the U.N.’s highest court said that Britain [was wrong to detach a group of Indian Ocean islands]( from Mauritius, at the time a British colony, and evict their inhabitants to facilitate an American air base on the island of Diego Garcia. The court said Britain should end its control of the archipelago “as rapidly as possible.” Afghanistan: The U.S. and the Taliban have begun their [highest-level negotiations yet]( on ending the war. The Oscars: Here’s a roundup of the [best and worst moments]( from the ceremony. There’s some controversy over the award for best picture, which went to “Green Book,” a film about an interracial friendship that some critics find [clichéd and retrograde](. Chefs’ pick: When they’re in Hong Kong, [culinary experts from all over like to eat at Yardbird]( which mixes the polish of Tokyo’s favorite restaurants, the warmth of Sydney’s and the glamour of New York’s. ______ Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott for The New York Times. Recipe of the day: This spicy, [lamb-forward take on a ragù]( is done in a fraction of the usual time. (Our [Five Weeknight Dishes]( newsletter has more recipe recommendations.) Loneliness is bad for your health. But [it’s a subjective state and it can be changed](. Planning a beach vacation? Here are some [unexpected but helpful things you should pack](. Back Story We often ask readers for Back Story ideas. Susanne Fischer of New York suggested the Oxford comma, which was traditionally used at Oxford University Press. “I’m a big fan, use it often, and think it’s really important for clarification,” she wrote. Illustration by Peter Arkle The Times, like most other news organizations, does not usually use the comma, which is also known as the serial comma. “In general, do not use a comma before and or or in a series: The snow stalled cars, buses and trains,” our stylebook says. “A goal of punctuation is to make a sentence as clear as possible, and in most cases that final comma isn’t necessary for understanding the relationship of all the items in a series,” said Susan Wessling, The Times’s senior editor for editing standards. There are exceptions. Around this time last year, a [Maine dairy company agreed to pay its drivers $5 million]( after a dispute that hinged entirely on the lack of an Oxford comma — in a list of activities that did not require overtime payments. Inyoung Kang, a home screen editor based in London, 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.) [Sign up here]( to receive an Evening Briefing on U.S. weeknights, and [here’s our full range of free newsletters](. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [europebriefing@nytimes.com](mailto:europebriefing@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback%20(Europe)). LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. FOLLOW NYT [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( Prefer a different send time? 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